In commemoration of LGBTQ+ History month pupils learnt about Fredy Hirsch in a chapel address. A new novel by Wendy Holden called ‘The Teacher of Auschwitz’ honours this young man’s life which was cut short by the Nazis after being sent to Auschwitz.
Fredy was a gay Jewish athlete, who found himself persecuted during the rise of Hitler in the 1930’s. Being an athlete, he was admired by the SS, despite being a Jew, and he became known for setting up a school area in Auschwitz which protected children from the worst atrocities taking place there. After the war, he was branded by the Communist party as a homosexual and a collaborator, and his story remained largely unknown. Those who were protected by Fredy and benefited from his bravery in the camps, kept his name alive, and we can now read about his heroic actions in this new novel. The book begins; “My name is Fredy Hirsch. I am 28 years old. I am a teacher, I am a dreamer, I have loved and laughed, cried and almost died a thousand times. My name is Fredy Hirsch. Please, be so kind as to remember my name.”
Related Posts
Pupils in the Removes, along with Sixth Form A-Level historians, attended a workshop with Holocaust Educational Trust educators as part of an innovative programme called “Testimony 360”. The project involves a digital programme, combining pre-recorded eyewitness testimony with virtual site-based learning. Using Virtual Reality headsets, pupils were able to ask questions of a Holocaust [...]
Professor Gurprit Lall, Old Roffensian, returned to King's to deliver the latest in the Zetountes-Barton Society Lectures, speaking on his research on Circadian Neurobiology. Complimenting the school on its new science facilities, Professor Lall reminisced on his time at King's, where his love of science was first developed. The assembled audience of Academic Scholars, [...]
We marked National Poetry Day with a chapel service written and delivered by the Lower Sixth A Level Literature group. The theme of this year’s NPD was ‘play’ and our pupils reflected on the importance of play in our lives by performing a range of poetry exploring this. We began with poems about the value [...]
