Your Stories

BBC Radio Kent's Ed Cook.

Religious leaders from all the UK's major faiths have been spending time at the site of a former Nazi death camp at Auschwitz. In the group was the Archbishop of Canterbury, Doctor Rowan Williams, and the Chief Rabbi, Sir Jonathan Sacks.

They were accompanied by nearly 200 school children from across Kent and the South East, who were in Poland as part of a project led by the Holocaust Educational Trust.

In London, they had already listened to the story of a holocaust survivor. Josef Perl, who was taken to several camps as a young boy, told the gathering: "You are our future - only you together can change the world."

In Poland, the youngsters were shown several barracks at Auschwitz I, which was primarily a concentration camp. Registration documents of inmates and piles of hair, shoes and glasses, which were seized from prisoners, are in display cases in a museum on the site.

The group of faith leaders and students then travelled to Birkenau, where most people were killed - an estimated 1.2 million. They were shown the infamous watchtower at the main gates, which still survives, and the remains of the crematoria and gas chambers.

The day ended with a memorable ceremony next to the crematoria which the Nazis destroyed, as the Russians advanced during the Second World War. There were readings by students, the Archbishop and the Chief Rabbi - before everyone lit candles around the remains of the camp.

Doctor Rowan Williams said nothing could have prepared him for the visit: "I think it was an emotional experience for everyone, coming to a place like this.

"But it was also an extraordinary thing that we were able to get together the representatives of all the major faiths in the UK, recognising this is part of the story of all us and part of the challenge for all of us. That is quite a sign of hope".

Jessica

It was a day 16-year-old Jessica, from Dartford, will never forget. 

She said: "Birkenau was really eerie - and you should see the remains of the camp for miles. It was an amazing experience.

"I've taken lots of photographs and spoken to lots of people, and now I want to hold an assembly to tell everyone about what I've seen".