“It’s important to be here”: at Auschwitz, young people from Strasbourg facing the duty to remember

Tatiana Gieselmann / Photo credits: Beata Zawrzel / NurPhoto / NurPhoto via AFP 11:15 a.m., February 8, 2024

“October 7, 2023 will have been the largest anti-Semitic massacre of our century.” During the tribute to the French victims of the Hamas attack in Israel, Emmanuel Macron underlined the horror of the massacre in which more than 1,160 people were killed. “On this day of October 7, the unspeakable resurfaced from the depths of History,” said the Head of State. An allusion to the extermination of 6 million Jews by the Nazis during the Second World War. It is in this context that high school students from Strasbourg visited the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp in Poland, the largest extermination camp in Europe.

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“It really hurts my heart.”

After walking for more than three hours between the former barracks of the extermination camp, Aurélia, 18, feels overwhelmed. “It’s not easy to see all this. We’ve already seen it in class, but now, to see it with the evidence, it really hurts my heart,” explains the high school student, with tears in her eyes. 

A pain shared by Eliott, whose family history echoes that of the millions of Jews killed during the Nazi regime. And he is also worried about seeing anti-Semitism resurface in France. “I find that what we are doing is really important. Especially in the current context, with the conflict between Palestine and Israel,” underlines the young man. “During the ceremony, we were told that young people should avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. So, it is important to be here,” adds the Strasbourg resident.

Memory of remembrance in a context of multiplication of anti-Semitic acts

Since October 7, 2023, anti-Semitic acts have increased in France. In 2023, the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF) recorded an increase of almost 1,000% in anti-Semitic acts. And according to the CRIF, 10% of these acts take place in schools. A figure which increases a little more with each new crisis confirms Alain Cornel, professor of history and geography. "It's a recurring thing. There have been several moments where there were tensions like that, more acute. In class, we can get them to think, to work on the documents, but the visit here, it has a slightly more significant impact", nevertheless welcomes the teacher. 

From the next school year, the Grand Est region will double the number of students invited to go to the Auschwitz-Birkenau site.