Poland Visit

International Perspective

Nineteen second year students from Lancaster and Morecambe College took part in a five day visit to Poland as part of their course. The visit formed part of the International Perspectives and Understanding Discipline unit of the National Diploma in Public Services.

During the trip the students were shown around the Concentration camps at Auschwitz and Birkenau, with the remains of the gas chambers and exhibitions of prisoners’ possessions and punishments.

One student commented “Auschwitz was emotional and very informative. It was very hard to think about how many people died, it was hard to see all the pictures of the prisoners.”

The next day of the trip involved a walking tour of Krakow including the castle and Jewish quarter, Nazi occupation buildings and landmarks from the film Schindler’s List. The students then went on to see the now disused Salt Mines with their chambers and sculptures as left by the miners. The final full day of the trip was spent at the University of Agriculture in Krakow, where the students listened to lectures about Poland and the EU and NATO before an afternoon’s sightseeing and a traditional Polish meal.

The visit organiser, LMC tutor John Entwistle said “The students will be able to take a great deal from the trip and have examples for their course of the use and misuse of discipline and the effects of blind obedience. They will be able to relate to units they have studied in International Perspectives with better understanding.”