Pupils at Queen Anne High School in Dunfermline have been focusing on the atrocities of the second world war to mark Holocaust Memorial Day (see also report on Page 11).

Yesterday was the anniversary of the liberation of Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, and last week the school held assemblies to commemorate the lives lost during the Holocaust.

Holocaust Memorial Day not only remembers those who died in the Nazi concentration camps but also those killed in more recent genocides.

Two of the school’s senior pupils, Deidre Mitchell and Gavin Scott, recently visited the site of the Auschwitz death camp, near Krakow in Poland.

They were part of a group of almost 200 Scots who participated in the Lessons from Auschwitz Project.

On their two-day visit they were accompanied by politicians including local MP Willie Rennie.

During last week’s assemblies Deidre and Gavin talked to the other 1750 pupils, and guests, about their visit.

History teacher Kay McGill, who accompanied them on the trip, said, “For many of our younger pupils the annual trip to the battlefields in northern France is a reality check.

“This is the first time Queen Anne High has participated in a Holocaust Educational Trust visit, and its effect on Deidre and Gavin has been no less telling.”

Rector James Bellshaw said, “Not only do such visits help bring history to life but it is so important that the youngsters of today learn from the lessons of the past.

“On behalf of the school I would thank the organisers of this visit and the elected members who accompanied our young people.”