“In the Footsteps of Sinti and Roma in Auschwitz-Birkenau”

50 students from Bischof von Lipp School will take part in a study visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau June 30th to July 4th 2019. This year, their visit to the Memorial Place is connected with the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the deportation of children from St. Josefspflege Mulfingen to Auschwitz. Since 1854 St. Josefspflege is a Catholic organization engaged in social work for children and students. During National Socialism, Sinti and Roma children were placed in the orphanage of St. Josefspflege in Mulfingen. On 9.05.1944, thirty nine children were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and only four survived, they had been deported from Auschwitz to a labor camp.

Since 1988, students and teachers have been dealing with this dark chapter in German history. In cooperation with the Higher School of Social Sciences in Esslingen, the project “Education after Auschwitz” was created, aiming to learn from the past and the present for the future. It is attended by young people from the seventh grade, and so begins their preparations for a trip to Auschwitz-Birkenau in the following school year. This year, the trip to Auschwitz will have a special dimension, because it will be the 75th anniversary of the deportation of children from Mulfingen to Auschwitz.