At the very start of the half-term break, a group of Year 13 pupils travelled to Berlin, Germany, on a sociology and criminology trip. Lead for Sociology and Criminology, Ms Kate Magee, reports:
On the last day before the half-term break, 19 Year 13 students who study sociology and criminology headed to Berlin in the early hours of the morning. The early start meant that they arrived around 3.00pm and their first stop was to ascend the 828 metres high TV Tower, which gives an ariel view of Berlin.
Other visits included the Typography of Terror, which is a pictorial history of the Holocaust; the impressive Brandenburg Gate; and the Reichstag Building with its futuristic glass dome. In the evenings, students and teachers enjoyed eating out in the centre of Berlin at German and Italian restaurants.
On the last day, the students visited Sachsenhausen which is a former concentration camp. All were moved by the experience as it represents one of the worst state crimes of all time. More than 200,000 men, women and children were kept there during the Second World War. Many died of diseases and starvation while others were shot, gassed, tortured, or sent on death marches, where many died walking through German forests in the height of winter.
Later that day, students also visited the East Side Gallery, which includes a standing portion of the Berlin Wall. This is now used as an artistic platform representing peace; a far cry from the wall’s original purpose which was to divide Soviet East and West Berlin.
Students returned to Shiplake tired, but culturally enriched, with a better understanding of the enormity of state crime and the power governments can have to commit them.
