On the 7th April 2016 Mr Baker’s Year 4 English group went to visit the Jewish Museum which was a very special experience. We got to meet a Holocaust survivor called Olga Horak. We also met Jackie French and we did a question and answer session with her. After this we examined an Anne Frank timeline that showed us her life and changes that happened after World War 2 started.

The meeting with Olga was quite amazing. The experience of meeting someone who had survived such tragic and horrible years in a Concentration Camp made me think carefully about how fortunate I am. It was really sad to hear her talk about the cruel things that happened to her and her family. I also thought she was very brave to be able to speak to us about it without crying.

After we listened to Olga we met Jackie French. We listened to her talk about her book ‘Hitler’s Daughter’. She told us about the book’s character ‘Heidi’ and that she was not, in fact, Hitler’s real daughter, she was one of his orphan children that he looked after. Jackie also spoke to us about how many things in the book were events that happened in real life. For example, the bus driver, ‘Mrs Latter’ was based upon one of her good friends. They both had very strong opinions. When another character ‘Mark’ asked ‘Do Cows Sneeze?’ Jackie told us that her son had asked the same question.

After this we moved on to a life timeline of Anne Frank. It was really interesting to see a model of the house that Anne Frank hid in. I never knew that she and her family hid in a secret room behind a bookshelf. I also learnt that Anne had a sister. Her name was Margot. During the exhibition I had wondered why Anne Frank was so much more famous than all the other Jewish people during World War 2. I found out that this was because she wrote such a detailed diary – amazing for someone who was only 13 years old. I also thought it was a good contrast that the Anne Frank timeline also showed what was happening in the rest of the world during the days that Anne spent with her family hiding inside the house.

I learnt so much visiting the Jewish Museum. It was a wonderful experience and was a lot of information to listen to. I was very tired by the end of the day, exhausted from thinking and learning about so many things. I would recommend that it would be great if there could be more time to discuss everything we learned.

By Charlie Roberts 4V

Back Row: Lewis Saupin, William Richardson, Kian Chan, Liam West, Sacha De Rosnay, Andrew Vasilaras,
Charlie Roberts
Front Row: Brentson Lew, Toby Torrible, Roman Lewis, Charlie Gill

Charlie Gill with Holocaust survivor Olga Horak

Brentson Lew, Jackie French – author of Hitler’s Daughter, Sacha De Rosnay, Lewis Saupin, Andrew Vasilaras, Rome Lewis, Charlie Gill, Toby Torrible, Kian Chan

Anne Frank

Anne Frank’s Diary