16504/9On the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps, do younger generations know enough about the atrocities that took place?

Liz Richardson reports on how west and north Wiltshire schools marked the official Memorial Day on Thursday.

A BBC survey last year revealed that 60 per cent of children and over half of adults under 35 had never heard of Auschwitz, one of the Nazi concentration camps where millions of Jews were killed during the Second World War.

But schools in north and west Wiltshire have been trying to redress that balance by educating pupils about the Holocaust and the issues it raises today.

At The Clarendon College sixth form students in Trowbridge spent their lunchtime teaching younger pupils about the concentration camps, with the help of a photo exhibition.

History teacher Alistair Paul said: "Next year, Year 9 will be looking at the Second World War and we are considering the idea of getting local survivors in to talk.

"Earlier in the year, our Performing Arts exchange to Poland included a visit to a concentration camp, which many of the students found very moving."

Among the graphic pictures shown to the youngsters was a shot of the gates of Auschwitz, while another showed corpses piled up to go into a mass grave.

The display also included accounts from survivors and a history of the Nazi party.

Mr Paul said the issues were taught extensively to the older pupils, but said it was important to include the younger pupils as well.

Sixth form students at The John of Gaunt School, Trowbridge, were given a presentation by head of history Roisin Davison about the camps and their impact on history, while discussions were arranged for younger pupils through assemblies and lesson-time.

Deputy headteacher Sarah Busby said: "We are very aware that children do not know about the events that took place and therefore felt it was very important that we marked such an occasion."

The nature of the Holocaust means it is not an easy topic to approach and schools are very aware of the possible distress learning of its horrors can cause pupils."

Vicky Bunting, head of Religious Studies at Kingdown School, Warminster, said although the persecution of the Jews was an important subject, it was not always an appropriate one to teach the younger pupils.

"Sometimes the younger children aren't able to deal with the issues it raises," she said.

Other schools, including St Augustine's Catholic College in Trowbridge, and Abbeyfield and Sheldon Schools in Chippenham, learned about the horrors of the camps in assemblies throughout the week.