The History students from St Paul’s High School at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.

Students from Year 13 recently visited Berlin as part of their AS Level History studies.  Accompanied by Head of Department Mr Emmett McCaffrey and History teacher Mr Neil McArdle the students enjoyed their time in the historical German capital.  Year 13 student, Niamh McGovern recorded the students’ activities and visits during their time away.

Day 1

After an entire day of travelling, and arriving on Wittenbergplatz, the best impression of the city is definitely at night. After finally arriving at the hotel for a quick stop off, we went on a walking tour of the city… they said walking tour but every stop took a train to get to- first to the Brandenburg gate, very spectacular at night, and then the surrounding landmarks… Mr McArdle now holds the record of the highest piece of chewing gum on the Berlin wall (he needed about 3 people’s help for the height). The Holocaust Memorial, although quiet and respectful, makes an epic snowball arena.

The Russian war memorial is a great place for photos with T-34 tanks, and a random soviet soldier statue… perfect for Mr McCaffrey to show off his hipster camera (which didn’t take colour photos). After the crash tour of the city, we dined at the Sony centre, a very modern German looking building. The food was great, from pizza to crocodile to choose from. Staff very friendly, giving free glasses away- Ryan was in his element. And Sinead’s best souvenir from Germany was a 2ft Beer glass.

Day 2

Early morning we took yet another train, this time to Checkpoint Charlie House, the highly acclaimed museum, and quite huge. Brilliant exhibitions on the Berlin wall years, and the perfect street to buy your own Russian Bolshevik hat, we were a mini march of communists on Berlin’s streets. This street in particular was very cultural, littered with war stalls and a re-enactment base, perfect to get a taste of history.

After a quick lunch in Mcdonalds, which, surprise, tastes exactly the same as anywhere else in the world, we went on another tour… an alternative tour and one of the best points of the trip.

Tour guide, Ben, from outside Boston- there’s no other word for him but awesome, led us through the backstreet, cultural side of Berlin. Graffiti is everywhere, they dedicate a whole house to it, it’s about 8 floors and filled with German art. He took us to every corner of Berlin, Berlin has about 6,000 number 6′s graffitied on walls, and a lot of a girl called Lucy who kills cats!!  After a long walk through the city, we went to the Reichstag parliamentary building- a rare opportunity, as they don’t usually let big groups through. After security checks, where they took our Russian hats off us, we had a late tour, and were able to see the viewing dome, built new after the second world war, and a fantastic night time view of the city.

Then we went out and had kangaroo and crocodile burgers, trying to be very German.

Day 3

This trip was much more about the history of Germany rather than their culture; we took an early and long train outside the city to Sachsenhausen, the closest concentration camp to Berlin. Probably the most serious trip we took, but very interesting. The entire place was absolutely silent, and literally had an eerie feel to it. By far, the Nazi exhibition was the most impressive, and one of the largest.

We got back to Wittenbergplatz  and all separated, I took a trip on the train to the Kreuzberg district and it’s  more unique style shops, rather than the main shopping street and got a taste of modern/alternative German music culture, literature (well, comic books) and fashion.

The small Chinese restaurant beside the hotel is 5 star. The atmosphere in the hotel was excellent; give a St Paul’s group 2 decks of cards and some drinks, and we have one very serious card tournament. Just don’t let any of them do a victory dance, (no names, but it’ not a student).

Day 4

We had an early walk back to the Brandenburg Gate, down Unter din Linden; it’s like a gateway to the best street in Berlin and packed with landmarks. The German Volkswagen showroom, looked very sophisticated, has a really cool collection of vintage cars…and 1.8 million dollar Bugatti Veyron  Unter din Linden street is packed full of historic monuments and further down, Berlin Cathedral; the most impressive German architecture in my opinion.

St Paul’s Science students demonstrating an experiment to a P7 pupil and a parent at Open Day. 

St Paul’s High School, Bessbrook held its annual Open Day on Saturday 25 January.  Prospective pupils from Primary 7 classes in our feeder primary schools and their parents visited the school in large numbers.  They were guided around the school by our current Year 8 and Year 9 students and shown the different departments, getting a flavour for what the school is about.

Principal Mr Oliver Mooney addressed parents and pupils on the day.  A video of Mr Mooney’s address is available below.

Prospective parents and pupils of St. Paul’s can watch the video to experience a virtual tour of the school.

A selection of photographs from Open Day 2012 are visible below.

The launch of an exciting new multimedia local heritage project was celebrated at St Paul’s High School recently.  ‘Living in the View of Slieve Gullion’ is a collaborative project between the Bessbrook post-primary school, and six of its partner primary schools which showcases the many aspects of the shared local history between the younger and older pupils.

The project was funded as an Extended Schools initiative and involved close collaboration between the seven schools, St Paul’s High School, Bessbrook, Ballymoyer Primary School, St Malachy’s Primary School, Camlough, Drumilly Primary School, St Joseph’s Primary School, Bessbrook, St Peter’s Primary School, Cloughreagh and St Joseph’s Primary School, Meigh.

Speaking at the launch of the project, recently retired Principal of St Joseph’s Primary School, Meigh, Mr Brian McKinley said, “This was a project based on cultural heritage, that combined the best of the Revised Curriculum, involved generations working together within our communities and involved recording the heritage of each area to be presented in an accessible format for future generations.”

“The main aim was to draw together information from several communities into a single resource which would promote and nurture awareness of the past.  We hope that this pack will be viewed as a showcase of places of interest in the area and will hopefully motivate people to come and visit these sites, looking at them from a fresh perspective.”

Principal of St Paul’s High School, Mr Oliver Mooney, congratulated the pupils and their teachers for their effort and commitment in producing such a valuable resource.  Mr Mooney said, “Our cultural heritage defines who we are, and it is our responsibility to maintain and to pass it on.  This multimedia project will assist in that responsibility and educate and inform generations to come”.

Chairman of Governors of St Paul’s High School, and Principal of St Peter’s Primary School, Cloughreagh, Mr John Campbell, paid tribute to the hard work of the team involved in the production of the multimedia project and added that he hoped the material would be widely available in the local community.

The project was co-ordinated by Bursar at St Paul’s High School, Bessbrook, Mrs Sharon Cowan and designed and edited by Mrs Siobhán O’Hare, assisted by Mr Conor Starrs.

The project was launched in the presence of the pupils from the primary schools involved, as well as their parents, teachers, and members of local history and heritage groups, and the Mayor of Newry & Mourne District Council, Councillor Mick Murphy, as well as local councillors.

Read the interactive online version of ‘Living in the View of Slieve Gullion’ by turning the pages below left or right.

If you’d like to receive a copy of ‘Living in the View of Slieve Gullion’ please contact St Paul’s on (028) 3083 0309 or emailing us by clicking here.

Pictured with the Year 12 and 13 students is Holocaust Survivor Mrs Joanna Millan

On Wednesday 9^th March, Year 12 and Year 13 History students had the opportunity to meet with Mrs Joanna Millan in Bagnel’s Castle. Mrs Millan was giving an account of her life and that of her family, who suffered so terribly during the Holocaust of the Second World War.

At the age of three she found herself in the back of an RAF bomber plane being flown to England. She had only days before being “liberated” from Theresienstadt Concentration camp in Czechoslovakia. Here she had spent two years in which time her mother had died from TB. Her father had already been sent to Auschwitz camp where he had died.

Joanna told us about her childhood. The British government had only accepted the children from the camps on the condition that they would leave again as soon as their education was finished. Having spent a number of years in institutions Joanna was adopted by a Jewish couple who changed her birth name Bela Rosenthal to Joanna in an attempt to leave the past behind and give her a new future.

Joanna told us of the painstaking work she had completed over the years to try and piece together her family tree. Her father had fought for the German Army in the First World War and had been captured by the Russians. His family had received notification that he was missing presumed dead. In actual fact he had been sent deep into Russia and was forced to live there until 1938! He arrived home to his sister’s house in Berlin after 23 years of his family thinking he was dead. His time with his family was short as he was arrested by the Nazis and sent to the camps in 1943.

Joanna’s story stretched around the world, with chance meetings turning up distant relations in Australia, Israel and even Buenos Aires. Each of these strands she teased out in the hour or so she spent talking to us.

There was a question and answer session following the talk and our students had the opportunity to probe more into the parts of the story that appealed to them most. Newry and Mourne Council provided us with a delightful lunch and we spend some time chatting with Joanna in an informal setting.

Pictured are pupils from 10/72 who planted yellow crocuses as a memorial to the victims of the Nazi Holocaust in Europe.

The bulbs were kindly donated to St Paul’s by the Holocaust Educational Trust.

Two years ago Eva Clarke, a survivor, spoke to History students about her family’s experiences during the Second World War and we are pleased that students will once again have this opportunity to meet Ms Clarke when she will deliver a talk in Newry on 24 March.

Monday 14^th February

The group of 17 students took off from Dublin early on Monday 14^th February. Despite the 6am check in, we were delayed by mobs of victorious Frenchmen heading home after their Six Nations match.  “How nice for the French to have some victories”, some wag commented as we headed for the Berlin departure gate.

After a slight mishap involving  a suitcase left in the Berlin underground, which was everyone else’s fault except Mr McCaffrey’s, we arrived at the splendidly appointed Sylter Hof Hotel on the exclusive Kurfursten Strasse.  After a short  rest, in which, with typical German efficiency, the small suitcase, lost in the entire Berlin transport network, turned up, we headed off for the main sites of the city centre.

We had a photo call at the Brandenburg Gate and then made our way to the Russian War Memorial.  With a childlike enthusiasm, our students had soon climbed all over the Russian T36 tanks on display.  Ruaridhri Groom struck a pose which left us in no doubt that he would not have survived long at Kursk.

From there we headed down Unter den Linden, stopping off to visit the Deutsche Guggenheim gallery of modern art, making our way to Alexanderplatz, the main square of the old East Berlin.  The main feature of Alexanderplatz is the Fernsehturm TV tower, a massive spike of 1200 ft.  Built in the socialist realist style, it was an attempt by the Communist East German government to block the TV signals coming from the capitalist West Berlin. Despite the controversial history of the building, our main goal was to get to the viewing platform to see the glorious views over the Berlin skyline on a fine, crisp and cloudless night.

Tuesday 15^th February

Despite our exhaustion from the previous day’s travelling and walking, we set off from the hotel at 9.30am. Continuing our History theme, we visited “Checkpoint Point Charlie”, the official crossing point during the Berlin Wall days between the Russian and American sectors of the city.  Our students got a full insight into the impact of the Wall from visiting the Checkpoint Charlie Museum.  It was fascinating to see and read about the ingenious escape accounts of desperate citizens wishing to leave the old East Berlin.  Particularly interesting  was the man who smuggled his girlfriend across by hollowing out the front seat of his car.

Around the corner on Niederkirchnerstraße , we stopped at the “Topography of Terror”. This site is the ruined remains of the Nazi Gestapo headquarters.

Nazi history is, unfortunately, a topic that our students are familiar with. Hoping to see that there was so much more to Berlin, in the afternoon we had a tour of “alternative” Berlin.

Our guide, Penny, met us at our hotel and told us that the first thing we would do  would be to leave the gentrified surroundings of Kurfurstendamm. Heading for the Kreuzberg district of the city, we were in for a three hour tour of the edges of the thriving counter culture. I was particularly impressed that this was the home of David Bowie during his Krautrock period of albums like “Low” and “Heroes” (others were less impressed by this!).

The street art and graffiti was amazing. One building was home to “50 Faces” by Graco, huge portraits on a block of run down flats that had remained untouched by vandals and graffiti tags since 1999. We also visited “Tommy Weisbecker Huas” a political activist centre named after a member of the RAF (Baader Meinhof) terror group who had been active in West Berlin in the 70s.

Penny seemed to live this lifestyle rather than being just a tourist guide. We got a tour of camps, squats and alternative lifestyles that we certainly would not have got sticking to the tourist guidebooks and we were very grateful to her for giving us a behind the scenes look.

In the evening we had an appointment in the Reichstag, home of the German Government. We had arranged this weeks’ before and were extremely fortunate to be granted a guided tour, now that the building is closed to the public due to security. It certainly was a highlight of the trip.

Our guide was Nicole, who was particularly impressed with St Paul’s students’ answers concerning the history of the building. She admitted that not even German people knew that Kroll Opera House was the replacement parliament after the Reichstag burnt down in 1933.

Sitting in the parliament chamber Nicole easily answered our questions, including one on how much money Angela Merkel was paid as German Chancellor.  The building is a real blend of the old with the ultra modern. From the graffiti of Soviet soldiers during the Battle for Berlin in 1945 to the glass and steel dome designed by British architect Sir Norman Foster, our students were suitably impressed with the access we were accorded, and we all appreciated the opportunity to stroll around the rooftop and take in the sites of the busy city below.

Wednesday 16^th February

And all too soon it was our last full day in Berlin.

Our destination in the morning was Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg  Concentration Camp. There was a notably subdued mood in the group as we travelled the 35miles north in the knowledge that this camp was the model for so many more camps during the Final Solution.  Although not a death camp but primarily for political prisoners of the Nazi regime, this gave us little comfort as we walked about its enclosures. Evidence of the crimes committed there are still evident with huts preserved as they were. Particularly harrowing was the visit to the execution trench, gas chamber and crematoria. For students who have for so long studied the National Socialists, it was an opportunity to put into context why exactly the topic has remained a central part of history teaching.

After an interminable train ride to the city centre, our students were given free time to explore and shop in the Kurfurstendamm area. Hoping to find somewhere showing the Barcelona- Arsenal match we retired to the hotel lobby and an early night for our flight home in the morning. Our transfer to Schonefeld Airport on Thursday morning went very smoothly after it was pointed out to Mr. McCaffrey that the train we had been travelling on for half an hour was in actual fact going to Dusseldorf and not the airport.