Year 10 Jewish Studies students are introduced to the Shoah

On Thursday 25 June 2020, Dr William Allington ‘Zoomed’ the Year 10 cohort, (seated in their separate classrooms,) to discuss the highly prevalent Holocaust denial. 

There were two sessions in the presentation. When we first entered our classrooms and listened to what he had to say, we thought we were being confronted by a Holocaust denier. Allington presented us with a range of facts to back up his arguments, claiming, amongst other things, that there is no real evidence to show that six million Jews were killed during WWII or that the main orders were directly from Hitler. Many students were extremely shocked and upset by this unprecedented confrontation, questioning his beliefs and his intentions. 

At the end of the first session, Allington, who is not Jewish, revealed to us that he was actually posing as a Holocaust denier the whole time and that he devotes his life to educating people on how to respond to Holocaust denial (and has in fact completed his Honours and PhD degrees on the subject).

During the second session, Allington taught us what to do if ever confronted by a Holocaust denier. He gave us a range of evidence and techniques to use to rebut against arguments of denial and the different pillars of denial that we could respond to. The presentation was extremely helpful as we are now able respectfully confront a Holocaust denier, as well as teach others about why the Holocaust did undoubtedly happen.

By Anna Gil-Munoz, Jayda Sacks and Tori Shapiro, Year 10