Holocaust survivor visits Oldcastle secondary school

St Oliver Post-Primary School in Oldcastle welcomed Holocaust survivor, Tomi Reichental, to the school recently when transition, fifth and sixth year students, teachers and members of the local community gathered to listen to his harrowing experience of being an eyewitness to some of the darkest and most horrific days of modern history. At the age of nine, Tomi Reichental, with his mother, brother, grandmother, aunt and cousin, was incarcerated in the notorious Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Mr Reichental reminded everyone about the importance of educating the future generations to understand and fight against prejudice and discrimination. He reminded his audience that the Holocaust did not begin with gas chambers - it began with whispers and racial slurs. Every student in the school had remembered one child who died in the Holocaust, and in their various religion classes, had placed this name on individual candles which they were able to show to Mr Reichental. At the end of the talk, some transition year students presented Mr Reichental with an olive tree, a universal symbol for peace, to commemorate his visit to the school. Mr Reichental also signed copies of his book 'I was a Boy in Belsen' for many of his interested audience. Tomi Reichental's visit was arranged by Ms Aoife Moynihan and the transition year history class. Mr Reichental was invited to the Oldcastle school as part of a schools programme run by the Holocaust Educational Trust of Ireland, which aims to educate and inform young people about the horrors of racism and intolerance towards minority communities.