PUPILS at Hodgson High School had a living history lesson this week when a survivor of the Holocaust came to talk about his experiences.

Paul Oppenheimer visited the school on January 22 in connection with the first-ever National Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27, and spoke of the atrocities he and his family witnessed as Jews during the Nazi rule.

Paul, now in his seventies, was 16 at the time of liberation and relayed his story to the whole of Year 9.

Paul lived with his family in Germany during the rise of Hitler and when his father lost his job his mother brought the children to England, leaving his father to make his own way.

His father managed to get to Holland and sent for the family, but when the Netherlands were invaded they were kept in a ghetto for Jews. Eventually they were taken to Bergen Belsen concentration camp -- notorious for its cruel physical and mental experiments. Katy Allen, head of history at Hodgson High School, said Paul and his siblings were liberated in 1945 from one of several trains which transported the Jews out of Bergen Belsen before the Allies arrived.

She said: "Paul's story was harrowing as he was very honest about what he remembers. His account of what happened was painful yet touching. He told the pupils that after being freed they had nowhere to go and ended up in hospital suffering from typhus and other diseases. Paul even got separated from his sister and was only reunited with her some years later."

She also said Paul's visit was especially poignant for him as it enabled him to make contact with a woman in America who was on the same train as him all those years ago. Katy said: "Last year we contacted a survivor in America and she began e-mailing lectures to the school. When I told her about Paul she realised they had been on the train together and wanted to make contact.

"I am sure the pupils will have learned so much more about the Holocaust than any book could ever teach them, and we are extremely lucky to have had this visit."