History: 2015/16

Holocaust Visit: Carlow College

APRIL 29, 2016

On Wednesday the 13th April Ms. Collins took the fifth year history students and the Proclamation group leaders in 1A1 on a history trip to Carlow College. Carlow College was opening an exhibition on photographs taken by Auschwitz survivors “Traces of Memory Exhibition” and these photographs were on loan from a museum in Krakow. Included in the photos we saw was the gates of Oscar Schindler’s factory in Krakow and also a photograph of the destruction of a Jewish cemetery illustrating how the Nazis made the Jews break up Jewish headstones and lay them down as roads for the Nazi soldiers to walk on. The highlight of the trip was when Tomi Reichental (a Jewish man who was in Bergen Belsen concentration camp) stood up and gave us a brief but touching account of how his life dramatically changed after the Nazi occupation of Slovakia in 1944. His account was disturbing yet had to be heard. Through his vivid and heart wrenching account we could only just imagine the incredible cruelty and hardships he suffered in Bergen Belsen as a nine year old boy. It really brought home to us the terrible acts of evil that were committed during World War Two. We were fortunate enough to get our photograph taken with Tomi Reichental and meet a Holocaust survivor in real life. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

We left the exhibition moved by what we had just heard. No history books facts or account on the Nazi regime comes close to witnessing at first hand the damage,destruction and pure evilness these people were subjected too. Traces of memory must never be wiped out. We were delighted to have been fortunate enough to hear and meet this great man a real life invaluable first hand eyewitness account.

Breaking News: We are currently on the waiting list for Tomi Reichenstal to visit our school and give us a more detailed account of what he suffered at the hands of the Nazis

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Irish National Heritage Park 2nd Year History

BY · APRIL 26, 2016

ferrycarriag6The 2nd Years and their history teachers from St Pauls visited the Irish National Heritage Park in Ferrycarraig where we left behind the 21st century and travelled back in time…

We were guided around the park which contain 13 sites depicting the settlement of man in Ireland from 7000BC to the Viking invasion. All the sites are authentically furnished (that is they look like they did back then) to allow us to see first hand what it was really like for our ancestors.

The guided tour lasted approximately two hours and began with a 15-minute audio-visualferrycarraid10presentation. One of the park’s experienced costumed tour guides dressed up like a viking bringing the 2nd years back in time starting at the Stone Age, going through the Bronze and Iron Ages, Early Christian Ireland and finishing at the Viking invasion. Each student was expertly guided through the major changes in Irish history, learning how people worked, lived and died, the guide really knew his history stuff.

 

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History Week 2015

BY · NOVEMBER 13, 2015

St Paul’s Annual Interschools History Table Quiz

St Pauls held its 4th annual interschools this week during History Week and although numbers were down from last year, the competition was still fierce. For the 4th year in a row we had a different winner, that being Ardscoil na Trionoide from Athy, who led all the way from the start, narrowly beating KTCS into second place with 52 points to 50. St Pauls managed to get into the medals by coming third with not a bad score of 49 points.

ardscoil quiz                         ktcs quiz                         st pauls quiz

 

Many thanks to Mr Kaye for setting some fine historical questions that got heads scratching and we couldn’t do without our fantastic quizmaster Mr Marron who acted as Fear an Tí on the occasion.

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