England U21 football squad pay visit to Auschwitz
Young Lions went to site of concentration camp during day off at European Championships in Poland.
Andrew Sherwood is the Jewish News Sport and Community Editor
Several members of England’s U21 football squad paid a poignant visit to the site of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp on Saturday.
In Poland for the UEFA U21 European Championships, the squad had a day off ahead of their semi-final match against Germany on Tuesday, and along with head coach Aidy Boothroyd and other members of staff, spent a couple of hours at the site.
Captain James Ward-Prowse said it was a trip many of the players wanted to make, telling FA.com: “It’s something that I’ve wanted to do for a long while and I think a few of the other lads felt the same as well. It was something we raised when we knew that we had some free time between games that we’d like to do, come and visit Auschwitz to pay our respects to those who sadly lost their lives.
“It was moving and a very humbling experience for all of us.It’s obviously a tragic thing that happened and it’s been an experience for us to come and see what went on and where it happened. It’s good to be able to use some of our time in Poland to come and see it.”
Boothroyd said: “It was something that we wanted to do, it’s a poignant and quite an upsetting place, but it’s somewhere that everybody should visit to see what happened there.
“It is a place that I’m glad I’ve gone to, it just puts things into perspective and in a strange way, I’m pleased that a lot of the lads wanted to go and visit to show their respect.
“We’ve done what I think is the right thing. Everybody wanted to go, staff and players, so I’m glad we’ve done it.”
The group were taken on a guided tour of two main sites at Auschwitz, which included a walk into the death chambers, before heading a few kilometres to the second camp at Birkenau.
Southampton midfielder Ward-Prowse added: “You hear and learn about the Holocaust and it’s a tragic thing, but to actually go to Auschwitz and see the scale of it, it brings it home to you about the enormity of it all.”
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
