STUDENTS and teachers from a Dorking secondary school have illuminated their history lessons with some first-hand input from a Nazi Holocaust survivor.
As part of their A2 History course, 17 students and two staff members from the Ashcombe School travelled to Berlin to meet author Inge Deutschkron, one of the few Jews who managed to escape deportation during the Second World War.
From 1941 to 1943, she worked for the celebrated businessman Otto Weidt at the Berlin brush workshop where he fought to secure the safety of his Jewish workforce from the Gestapo by falsifying documents and bribing officers.
Having survived the war thanks to Mr Weidt, Ms Deutschkron and her mother moved to London where she studied foreign languages and became secretary to the Socialist International Organisation.
She went on to work as a journalist in Germany and Israel, write the autobiography I Wore The Yellow Star and work for the Museum of Otto Weidt and the Silent Heroes Museum in Berlin.
The Ashcombe students were able to listen to the 90-year-old's story for two hours, during which time they were also given the opportunity to ask her a wide variety of questions.
School spokesman Chris Panting said the students had taken a great deal from the session.
Mr Panting added Ashcombe was one of only three schools lucky enough to meet Ms Deutschkron this year and had been invited back next year.
