HISTORY students visited a concentration camp and traced the route of the Nazis’ infamous 1923 coup on an educational trip to Munich.

From January 31 to February 2, Ilkley Grammar School’s History Department led 47 students on the educational trip.

The visit by Ilkley Grammar School students was intended to aid their understanding of Germany between 1919 and 1945, as well as providing a moving insight into the Holocaust.

The group visited Dachau, a concentration camp on the outskirts of Munich.

They then saw Germans surfing on the River Isar, thanks to a man-made bore on the river that creates a surfable wave.

There was also no shortage of sights relating to their historical studies, with a tour of the university, where Hitler had attended lectures by some of the leading anti-Semitic and nationalist thinkers of the day.

The university was also famous for resistance to the Nazis during the Second World War, when a student group called the White Rose led a propaganda campaign against the Nazis.

The students who led the group were captured and killed.

The school also visited Haus Der Kunst, the German art house created by the Nazis and typical of their architectural style – intended to show strength and order, with a strong classical influence.

The group then traced the route that Hitler and the Nazis took during their 1923 Putsch where they attempted, and failed, to overthrow the government, ending in Feldherrnhalle, the square where 16 Nazis were killed in their failed coup.

The second day was spent visiting the beautiful town of Nuremberg, where the group visited the Nazi rally grounds and the Museum of Fascination and Terror, located in the Nazi Congress Hall. At the museum, students learned about the two central pillars of Nazi control – propaganda or indoctrination and fear.

Following this, the school group visited the Palace of Justice where the Nuremberg Trials were held. The students sat in the courtroom where senior Nazis, such as Hermann Goering and Rudolf Hess, were tried for their crimes against humanity.

The group enjoyed dinner at the Hofbrauhaus – the biggest beer hall in Munich, capable of seating as many as 6,000 customers – on the evening of the second day.

However, the visit was not all about history, and the students were given time to spend taking in Munich for themselves. The visit to BMW World also proved popular with students getting to sit in or on some highly-expensive cars and motorbikes.