PUPILS at Basingstoke's John Hunt of Everest Community School this week took part in a lesson they should never forget.

Teenagers from Year 10 were given a talk by Holocaust survivor Rudi Oppenheimer as part of a personal health and social education day at the school in Popley.

Mr Oppenheimer wanted to illustrate the message that we need tolerance in our society.

He was certainly speaking from a position of personal experience since, as a 12-year-old boy, he and his family were taken to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp during the Second World War.

He spoke movingly of how, as Jews living in Germany, his family had moved to Amsterdam to escape from the Nazis.

But following Holland's occupation by the Germans, they were forced to live in the infamous concentration camp in Poland, where his parents eventually died of typhus.

Eventually, he and his older brother Paul were liberated by Russian soldiers and were sent back to Holland, only to be detained in a "foreign enemy" camp - where many other inmates wore SS and Gestapo uniforms.

Mr Oppenheimer, who lives in London but travelled to Basingstoke to share his experiences, said his story is very poignant and relevant with what is happening in the world today.

"People should be tolerant and make sure that Britain stays democratic," said Mr Oppenheimer.

"For example, after the atrocities of September 11, I wouldn't have liked to have been a Muslim in Britain, because every Muslim here was treated more or less as one of the bombers and, of course, they haven't done anything - a bit like me in Germany as a Jew. I hadn't done a thing."

Mr Oppenheimer's story left a marked impression on his young audience.

Hannah Ballard, 14, said: "It really touched me - you don't understand how serious the Holocaust was until you hear it from somebody's mouth."

Jodi Heath, 14, agreed. She said: "It was interesting because usually we only learn about facts from text books, but not how it was and how it felt."

Danielle Hobbs, 14, said she was impressed with Mr Oppenheimer's courage: "I am amazed that, despite all he went through, he has remained a very positive person," she said.