The FA confirmed today that during their stay in Krakow the England Euro 2012 squad will make a visit to Auschwitz Concentration Camp after being criticised in the past for not sampling local heritage sites.

The World Cup 2010 campaign in South Africa was marred by so many things – on and off the pitch – one of these being the failure of English players to appreciate local culture.

This sudden thirst for history does wreak a little of a PR stunt, but as a History graduate who specialised in Nazi Germany; it feels uncomfortable to hear Auschwitz associated with a piece of image management.

Over 1 million people lost their lives between 1940 and 1945 during the camp’s operational years – murder on an industrial scale was carried out in the second camp at Birkenau.

The birds genuinely do not sing over Birkenau even today – to stare straight into the abyss of humanity is not a way of keeping in touch with the people.

Sampling the local attractions should always be encouraged considering the gulf between footballers and fans – this is not the answer – it has potential to be what it is intended not to be (a PR nightmare) and have a detrimental effect on the team’s preparation.

The Holocaust is a sensitive, sensitive issue and rightly so – one image of an England player supposedly not showing interest, breaking a smile, using their phone will burn them with the press – whether in context or not.

Moreover, if the players are left alone to concentrate on what they see and hear – it will disturb them forever. However, it could unite them as a group.

If this is done properly, a lot of young minds will have their perspectives on life torn asunder in a matter of hours – they will learn something about the world and hopefully about themselves.

But the organisers of this pilgrimage are dicing with death – literally.  It takes mental preparation to enter Birkenau. As if the mountains of human hair and horror stories of Auschwitz are not enough – the second camp is the outermost end of the world.

It’s something everybody should do. With that said, it’s not to be taken lightly. This is not white-water rafting with your mates or shopping with your girlfriend.

One thing is for sure – it might serve to quell the tension we have seen on the pitch from our players in past tournaments.

A trip to Hell on Earth will show them that there is a lot more to life than winning a football match.