A BBC animated series which featured six Holocaust survivors as characters has been nominated for a Bafta.

Children of the Holocaust is the first animated programme of its kind and aims to help teachers share the experience of the survivors which may otherwise be too graphic for children to comprehend.

The five-minute cartoons include one telling the harrowing story of a 14-year-old boy in Auschwitz, describing the squalid conditions in the camp and the cruelty of the Nazi guards.

The series was produced for the BBC by the Yorkshire-based company Fettle Animation.

Animators worked with the Holocaust Survivors Friendship Association, a Leeds charity which preserves testimonies of survivors locally.

Gideon Leventhall, a history teacher at Manchester's King David High School, was the educational consultant responsible for ensuring historical accuracy.

He said: "This is a radical approach to delivery of Holocaust education. I am very proud of it."

The cartoons feature the voices of survivors Ruth Rogoff, Martin Kapel, Trude Silman, Heinz Skyte, Arek Hersh and Suzanne Ripton, now all in their 80s and 90s.

The series will be shown to 13-year-olds as part of national curriculum Holocaust studies.