History Speaks International

14 March 08 This week we have been conducting a teacher training seminar in Lithuania, with colleagues from House of Memory, Lithuania and with teachers from Lithuania and Romania. The project is a part of the History Speaks programme and the teachers were there to learn about the history of the Holocaust, to visit sites of the Holocaust, and to learn how to take video testimony and work with their pupils on capturing the local history of the Holocaust. Read more here.

Holocaust survivors to give public talks
at Centre during half-term break

Sept – Dec 08 - Aegis and Mashirika present Africa’s Hope - a story of survival through music and dance. A play by Hope Azeda.

Rwandan youth theatre group, Mashirika, return to the UK bringing a new version of their internationally-successful play, telling the story of their own genocide. Inspired by their personal experiences as survivors and refugees, the cast use music and dance on stage, aiming to share their memories, challenge perceptions and ultimately to inspire action. Through performances and workshops in theatres and schools across the UK, the term ‘genocide’ is made visible, accessible and relevant to everyday life in British society. Described by UK audiences in 2006 as “an incredibly high quality piece of work” and “education for life”, this is a show that can’t be missed.  

“The performance by Mashirika provides hope.  It raises awareness and prevents amnesia. It is a moving and stunning piece of theatre that deserves to be seen.” Gregory Topalian, Teacher, Hockerill  Language College

See more info at Masharika's website  and on the Visiting Arts Website .

Booking and information, contact Kate Struthers on 01623 836 627 or kate.struthers@aegistrust.org.

21 Jan 08 - The UK Holocaust Centre, home of the Aegis Trust for genocide prevention, yesterday staged a unique candle-lit vigil to mark the forthcoming national Holocaust Memorial Day. Over 1500 candles were set out in a 1,000-square-metre space spelling out the words ‘remember, reflect, react’ – this year’s theme for the Day – alongside a giant version of the Holocaust Centre’s ‘flame of memory’.

Australian Jorge Pujol (from the arts group ‘Art for Earth’) designing the work, and was assisted in its execution by around 30 volunteers. “Jorge is the world’s leading artist in this field, and we were thrilled to have him with us,” says Centre Director Dr Stephen Smith.

Among those lighting the candles were individuals who survived or escaped the Holocaust and genocide in Rwanda and Darfur – along with Home Office Minister and local MP Vernon Coaker, Cllr Sylvia Michael, Chair of Newark and Sherwood District Council, and local students, including members of Aegis Societies in Nottingham and Derby. Pupils from West Bridgford School in Nottingham also took part.

Participants reflect

At the age of six, Nottingham resident Bob Norton fled to Britain from his native Czechoslovakia to escape the Nazi occupation. “As Jews, there was no future for us under the Nazis,” he said. “Imagine what it means to be demonised to the point where you and your whole family can be killed simply because of who you are.”

Read more here

Messinger and Zuroff speak at Holocaust Centre with Limmud



26 Dec 07 – The Holocaust Centre – home of the Aegis Trust – became a satellite of the Limmud conference for a day earlier this week with sessions from Ruth Messinger, President of the American Jewish World Service, Ephraim Zuroff, Director of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, and survivors of the Holocaust and the Rwandan genocide.

Zuroff offered a compelling overview of the Wiesenthal Centre’s investigations of Nazi war criminals, highlighting the need to deny impunity to the perpetrators of genocide no matter how old they might be.

Read more here

Interfaith workcamp visits Holocaust Centre

15 Aug 07 - The Leicester-based 'Inter-Faith Gardening Work Camp', founded 12 years ago in memory of Dr Elchanan Elkes (who died in the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau), this week visited the UK Holocaust Centre, home to the Aegis Trust.

Participants included young people from Zambia, Portugal, Germany, Switzerland, Turkey, Slovenia, Italy, Morocco and the UK.

They assisted with maintenance of its stunning memorial gardens, where almost a thousand white roses have now been planted by survivors and others to commemorate loved ones lost in the Holocaust.

Learning for the future

“It’s very important to remember this part of history and to learn about it so that we can help prevent it from happening again in the future,” commented Samuel Schmid from Switzerland. “That’s why I think the Holocaust Centre is so valuable.”

Read more here

Germany honours Holocaust survivor and educationalist Batsheva Dagan

13 August 2007 - Holocaust survivor Batsheva Dagan was honoured on Monday 13th August in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.  A special service award was presented to Batsheva by Dr Harald Ringstorff, President of the German Bundesrat, recognising her extraordinary educational work with young people and her commitment to fighting racism and extremism.

This is the second such medal awarded to Batsheva this year.  In April, she was honoured by the state of Brandenburg and the medal was presented at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem by Brandenburg’s President, Matthias Platzeck.

Batsheva is the author of four books for children, including If the Stars Could Only Speak, published by the Holocaust Centre in 2006.  She has also written a book of poetry, Imagination: Blessed Be, Cursed Be, inspired by her experiences in the Holocaust and also published by the Holocaust Centre.

Weekend Holocaust Survivor Talks during July 08

Eva Clarke		Joanna Milan

Eva Clarke and Joanna Milan will give an account of their Holocaust experience this weekend (4th&5th) at The Holocaust Centre, Laxton, near Newark, North Nottinghamshire. Visitors will have a rare opportunity to hear their inspirational stories and engage in stimulating discussion with them surrounding their experiences.

Eva, speaking at 3pm on Saturday, was born in 1945 in Mauthausen Concentration camp. She recalls how her mother miraculously survived the horrors of Theresiendandt, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Mauthausen and working in an armaments factory in Dresden. Her mother managed to endure slave labour, roll calls and marches despite being pregnant with Eva. The remaining family came to Britain in 1946.

Joanna details her experiences of Nazi Germany on Sunday at 3pm. Born in Germany, her father, who had fought for Germany in WW1, was murdered and she was sent to Theresienstadt Concentration camp with her mother. Joanna survived the Holocaust as orphan and was part of ‘The Boys’ movement, a group of young Holocaust survivors who came over to Britain in 1945.

"I was one of less than 100 that came out alive in 1945," Joanna said. "I believe I was saved because I had no one to take me to the gas chambers."

These talks are part of the Summer programme of weekend talks running at The Holocaust Centre until the end of September, every Saturday and Sunday at 3pm.

ENDS

For more information, or to arrange interviews, contact Kathryn Thomas, 01623 836627, or David Brown, 07921 471985

Holocaust Centre addresses local impact of migration

The first of two ground-breaking seminars addressing the challenges of migration for Nottinghamshire and the Midlands will tomorrow be held at the Holocaust Centre, near Laxton.
 
In the context of dispersal of asylum seekers across the Midlands, and rising numbers of migrants from Eastern Europe living and working in local communities, participants from across the county will gather to discuss what it means to be a migrant. They will consider challenges and opportunities for communities to which migrants are contributing, and think about ways to deal with potential fears, prejudice and discrimination.
 
Read more here

In memory of Pieter Steinhardt

12 June 07 – Holocaust survivor Pieter Steinhardt, a warm friend and supporter of the Holocaust Centre, passed away at 8.30am yesterday, Monday 11 June, following a painful but courageous battle with cancer. He leaves behind no family.
 
“Pieter attended almost every event here at the Holocaust Centre,” said co-founder Mrs Marina Smith. “We used to see Peter coming up in his beloved car to join here the family of child survivors to which he belonged. The memory of his loyalty and interest in our work will remain with us, and it is with real sadness that we mourn his passing.”
 
Pieter was born on the 6th April 1936, the only son of German parents who had fled to the Netherlands during the rise of the Nazis in Hitler’s Germany.
 
After his father’s arrest by the Gestapo, his mother sent him into hiding, aged only five or six years old. “Above all other feelings, a sense of guilt engulfed me about leaving my mother and maternal grandparents,” he recalled in the recently published book ‘Zachor: Child Survivors Speak’. “I knew I would never see them again.”

Read more here

Concentration camp survivors to speak every weekend at Holocaust Centre

10 May 07 - For the first time since opening, the Holocaust Centre (situated between Laxton and Ollerton, in north Notts) is running a full summer of weekend talks by survivors of Nazi concentration camps such as Auschwitz and Belsen.

Every Saturday and Sunday, from now to the end of September, members of the public visiting the Centre will be able to sit down at 3.00pm to hear one individual’s account of those terrible years – and then ask questions and engage in discussion.

“In the past we’ve limited public weekend survivor talks to August, but we wanted to open up this opportunity to a larger audience,” says Dr James Smith, the Centre’s Chief Executive. “Time takes its toll. Survivors of the Holocaust will not be with us forever. While they are able and willing to share their experiences, as many people who can hear them, should.”

‘Read more here

Bob Rosner: In Memoriam

27 April 07 – Bob Rosner, who escaped the Third Reich as a child with the Kindertransport and went on to become a highly successful architect before retiring and joining the Holocaust Centre’s speakers team, passed away suddenly in hospital today after experiencing a massive heart attack at the Holocaust Centre where earlier he had been sharing his experiences with schoolchildren.

Chief Executive Dr James Smith was the first medical professional on the scene and paid tribute to the response of the emergency services, which arrived within minutes. Conscious on leaving the Centre and able to talk, Mr Rosner was taken by air ambulance to Lincoln Hospital , where he died soon after.

"Bob was a dear friend and colleague, whose loss leaves both us and the World a poorer place,” says Dr Smith. “We extend our deepest sympathy to his widow and family at this painful time, and share their grief and shock at Bob’s sudden death.He gave unstintingly of his time to the cause of Holocaust education and genocide prevention. His insights, thoughtful eloquence and passion for justice will not be forgotten.”

Read more here

UK Holocaust Education needs investment

17th April 07- Serious concerns have been raised internationally about the state of
Holocaust education in the UK in the wake of media stories following publication of a DfES-funded report, 'Teaching Emotive and Controversial History' . The report, published by the Historical Association, found that some teachers had dropped the Holocaust from lessons over fears that Muslim pupils might express antisemitic reactions in class. It also gave the example of one history department in a secondary school in a northern city which decided not to teach the Holocaust as a topic for GCSE coursework. Coverage included, among other outlets, the Mail,Telegraph and the Guardian .

However, despite fears in some quarters that the findings of this report indicate the widespread collapse of Holocaust education in the UK, the Holocaust has not been removed from the National Curriculum and the UK Holocaust Centre in North Notts - home of genocide prevention organisation the Aegis Trust - continues to receive up to 600 school students each week, studying the Holocaust as part of the curriculum.

Indeed, so great is demand for the Holocaust Centre, it has to turn away one in two school booking requests (which amounts to turning away another 600 students a week) and cannot promote itself to new schools that would benefit from its services because it is running at capacity.

"While some may be nervous about teaching the Holocaust, with the right training and resources, teachers can find effective ways to communicate this history and its implications to their students," says the Centre's Chief Executive, Dr James Smith. "The problems experienced by some - evidenced by the Historical Association report - and the clear thirst for greater knowledge of the subject, evidenced by demand for the Holocaust Centre, point up the need for major investment in this area. That's why the Holocaust Centre is now appealing for funds to build a new auditorium that would double visitor capacity - and enable us to substantially increase our teacher training provision."

ENDS

Drawing Lessons from the Holocaust and the Transatlantic Slave Trade:Programme for Young People at Risk of Gun and Knife Crime

March 2007: The Holocaust Centre has been awarded £3,000 by Renaissance East Midlands, Museums, Library, Archives Partnership (MLA) under the Bicentenary programme of the abolition of the slave trade. 

This funding will enable the first-phase development of Drawing Lessons from the Holocaust and the Transatlantic Slave Trade – highly visual resource materials drawing connections between transatlantic enslavement and the Holocaust.

The project will highlight how the slave trade has resonance with the dehumanisation process during the Holocaust and other genocides.  It will explore themes such as the loss of human rights and identity, isolation and segregation, denial of culture and language, the role of resistance and rescuers, and issues of restorative justice.

For full information about this programme and associated resources, please see Projects.

Paul Oppenheimer: in tribute

11 Mar 07 - Paul Oppenheimer, a survivor of the Holocaust and one of the most frequent speakers at the Holocaust Centre from its inception, passed away on Thursday 8 March following a short illness. He was 78.  

"It is with great sorrow that we mourn the passing of a courageous Holocaust survivor, a staunch colleague and a beloved friend," says Dr James Smith, Chief Executive of the Holocaust Centre and Aegis Trust. "We will miss him as we would a member of our own family. His loss will also be sorely felt by the team at the Holocaust Centre. Our thoughts are with his family at this sad time. In due course we will find a way to remember and celebrate Paul’s life, work and contribution at the Centre, which was considerable."

Read more here

10 Mar 07 - Batsheva Dagan's latest book for children now available: If TheStars Could Only Speak Read more here

10 Mar 07 - Kitty Hart-Moxon: Return to Auschwitz : New, fully
revised edition now available from the Holocaust Centre Read more here