Holocaust Memorial Day

This Saturday 27 January is Holocaust Memorial Day.

According to the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust 41% of people believe that a Holocaust could happen in Britain:

"Holocaust Memorial Day is an issue for everyone. The lessons of the Holocaust are of universal relevance and have implications for us all. Holocaust Memorial Day offers an opportunity for people in the UK in the 21st century to reflect upon, consider and discuss how those events still have relevance for all members of today's society."

http://www.hmd.org.uk/

There are events going on around the East Midlands region and the rest of the UK.

http://www.hmd.org.uk/events/region/4/

The East Midlands also had the first dedicated Holocaust Memorial and Education Centre in Britain, on the edge of Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire. See their website for more details.

http://www.holocaustcentre.net/

Comments

Unknown said…
There's also a film about using museums for teaching about the Holocaust here: http://www.teachers.tv/video/16753.

Here's the blurb:
In this programme, Year 9 students from Aylesford School in Warwick visit the Holocaust Exhibition at the Imperial War Museum.
This is an intensely poignant and shocking experience for the students; several are deeply moved as they talk to camera about their reactions to what they have seen.
Before and after going round the exhibition, the students have preparatory and debrief sessions with the museum's education officer.
At the end of the programme, we see the students take part in a follow-up history lesson back at school.

I don't know if it's any good - I just saw it advertised in the Guardian.
Ceri said…
Thanks for flagging that up, mary. Going to the Holocaust exhibition (a while ago now) I was very impressed with what the museum has achieved. It was a very sombre atmosphere as befits the subject and the inclusion of peoples' stories and testimonies makes it a very harrowing experience. It helped me to truly appreciate the scale and consequences of the atrocity.

Ceri
The Attic said…
I completely agree about the IWM exhibit - one of the best I think. What stays with me the most is the way in which the Holocaust was made 'personal', if that makes sense? It's so easy to become desensitised to genocide and other atrocities when mediated through television and film. The personal artefacts, the discussion of the perception and 'treatment' of mental illness and the categorisation of 'race' by hair and eye colouring particularly struck me. It really starts to make you think about what might have happened to yourself and your family if you hadn't had the good fortune to be born in another time.
The Attic said…
Talking of which, have just read this on the 'Material World' blog. Book looks really interesting - might have to order that one.

http://www.nyu.edu/projects/materialworld/2007/01/the_atrocity_exhibition.html

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