Mayor of West Yorkshire Tracy Brabin and Lord Pickles, Holocaust and Post-Holocaust Issues Envoy, made a return visit to Holocaust Centre North based at the University of Huddersfield.
The centre is the only museum devoted to the Holocaust in the North of England telling a global history through local stories from people who survived and rebuilt their lives as members of Northern communities.
Michelle Green, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, who lost her Viennese Jewish grandparents Gisela and Josef Schwarz and her uncle Kurt in the Holocaust, spoke to both Lord Pickles and Mayor Brabin with passion about the work of Holocaust Centre North in engaging new generations of people.
She explained about the importance of having a centre for Holocaust education in the north of England and showed the last Red Cross letter that her grandparents were able to send, proudly stored within the Holocaust Centre North digital collection.
Mayor Brabin said: “Holocaust Centre North serves as a powerful reminder of why the horrors of the Holocaust should never be forgotten, as well as the importance of tolerance and compassion.
“I commend the work it is doing to educate new generations about one of mankind’s greatest atrocities. There is no place for racism or hate in our society, and here in West Yorkshire we stand united against all forms of prejudice.”
Holocaust Centre North director Alessandro Bucci said: “Through our work we ask ourselves key questions about the future of Holocaust education, particularly as we enter a time with fewer direct eyewitnesses; how to foster a responsible culture of care when dealing with histories and stories of trauma and how to bring different communities together around our shared humanity.”
Meanwhile, writer Tom Hastings and translator Rey Conquer complete the line up for Holocaust Centre North’s innovative Memorial Gestures artistic residency for 2024.
Both new residents will join visual artists Maud Haya-Baviera, Irina Razumovskaya, Ariane Schick and Matt Smith to create brand new work inspired by the centre’s archives and in response to its themes and collections around Holocaust remembrance and history.
