A number of events will be held this month in Leicester to remember people who suffered in the Nazi Holocaust and other more recent atrocities.
This year’s events coincide with the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in 1945, when much of the wartime genocide at Nazi death camps first came to the world’s attention.
Holocaust Memorial Day takes place on Tuesday January 27 and a series of events will be taking place in commemoration of victims of genocide.
Leicester Assistant City Mayor for community involvement, partnerships and equalities, Councillor Manjula Sood, said, “As we reach the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, it’s a time to reflect on the suffering endured both in the Holocaust, and in other more recent genocide across the world.
“The contribution of local young people to these commemorations, through art work and film, is an important part of keeping alive these important lessons from history for future generations.”
From 20 January to 9 February, as part of Leicester Schools Art Competition, artwork by Leicester school children on the theme “Keep the Memory Alive” will be exhibited alongside the German Expressionist collection at New Walk Museum.
On Monday, 26 January, at 6pm, Professor Christopher Browning, of the University of North Carolina will give a talk examining why the Holocaust perpetrators carried out their killing. The talk will take place in the University of Leicester’s Stanley Burton Centre for Holocaust and Genocide Studies.
Holocaust Memorial Day itself will me marked by commemorations in The University of Leicester’s Fraser Noble Hall, on University Road, from 7pm to 9pm on Tuesday, 27 January.
It will include a panel of young people who have recently visited Auschwitz, an address by the former director of the Stanley Burton Centre Professor Aubrey Newton, plus music from students of English Martyrs Roman Catholic School.
Prizes will also be awarded to winners of the Leicester Schools Art Competition, which is at New Walk Museum, with winning entries on display. Guests will also be able to see a film made by local young people.
On Sunday, 1 February, at 3pm, the Phoenix cinema will screen ‘Night Will Fall’, a documentary about the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps at the end of the Second World War, and the efforts made by cameramen to document the unbelievable brutality and suffering they uncovered.
Tickets are available from Phoenix on 0116 242 2800 or by visiting www.phoenix.org.uk
