PRESS RELEASE: Southampton Holocaust and Genocide Memorial Day 2021
Southampton will be marking the UK’s national Holocaust and Genocide Memorial Day with a commemorative online event organised by the Parkes Institute for the Study of Jewish/non-Jewish Relations at the University of Southampton together with Solent University.
The Memorial Day is dedicated to the remembrance of victims who were persecuted as a result of genocide and discusses the discriminatory issues which society faces today. This year, the theme is ‘Be the Light in the Darkness’.
The event will take place online via Zoom, on Tuesday 26 January 2021 at 6pm. The event is free, but registration is required. Please note that the event will be recorded.
The Mayor of Southampton, Councillor Sue Blatchford, will open the evening, together with the University of Southampton Vice-President for Education Prof. Alex Neil, the Pro Vice-Chancellor of Solent University Nona McDuff OBE, and Dr. Claire Le Foll, Director of the Parkes Institute. The evening will feature a testimony by holocaust survivor Henry Schachter OBE, followed by a questions and answers session, and a performance by students from Solent University of scenes from the play Kindertransport by Diane Samuels.
Registration provides access to the Parkes Institute Holocaust Memorial Day online exhibition, which includes responses from local sixth form students.
Note that the event is being held one day prior to the official Holocaust Memorial Day, to allow our audience to attend both national and local events.
Notes to Editors
Contact Details
● For further information about the evening’s events, please contact Uri Agnon (u.agnon@soton.ac.uk)
Summary
● Southampton Holocaust and Genocide Memorial Day 2021 will be held on Tuesday 26 January 2020 at 18:00 online.
● This event is free to attend.
Holocaust Memorial Day
● The first Holocaust Memorial Day took place in the UK in 2001
● Holocaust Memorial Day traditionally takes place on 27 January each year. This date marks the liberation of Auschwitz Concentration Camp
● Further information can be found by visiting www.hmd.org.uk
Holocaust Memorial Day Trust
● HMDT is responsible for the annual, national commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day. It promotes and supports HMD events and projects in local communities and schools. It raises awareness, informs and educates about the Holocaust and its contemporary relevance – especially to issues of racism, prejudice and discrimination. It prompts action in the UK in favour of diversity, equality and harmony between communities.
● The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust is funded by the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government
● HMD commemorates all people murdered in genocide – the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, groups persecuted by the Nazi regime (Roma and Sinti communities, black people, mentally and physically disabled people, lesbian and gay people, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Slavic peoples, trade unionists and political opponents) and those killed in subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.
Further information can be found by visiting www.hmd.org.uk
