Holocaust and Genocide Memorial Day 2012 Event

The programme was organised by James Jordan and Helen Spurling and included a range of contributions that reflected on the Holocaust and broader issues of asylum, immigration and racial hatred.

Following a welcome by Phil Gibson and Helen Spurling, the evening began with an interview led by Jenny Cuffe, from the Southampton and Winchester Visitors Group. Jenny's guest talked about her experiences as an asylum seeker and raised awareness of the difficulties faced by people in such situations. Don John then spoke avidly on behalf of the Multi Agency Group on Racial Harassment. This was followed by readings from students at Itchen College accompanied by their teachers Christian Scott and Shaun O'Toole. The readings represented their own poignant responses to and reflections on Holocaust testimony. A short film and presentation on Auschwitz by Chris Leach and Louise Parker from Itchen College was a particularly emotive part of the evening. Finally, Jennifer Skeats, Ashley Racov and Victoria Lawrence from the BA (Hons) Performance course at Southampton Solent University performed a memorable short work based on the testimony of Alice Sommer Herz, a survivor of the Terezin concentration camp, led by Matt Fletcher.

Members of the audience remarked afterwards that it was a meaningful and fitting commemoration.

As part of the evening, there was also a large exhibition of responses to Holocaust testimony that had been written by English and History students from Itchen College. This represented the culmination of a substantial project of working with Itchen College to raise awareness of the importance and relevance of remembering the Holocaust. The contributions from Itchen students were the outcome of a series of workshops held at the college in November 2011. The workshops focused on discussion of Holocaust testimony and were run by James Jordan and Hannah Ewence, accompanied by third year English and History students at Southampton studying representations of and responses to the Holocaust. The workshops clearly had a huge impact on the students at Itchen, which stood out from the responses they wrote. The responses were also displayed in week long exhibitions at the University of Southampton.