IOE centre marks Holocaust Memorial Day

The event, held on Thursday 24 January, featured a guest talk by Holocaust survivor Mrs Mala Tribich, who reflected on her experiences of pre-war life and being torn from her home during the war.

The event also included talks by UCL Institute of Education (IOE) Director Professor Becky Francis, Ruth-Anne Lenga, Dr Nicola Wetherall MBE and Professor Stuart Foster, Director of UCL Centre for Holocaust Education.

Professor Foster said: “The UCL Centre for Holocaust Education is a strong supporter of Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) and the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust’s ongoing desire to ensure that the Holocaust and subsequent genocides are understood and commemorated.  

“This year’s HMD theme, “Torn from Home” is particularly apt and poignant for it draws attention to the brutal, systematic and de-humanising way that millions of innocent victims across Europe were forced to leave their homes and endure the traumatic and murderous realities of the Holocaust.  For these victims the experience of “home” – typically as a place of security, safety and comfort - quickly became illusory. Significantly, six million Jews, including 90% of all Jewish children, never returned “home” and those who did found their homes either destroyed or occupied by others.  As a consequence, hundreds of thousands were left to rebuild their lives in the most difficult and challenging circumstances.  

“The Holocaust, therefore, serves a powerful reminder of how - in the hands of a violent and oppressive regime - fragile life can be and how potentially vulnerable humans are to catastrophic and brutal change. But, crucially, if we are to prevent future genocides it also serves to remind us of the importance of standing up to acts of intolerance, bigotry and persecution whenever and wherever they surface.”

Holocaust Memorial Day took place on Sunday 27 January 2019.

Links

• Holocaust Memorial Day 2019 – Torn from Home
• Holocaust Memorial Day 2019 – Lord Dubs
• Holocaust Memorial Day 2019 – Ruth-Anne Lenga
• Holocaust Memorial Day 2019 – Eva Clarke
• UCL Centre for Holocaust Education
• Department of Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment
• View Professor Stuart Foster's research profile

Image

• Credit: Anders Thirsgaard Rasmussen via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)