Holocaust Memorial Day to be commemorated in Leeds

On Sunday 25 January, the Lord Mayor of Leeds Cllr David Congreve will be hosting a civic remembrance event at Leeds Town Hall from 2pm. Included in this year’s programme will be an exhibition by Pyramid of Arts, a theatre performance by young people from Escape Contemporary Youth Theatre and a keynote speech by Adam Strickson (Teaching Fellow in Creative Writing at the University of Leeds). Holocaust survivors Iby Knill and Eugene Black with Lilian Black from the Holocaust Survivor’s Friendship Association will also light a candle created by world-renowned artist Sir Anish Kapoor as part of a national initiative which will see 70 specially designed candles lit at Holocaust Memorial Day events across the UK. A traditional Hebrew memorial prayer sung by the chairman of Bradford Synagogue, Rudi Leavor will also feature in the afternoon, which is free and open to the public.

“As part of commemorations marking Holocaust Memorial Day a range of events will be taking place in Leeds. This includes a civic remembrance event at Leeds Town Hall on 25 January, which is free and open to everyone, and will provide the opportunity for people to come together and remember those people who were both victims and survivors of this truly terrible event.

“With 2015 also being the 70^th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, it is more important than ever to keep the memory of what happened in the Holocaust alive for future generations.”

The Pyramid of Arts exhibition is one of two displays which will be available to view at Leeds Town Hall. The University of Leeds’ German department, in partnership with the National Holocaust Centre (UK) and the South African Holocaust and Genocide Foundation are also presenting an exhibition called ‘Germany’s Confrontation with the Holocaust in a Global Context’. Held at Leeds Town Hall from Monday 19 January - Sunday 25 January, and at the University of Leeds from Monday 26 January -3 February, this touring exhibition considers how Germany has confronted the Holocaust from 1945 to the present day, with sideways glances to other historical events in order to think about memory in a global context. This exhibition is launching in both South Africa and the UK. A public lecture and discussion event featuring guest speakers by the University of Leeds as part of its Transnational Holocaust Memory conference will also be held on Monday 26 January, along with a production by Theatre Company Blah Blah Blah and Escape Contemporary Youth Theatre on Tuesday 27 January at the school of English from 6pm. This performance by children and young people will respond to the University of Leeds public exhibition and issues of historic memory.

For more details regarding Holocaust Memorial Day events, please see the notes to editors section.

Sunday 25 January, 2pm

Leeds Town Hall

The Headrow, LS1 3AD

Join the Lord Mayor of Leeds and hundreds of local people for an afternoon of commemoration in response to the international Holocaust Memorial Day theme of Keep the Memory Alive.

Monday 19 – Sunday 25 January

9am - 5pm

Leeds Town Hall

The Headrow, LS1 3AD

Monday 26 January – Tuesday 3 February, 9am – 5pm

University of Leeds

Parkinson Court

Woodhouse Lane, LS2 9HE

This touring exhibition considers how Germany has confronted the Holocaust from1945 to the present day, with sideways glances to other historical events in order to think about memory in a global context. Launching in both South Africa and the UK this exhibition has been created by the University of Leeds’ German Department, in partnership with the National Holocaust Centre (UK) and the South African Holocaust and Genocide Foundation.

Monday 26 January, 5.15pm

Rupert Beckett Lecture Theatre

Michael Sadler Building

University of Leeds

Beech Grove Terrace, LS2 9DA

Part of the University of Leeds’ Transnational Holocaust Memory conference. A free public lecture with confirmed speakers including the academics Marianne Hirsch and Leo Spitzer, the writer Eva Hoffman and Pumla Gobodo Madikizela, a leading member of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Please RSVP to transholomemory@gmail.com

Theatre Company Blah Blah

Blah and Escape Contemporary Youth Theatre’s performance and Q&A

Tuesday 27 January, 6pm

Workshop Theatre, School of English

University of Leeds, LS2 9JT

Part of the University of Leeds’ Transnational Holocaust Memory conference. The Leeds-based Theatre

Company Blah Blah Blah who specialise in making theatre with children and young people, will be performing their play responding to the University of Leeds public exhibition and issues of historical memory. The performance will be followed by a post-show discussion session with members of the production team and cast, chaired by Dr Helen Finch.

Please RSVP to transholomemory@gmail.com

Kindertransport by Diane Samuels

Thursday 5 – Saturday 7 February

7.30pm

Carriageworks Theatre

The Electric Press

3 Millennium Square, LS2 3AD

As life for Jews in Germany becomes intolerable, Eva, aged 9, travels alone to England to find sanctuary. Years later, Eva has become Evelyn. She eschews everything about her early life, now the

archetypal middle-class Englishwoman. But Evelyn has a daughter who uncovers her mother’s secret and won’t stop asking questions. As the edifice crumbles we see what denying her background and culture has done to Evelyn and ask ourselves –where does our identity come from?