Photo credit: The Holocaust Centre

Monday 27 January is Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD), an annual remembrance of the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, alongside the millions of other victims of Nazi persecution and subsequent genocides. This year marks the 80^th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

The University has a long-standing interest in Holocaust education and research. In autumn 2024 the Landecker Digital Memory Lab, a new research centre to sustain digital Holocaust memory, was launched in the Faculty of Media, Arts and Humanities. The Lab acts as a central hub for interdisciplinary knowledge exchange and research on digital Holocaust memory, while helping to combat the growing challenge to expert knowledge on the subject in online spaces.

Professor Victoria Grace Richardson-Walden, Director at the Lab, was featured in two interviews recently. She discussed preserving cultural and collective memory on the University website, and explored the implications of using of AI in Holocaust memory on ComputerWeekly.com.

Events at Sussex

A series of events is available to support learning around Holocaust Memorial Day:

• Holocaust Memorial Day at Sussex – 5 February, 2pm-5.15pm
  This year’s annual Holocaust Memorial Day event, hosted by The Sussex Weidenfeld Institute of Jewish Studies, features testimony from Holocaust Survivors George Summerfield and Peter Summerfield BEM. It will also include the screening of a short animated film and discussion with the film’s director Tal Kantor. The event is fully booked, but a livestream will be available on the event webpage on the day.
• Remembering the Roma Holocaust – 7 February, 12 noon-3.30pm
  Featuring an exhibition and film screening highlighting the experiences of Roma and Sinti communities during the Holocaust, this event will also reflect on contemporary issues of equality, diversity, and inclusion for all people of Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller heritage. 
• Inclusive Sussex: In Conversation with Gary Younge – 10 February, 5.30pm-7.30pm
  Professor Younge joins us on campus to discuss ‘What the experiences of Black Germans in Nazi Germany tell us about systems of racial oppression in general and antisemitism in particular’. Themes include memory and justice in the context of historical and contemporary struggles for equality.

Working with local secondary schools to broaden understanding

As part of the University’s recognition of Holocaust Memorial Day, and in line with our commitment to learners from the Gypsy, Traveller, Roma, Showman, and Boater (GTRSB) community, Sussex shared resources with local secondary school partners who have a higher-than-average intake of Traveller-heritage students. Find out more.

For more information on Holocaust Memorial Day, visit the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust website.

This work supports the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal: SDG 10 (reduced inequalities). You can read more about our work on the SDGs. 

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