Imperial War Museum to reopen limited programme for Holocaust Memorial Day

Bosses at the UK’s Imperial War Museums have said they will be reopening a limited programme of self-guided visits and learning sessions for Holocaust Memorial Day 2021.

The carefully-managed Holocaust learning sessions in January will be the first time any schools will have been allowed into Imperial War Museums since the coronavirus lockdown was initiated in March, ending a ten-month wait.

The museums – including IWM London, IWM North and IWM Duxford – said they had decided on “how to best welcome school audiences safely back” after months of coronavirus lockdown restrictions led to closed public spaces.

“After a period of consideration, sessions will launch to invited schools on the 27 January 2021 to mark Holocaust Memorial Day and then be available for general booking from 1 February,” IWM said, with online booking now open.

In preparation, IWM said it had collaborated with “innovative story-makers and creative technologists… to provide a digital version of IWM London’s Holocaust exhibition designed especially for schools, to support teachers and students to learn about the Holocaust while they are unable to visit IWM’s branches”.

That digital exhibition will launch on Monday on the IWM website, with supplemental teaching material also available to support teachers and home educators.