Lottery Fund awards £246k to unique Holocaust survivor project

Manchester’s largest Jewish social welfare charity will receive a substantial award from The National Heritage Lottery Fund.

The grant of £246,075 will underwrite the future of The Fed’s ‘My Voice’ Manchester project for the next two years.

A unique storytelling project which publishes the life story books of Holocaust Survivors and Refugees, from Greater Manchester and the Northwest, ‘My Voice’ has published 35 books – the first nine as part of a joint venture with the Association of Jewish Refugees.

The lottery funding means that ‘My Voice’ can ensure the legacies of previously recorded and published life-stories of Holocaust Survivors and refugees. It will also help create educational resources for schools, colleges, further education, and other establishments who teach about the Holocaust.

A new Heritage and Learning Officer is being recruited to support Survivors in sharing their stories during recordings and at live events.

The team will support schools in developing and offering a Guardian Programme, which will enable pupils to learn directly from individual storytellers, and pledge to share their stories with others, both now and in the future.

‘My Voice’ will also offer a select number of schools who successfully integrate the project’s resources into their curriculum the opportunity of becoming ‘Beacon’ Schools.

This will see them taking responsibility for sharing their ideas with other schools to encourage a similar approach to Holocaust education.

‘My Voice’ manager, Juliette Pearce says the money will “enable the amplification of the Survivors’ voices and ensure that their remarkable life-stories will live on forever.

“This will move the focus from the ungraspable statistic of six million deaths to personal local stories that enable students to conceptualize what it meant to be caught up in the Holocaust.

At the same time, Pearce adds, they will “hear how it is possible to survive the most despicable atrocities and go on to live wonderful lives as fully contributing members of society.”

In June 2021, My Voice was awarded the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service – the highest possible accolade for a voluntary sector group.

You can follow ‘My Voice’ here.