Mayoral visit to Holocaust Centre North
'A powerful reminder of why the horrors of the Holocaust should never be forgotten: West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin and Lord Pickles travel to the only museum devoted to the Shoah in the north of England
The Mayor of West Yorkshire and UK government’s Holocaust and Post-Holocaust Issues Envoy returned to Holocaust Centre North based at the University of Huddersfield on Wednesday 15th May.
Tracy Brabin and Lord Pickles were welcomed to the only museum devoted to the Holocaust in the North of England telling a global history through local stories from people who survived and rebuilt their lives as members of northern communities.
Led by the Centre’s director Dr. Alessandro Bucci, the visit came just ten days after this year’s Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah), commemorating the six million Jews murdered in the Shoah and the heroism of survivors and rescuers.
Michelle Green, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, who lost her Viennese Jewish grandparents Gisela and Josef Schwarz and her uncle Kurt in the Shoah spoke to both Lord Pickles and Mayor Tracy Brabin about the work of Holocaust Centre North in engaging new generations of people.
She shared the last Red Cross letter that her grandparents were able to send, proudly stored within the Holocaust Centre North digital collection and spoke about how delighted she was to be able to gain Austrian citizenship recently.
A letter from the Austrian Jewish community reads that this was not a gift, but a restitution of what belonged to her family. Holocaust Centre North, who are also interested in post-Holocaust issues, are talking to Green about acquiring the letter as a material manifestation of intergenerational memory and the legacy of the Holocaust.
Ariane Schick, one of four artists currently in residence with the Centre as part of its annual Memorial Gestures Artistic Programme was also present on Wednesday.
She spoke about her paternal grandparents and aunt who around 80 years ago become Holocaust refugees. She explained that weeks before the application deadline for the programme, she found a stack of envelopes sent between her grandparents when they were forced to be apart during the war.
Folded into every few letters was a four-leaf clover. She said that she read the tiny, dried and pressed plants as vessels that had carried love, hope and confidence in the future.
Mayor of West Yorkshire, Tracy Brabin said: “Holocaust Centre North serves as a powerful reminder of why the horrors of the Holocaust should never be forgotten, as well as the importance of tolerance and compassion. I commend the work it is doing to educate new generations about one of mankind’s greatest atrocities. There is no place for racism or hate in our society, and here in West Yorkshire we stand united against all forms of prejudice.”
Holocaust Centre North Alessandro Bucci said: “Through our work we ask ourselves key questions about the future of Holocaust education, particularly as we enter a time with fewer direct eyewitnesses; how to foster a responsible culture of care when dealing with histories and stories of trauma and how to bring different communities together around our shared humanity.
“The enthusiasm and generosity of Mayor Brabin and Lord Pickles meant so much to myself, my team and our beneficiaries and we look forwards to working together with them again in the near future.”
The work of artist Ariane Schick and her fellow Memorial Gesture artists can be seen in a final Residency Exhibition – created in response to their time immersed at the Holocaust Centre North – in Yorkshire later this year.
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