More than 30 campuses to hold events for Holocaust Memorial Day
Students across the country will get the opportunity to hear Shoah survivors and educators in the lead up to the international commemoration
Students across the UK and Ireland are to hold more than 30 events to mark Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) this year.
Campuses ranging from Dublin to Exeter and East Anglia to Southampton will hold educational sessions to mark the international day of remembrance, held on 27 January.
Events include hearing from the grandson of an SS officer and the daughter of a renowned survivor, and are being supported by the Union of Jewish Students (UJS), who work with the Holocaust Educational Trust to bring speakers to universities.
UJS’ Sabbatical Officer Rebecca Lewis is leading HMD 2019 said: “I am proud to see a strong increase in the number of events surrounding this day. In a time of rising worry around antisemitism, it is important to ensure that we work together with our Jewish community and the wider student body to carry on the memories of the 1940’s, to increase awareness and carry on fighting antisemitism. Seeing Jewish students taking an active part in this initiative is very reassuring, and I look forward to attending the different campuses hosting these remarkable speakers.”
UJS has also embraced World Jewish Congress’s third annual ‘We Remember’ campaign to raise awareness about antisemitism and the causes of the Holocaust.
Among speakers being invited to events across the country are Dr Noemie Lopian, the daughter of Holocaust survivor Dr. Ernst Israel Bornstein, who spent 5 years translating her father’s memoir from German to English, and now works to carry on his memory.
Derek Niemann, the grandson of a Nazi SS Officer will also be speaking about his experience of having a family member who was a Nazi, which he has written book about.
In late 2018, senior leaders and student union sabbatical officers from UK universities learnt not to be bystanders as they visited the former Nazi concentration and death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau.
The intense visit was part of the Holocaust Educational Trust’s (HET) Lessons from Auschwitz Universities Project in partnership with the Union of Jewish Students (UJS).
Among those in attendance was NUS’s national president, Shakira Martin. She wrote about her experience for Jewish News here: Auschwitz trip inspires me to redouble efforts in antisemitism fight
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
