Holocaust Memorial Day

On Thursday 25 January, a series of innovative arts events will take place to commemorate the Holocaust, organised by 6 million+ Charitable Trust and supported by the University of Huddersfield.

The programme will begin with 4 giant puppets on procession in the streets of Huddersfield, with music and singing from five cultures, to remember the Holocaust and the Kurdish and Bosnian genocides of Halabja and Srebrenica. Roma and Kurdish “Weeping Sisters” will join the Jewish and Bosnian sisters created last year. 

The puppets will arrive at the Oastler Building at the University in time for the start of an indoor event called Beyond Words. The European group from Reggio Emilia in Italy, Lublin in Poland and Subotica in Serbia, together with Holocaust survivor Iby Knill and young people from Batley Girls High School will remember the events of the Holocaust and compare the treatment of refugees during that time with the experience of contemporary refugees across Europe.  The day’s programme will end with a special performance of Pavel Haas’ String Quartet no. 3 at St Paul’s Hall, University of Huddersfield performed by The Meiningen Ensemble.  Haas was a significant Czech composer who was imprisoned at Theresiensatdt in 1941 and murdered at Auschwitz in 1944.

This year’s event is an opportunity for us all to work together to generate creative ideas for working towards a better future.

Everyone is welcome to attend any element of the Holocaust Memorial Day Programme and entrance is free. Donations welcome.