Holocaust Memorial Weekend

About

Saturday 27 January 2024 - Sunday 28 January | 2024 | Museum opens at 10am last entry 3.30pm
The National Holocaust Centre and Museum 

Visit The National Holocaust Museum for a weekend of special events to remember the millions of victims of the Holocaust and reflect on the universal theme of the fragility of freedom. The theme for 2024 Holocaust Memorial Day is 'The Fragility of Freedom'.

Using a range of survivor artefacts and testimonies, let the National Holocaust Centre and Museum take you on a journey exploring the erosion of freedoms for Jewish people before, during and after the Holocaust. Together with you, the audience, we will discuss the parallels with today and how we can respond to recurrent anti-Jewish racism.

Saturday:

The Journey exhibition tour – 10.30 and 3pm

Join the museum experts for a guided tour of the award-winning exhibition) suitable for children aged 9 and over)

Fragility of Freedom - Curatorial Talk – 11am-12noon

Join for a special curatorial event for Holocaust Memorial Day 2024. Using a range of survivor artefacts and testimony, you will explore the erosion of freedom for Jewish people before, during and after the Holocaust. You will consider what this means for everyone today and how we can respond to anti-Jewish hate.

Holocaust Survivor Speaker - Dr Martin Stern MBE. Testimony followed by Q&A - 1pm     

Dr Martin Stern was born in 1938 in Hilversum in the Netherlands. His parents had fled Berlin hoping to escape the reach of the Nazis. Martin was 5 years old when he was sent to Westerbork transi camp with his sister, aged 1 year old. A child survivor of Theresienstadt, he continues to give his testimony and remembers in detail his experiences during the Holocaust as a child. Martin’s testimony will be followed by a Q&A session.

Holocaust candle lighting and prayer - 2.30pm

Broken Instruments perform ‘Six Million White Roses’ - 2.45pm

Broken Instruments was inspired by the book Violins of Hope by James A Grymes. It is a story of survival made possible through the power of music and featuring original songs and storytelling.                    

Memorial Garden Tour – (weather permitting) - 3pm

Sunday: 

Fragility of Freedom - Curatorial Talk - 11.30am-12.30pm

Who is this little boy?

This is a photograph of a little boy called Leon Greenman. Who was this little boy? Why was his freedom taken from him and how did he end up in Auschwitz? Using his personal objects, join our Curatorial team to discover his story of survival, loss, and fight against racism in England. What is his legacy for us today?

The Journey exhibition tours – 11am and 2.30pm 

Join their museum expert for a guided tour of the award-winning exhibition (suitable for children aged 9 and over)

Holocaust Survivor Speaker – Arek Hersh MBE. Film followed by testimony and Q&A

Film to begin at 1230, Arek will begin his testimony at 1pm

Arek Hersh has been speaking at the NHM for many years, a survivor of four concentration camps, he has been a trailblazer for Holocaust education even though he didn’t speak about his experiences for 50 years. Born in Poland, Arek was imprisoned in Lodz ghetto, later at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Arek survived a death march before finally being liberated from Theresienstadt in 1945. He was sent to Britain as one of the ‘Windermere Boys’.

Arek will be signing copies of his book ‘A Detail of History’ in the coffeeshop at 2.15pm 

Holocaust candle lighting and prayer – by Arek and Jean Hersh - 2pm