One Day – A series of commemorative events for Holocaust Memorial Day
St Paul’s Hall on the University campus will host a commemorative event to mark this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day on 26 January.
A number of other events will take place in Huddersfield, and a live performance of ‘Gideon Klein: Portrait of a Composer’, written by renowned musicologist Dr David Fligg, will feature at the evening event at St Paul’s.
Holocaust Memorial Day commemorates all who were murdered in the Holocaust, by Nazi persecution, and in other genocides. It serves as a timely reminder to challenge persecution in today’s society. This diverse timetable of events is free and open to all.
Day of events:
5:00 pm – Zine Launch #2 and survivor talk: Martin Kapel (online)
6.15 pm – The Parade of ‘The Weeping Sisters’ march through Huddersfield Town centre
7.00 pm – Commemorative event at St Paul’s Hall
8.15 pm – ‘Gideon Klein: Portrait of a Composer’ performance at St Paul’s Hall
*Due to the current Covid-19 landscape, it is required to show a negative lateral flow test or Covid passport. Please book in advance, if possible, for in-person events.
The events begin with an online talk with Holocaust survivor Martin Kapel and artist Paula Kolar. After Martin was forced to leave Germany with his family and thousands of other Polish Germans in 1938, he spent a few weeks in a Shtetl in Poland, before escaping further Nazi persecution in a Kindertransport to the UK. He feels incredibly privileged to have experienced life in Brzesko, as shtetlehk (small Jewish towns) across Eastern Europe were completely eradicated in the Holocaust. This project is both an exploration of Martin’s memories and an exploration of how we preserve and share lost history online. After the event, copies of the zine will be available to purchase online or on-site at the University of Huddersfield.
For tickets please head to: https://bit.ly/martinkapelzinehmd
Photographer: Malcolm Johnson
This is followed by a procession of large puppet figures that will walk through Huddersfield town centre, beginning at the Commercial Hotel, New Street and finishing at St Paul’s in time for the commemorative ceremony at 7pm.
This ‘parade of the Weeping Sisters’ has been created by arts organisation 6 million+, and reflects the grief of women for the Holocaust and other genocides. This is a partnership event with Kirklees Council, 6 million+, the Holocaust Exhibition and Learning Centre (HELC), the University of Huddersfield, and Creative Scene.
Holocaust survivor Leisel CarterThe commemorative event at 7pm will involve words, music and candle lighting at St Paul’s and will be attended by special guests, the Deputy Mayor of Kirklees Cllr Mahmood Akhtar, representatives from local faith, and school and refugee groups. Holocaust survivor Leisel Carter will tell her story of how she fled persecution from Nazi Germany as a young child alone.
For tickets head to: https://bit.ly/holocaustmemorialdayhud
A performance of ‘Gideon Klein, Portrait of a Composer’ will begin at 8.15pm in St Paul’s. In partnership with the University of Huddersfield’s History Department, this was written and devised by David Fligg and dramatized by Brian Daniels.
The performance is based on eyewitness testimony and letters, relating to the extraordinary story of an outstanding composer and pianist. Actors and musicians (the Gideon Klein Trio) will recreate the composer’s childhood, the exciting artistic environment of pre-war Prague, and the remarkable musical activities of his imprisonment in Terezin (Theresienstadt) concentration camp, where he was at the centre of a unique array of musical and cultural activities.
For tickets, head to: https://bit.ly/gideonkleinportraitof
Gideon Klein
Pictured on the day of his graduation in 1938
'Gideon Klein: Portrait of a composer' includes compositions by Klein alongside dramatisations of his life based on eyewitness testimony and documentary evidence
The HELC, based on the campus of the University of Huddersfield, is helping to coordinate and produce these Holocaust Memorial Day events. The centre was set up in 2018 by the Holocaust Survivors’ Friendship Association (HSFA), a Leeds-based charity founded to provide friendship and support to Holocaust survivors who fled Nazi persecution and resettled in Yorkshire.
Their mission is to tell a global history of the Holocaust through local stories from the North of England. They offer learning programmes for schools and house a permanent exhibition and growing archive. They also continue to provide outreach services to the survivor community in Leeds. HELC also works in conjunction with 6 million+, Kirklees Council, and the University.