HMW 2011

For Holocaust Memorial Week 2011, students and staff from across the University of Essex are joined together to organise a wide range of events.

The theme for 2011 was the "pink triangle": the persecution of gay men under the Nazi regime and the struggle for the human rights and dignity of LGBT people since 1945.

A number of events exploring this theme took place both on and off campus during Holocaust Memorial Week with wide varied attendance from within the university and the wider community. Other events emphasized broader issues of prejudice, intolerance, discrimination and stigmatization.

Many thanks to all staff, students and speakers that were involved in this years events and to all those who attended, making it another successful Holocaust Memorial Week at the University of Essex. For more details on these events including photographs and reviews please see below.

With Support From:            

Monday 24 January

 

 

 

 

 

 

Twilight Zone Cafe Talk at the Minories Colchester

Professor Rainer Schulze introduced the theme for Holocaust Memorial Week 2011
and briefly spoke about the persecution of Gay men under the Nazi regime and
the importance of 'untold stories.'

The talk was followed by:
Paragraph 175 film showing 8pm @ Lakeside Theatre, University of Essex

This moving documentary chronicles the lives of homosexual men
arrested by the Nazis under Paragraph 175 of the
German Penal Code of 1871.

 

Paragraph 175 is a documentary film released in 2000, directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, and narrated by Rupert Everett. The film chronicles the lives of several men who were arrested by the Nazis for homosexuality under Paragraph 175, the sodomy provision of the German penal code, dating back to 1871.
Paragraph 175 is a documentary film released in 2000, directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, and narrated by Rupert Everett. The film chronicles the lives of several men who were arrested by the Nazis for homosexuality under Paragraph 175, the sodomy provision of the German penal code, dating back to 1871.

Between 1933 and 1945, 100,000 men were arrested under Paragraph 175. Some were imprisoned, others were sent to concentration camps. Only about 4,000 survived; see Paragraph 175 for full details.

In 2000, fewer than ten of these men were known to be living. Five come forward in the documentary to tell their stories for the first time, considered to be among the last untold stories of the Third Reich.

Trailer : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySlMFFJQcO0

Tuesday 25 January

Paragraph 175 is a documentary film released in 2000, directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, and narrated by Rupert Everett. The film chronicles the lives of several men who were arrested by the Nazis for homosexuality under Paragraph 175, the sodomy provision of the German penal code, dating back to 1871.

Between 1933 and 1945, 100,000 men were arrested under Paragraph 175. Some were imprisoned, others were sent to concentration camps. Only about 4,000 survived; see Paragraph 175 for full details.

In 2000, fewer than ten of these men were known to be living. Five come forward in the documentary to tell their stories for the first time, considered to be among the last untold stories of the Third Reich.

Trailer : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySlMFFJQcO0

The Badac Theatre Company Present: Bent by Martin Sherman @ The Lakeside Theatre, University of Essex

The Badac Theatre Company returned to the Lakeside Theatre to
perform extracts from this acclaimed play about the persecution
of gay men by the Nazis.

"A moving and at times disturbing performance which highlighted a relatively unrecognised cruelty"

 

 

 

Wednesday 26 January

The Life and Death Orchestra present: This way for the Gas Ladies and Gentlemen @ The Lakeside Theatre, University of Essex

With almost universal praise from the critics, The Life and Death
Orchestra are a fluid group of musicians. The Score is based on
poems by internationally acclaimed writers, including Paul Celan,
Nina Cassian and Tadeusz Borowski, and Nobel Prize winners
Elie Wiesel and Czeslaw Milosz. The performance treads a fine line
between the horrors of genocide and the optimism of the human spirit.

The university was extremely lucky in welcoming the Life and Death Orchestra to the Lakeside Theatre as they do not often perform together. The event was well attended and the audience found it to be a moving and unusual performance.

"The contradiction between the dark accounts and the lighter moments that the upbeat music brought made for a eye opening and moving experience"

 

 

 

 

Thursday 27 January - Holocaust Memorial Day

Throughout Holocaust Memorial Day, members of professional and academic staff read lists of names of Holocaust Victims for ten minutes at a time, in the centre of campus while students and staff moved between classes.

Those who read the names found it an emotional experience, as their voices and the names were absorbed into the day-to-day noise and movement of campus. Although some people did stop to listen for a few minutes, most walked past. We decided it was important to have this event again to highlight the importance of remembrance. If the names are not read, perhaps they will be forgotten?

 

 

 

MUNEX Panel Discussion: The Responsibility to Protect @ The Lakeside Theatre, University of Essex

The Essex Model United Nations Society presented an interdisciplinary panel to discuss the
international agreement, the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine and its implications for violations of the human rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

The panellists were: Professor Rainer Schulze (Dept. History), Scott Sheeran (Human Rights Centre), Will Cartwright (Dept. Philosophy), and the panel was chaired by Dr Andrew Fagan (Human Rights Centre).

This was a lively debate which was followed by questions and comments from the audience which included students, staff, and members of the public. Various interesting points were made on this controversial issue.

 

After the panel discussion, a commemorative event was held outside the theatre to remember the victims of the Holocaust and subsequent genocides. Whilst Father Paul from the University Multi-Faith Chaplaincy read out lines of a Niemoller poem, student volunteers in turn, turned off  torches to represent the loss of lives ignored by others. Members from the panel, alongside Dora Love and Thomas Yapp, then read interventionist texts as torches were switched back on by members of the audience representing the importance of remembrance and intervention. This was followed by the lighting of candles and pink glow-sticks in commemoration of victims of the Holocaust and subsequent genocides.

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 January - Southend Campus

Portraits for Posterity Exhibition, Saturday and Sunday @ University of Essex Elmer Suite, Southend                                      
Matt Writtle's photographic portraits of survivors of the Jewish Holocaust, who live today in Britain
both celebrate the contribution of these survivors to British Society and commemorate the millions
who perished.

 

Saturday 29 January

Discussion: Portraits for Poisterity by Matt Writtle @ Elmer Suite, University of Essex Southend Campus

Photographer Matt Writtle formally opened the exhibition of photographic portraits
of Holocaust survivors and explained his motivation for the project.

 

Sunday 30 January

Film showing: Memories of the Holocaust and thereafter - the child survivors@ University of Essex Gateway building, Southend

The powerful 90 minute film was about post-war experiences of child survivors of the Holocaust. The film
focuses on the children's home in Blankenese where Holocaust survivor and Essex Honorary Graduate
Dora Love worked after her liberation from the Stutthof camp.

This was followed by a discussion on Memories of the Holocaust and thereafter led by Holocaust survivor and Essex Honorary Graduate, Dora Love.  

 

 

 

Wednesday 2 February

Open Seminar: Memory, Memorials and the Dynamics of the Transmission of a Cultural Narrative: From the Concentration Camp to the Gay Pride Parade, University of Essex, hosted by centre for psychoanalytical studies.