Holocaust Memorial Week
23 - 29 January 2012
Since 2007 the University of Essex has marked Holocaust Memorial with a series of events taking place during the week that leads up to or includes the 27 of January, the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp by Soviet troops.
The theme of this year's programme is disability and euthanasia. The Nazis regarded disabled people as a threat to the biologically pure Aryan master race which they wanted to create, and there was, therefore, no place for them in the German Volksgemeinschaft.
The 'Sterilisation Law' of 14 July 1933 prescribed forced sterilisation for people with "hereditary diseases" – it is estimated that between 300,000 and 400,000 people were sterilised under this law, the majority of them patients in mental hospitals. In 1938-9, Hitler initiated a decree which allowed the "mercy killing" of those judged as incurable and "unworthy of life".
This so-called "euthanasia" programme was used to "cleanse" the German nation of people considered genetically defective and a financial burden to society: between 1939 and 1945, some 200,000 to 250,000 physically and mentally disabled people were murdered under this programme.
"Speak Up Speak Out" is the official theme of this year's Holocaust Memorial Day (27 January) as set by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (HMDT).
The ideas behind forced sterilisations and "euthanasia" killings of disabled people were not unique to the Nazis, but no state carried them as far as Hitler's Germany. During Holocaust Memorial Week 2012 we want to remember these often forgotten victims of Nazi racial policies, and we want to ask how we as individuals and as a society view and treat disabled people today.
The Holocaust Memorial Week events take place at the University's Colchester campus, the Minories Gallery and Firstsite. A Ceremony of Light to commemorate victims of the Holocaust and other genocides will be held on Holocaust Memorial Day on Friday 27 January.
All events are free and open to the public. See below for full details.
Programme of Events and Activities
Monday 23 January
Talk, Discussion and Filmscreening: Professor Rainer Schulze: 'Euthanasia killings in Nazi Germany: Stepping stone to genocide – An introduction to the main theme of the University of Essex Holocaust Memorial Week 2012' and "Resistance" a short film by Liz Crow
This Twilight Zone Café talk by Professor Rainer Schulze, Director of the Human Rights Centre at the University of Essex will introduce the theme of this year's Holocaust Memorial Week, Disability and Euthanasia, and is followed by a discussion.
There will also be a screening of Liz Crow's 2008 short film "Resistance", which focuses on the plight of Elise, a patient in a German institution while the state sponsored programme of mass murder targeting diabled people and authorized by Hitler is being carried out.
Full synopsis of "Resistance" in .PDF
Venue: Love Bistro @ The Minories, Colchester High Street
Time: 6.30pm – 8.30pm
Professor Rainer Schulze discussing a portrait Dora Love who will be commemorated on Tuesday 24 January.
Tuesday 24 January
"The Fears, The Doubts"
– Remembering Dora Love
Holocaust survivor and Essex Honorary Graduate, Dora Love, will be remembered with performances of her poems, extracts of her testimony about how she survived Stuffhof concentration camp, and music.
Venue: Lakeside Theatre, Colchester Campus, University of Essex
Time: Doors open 7.00pm, Event 7.30pm – 9.30pm
Why is the word 'genocide' so important to Armenians? BBC World Service: World Have Your Say
Nazim Can Cicektakan, who is currently studying for a PhD in History at the University of Essex, is among the speakers in a debate being broadcast on the BBC World Service programme "World Have Your Say". Participants discuss the Armenian genocide and recent French legislation which would outlaw its denial.
Wednesday 25 January
Films: 'Honeymoons' by Goran Paskaljevic, 'Resistance' by Liz Crow, followed by a Discussion on: 'Representation of Genocide, Their Impact and Their Aftermath in Mainstream Films'
A screening of Serbian director Goran Paskaljevic's 2010 film 'Honeymoons' ('Medeni Mesecs') and Liz Crow's 2010 short film 'Resistance', followed by a discussion on the theme of 'Representations of genocide, their impact and their aftermath in mainstream films'.
Full synopsis of "Resistance" in .PDF
Venue: LTB10, Colchester Campus, University of Essex
Time: 7pm
Thursday 26 January
Discussion: 'Disabled and Equal? How far have attitudes towards disability changed since the euthanasia killings of the Nazis?', and Films: 'Conversations' and 'Resistance' by Liz Crow
The discussion will be lead by representatives from the University of Essex, Essex Police, LEPRA and health professionals. There will also be the oportunity to see two 2008 short films by Liz Crow: 'Resistance' focuses on the plight of Elise, a insitution patient at the time of Germany's state sponsored programme of mass murder targeting diabled people which took place during the the Second World War. 'Conversations' features actors from 'Resistance' discussing their experience of making the film and what it means for them as disabled people today.
Full synopsis of "Resistance" in .PDF
Full synopsis of "Conversations" in .PDF
Venue: Firstsite, Colchester
Time: 6.30pm
Friday 27 January - National Holocaust Memorial Day
Discussion: 'The "Other Victims" of the Holocaust – Disabled people, Roma and Sinti, gay men – what have we learnt?' Followed by a 'Ceremony of Light' on Square 5 to remember all victims of the Holocaust and all genocides worldwide. Film: 'Resistance' by Liz Crow.
The Holocaust Memorial Day discussion is hosted by the History Society and is followed by a Ceremony of Light to commemorate victims of the Holocaust and other genocides.
There will also be another opportunity to see Liz Crow's 2008 short film 'Resistance'.
Full synopsis of "Resistance" in .PDF
Venue: Ivor Crewe Lecture Hall Seminar Room, Colchester Campus, University of Essex
Time: 6pm-7pm
All events are free and open to the public.
For more information email: events@essex.ac.uk , or telephone: 01206 872400
Coordination
Coordinator of Holocaust Memorial Week at the University of Essex:
Professor Rainer Schulze - Director of the Human Rights Centre
Department of History, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park
Colchester, CO4 3SQ, Telephone 01206 873404, email: hme (non essex users add @essex.ac.uk)