Holocaust Exhibition and Learning Centre provides new research opportunities

The Holocaust Exhibition and Learning Centre opened at the University of Huddersfield in September 2018 as a major educational and research destination, and the only one of its kind in the North of England.

At the heart of the Centre is archive material collected by the Holocaust Survivors’ Friendship Association in Yorkshire, which focuses on the experience of Holocaust survivors and refugees from the Nazis.

Holocaust-era research

Housed at the University’s Heritage Quay archive service, the collection is yet to be catalogued and presents a new opportunity for Holocaust-era research. The collection contains two substantial family archives and the Centre is actively collating material from survivors in the region.

Director of the Centre, Emma King hopes that the original archive will trigger new research, not least because the oral history material consists of interviews in English.

“Our growing collection of testimony from survivors hasn’t been used for academic research so far. It’s waiting to be discovered. Another strength of the archive is the large number of photographs, images from pre-war Jewish life,” says Emma.

Emma anticipates that themes raised at the Centre, like the Kindertransport - which saw 10,000 Jewish children given refuge in the UK – will be relevant to contemporary debates and research such as the treatment of refugees, human rights, and the rise of 21^st century populism and fascism.

There are further opportunities in pedagogical research, as the Centre runs learning workshops for school and community groups.

“Much of the existing body of research about Holocaust education focuses on classroom practice. I’m interested in gaining a better understanding of how out of school learning in exhibitions like ours can contribute to students’ knowledge and understanding of the Holocaust, as well as its impact on attitudes and values,” explains Emma.

Exhibition artefacts

The exhibition is a permanent home for the personal stories of survivors, as well as artefacts showing daily life in the Nazi concentration camps, items brought by refugees and Kindertransport children and records of Nazi persecution.

The mechanics of the Holocaust are described and there are explorations of how the civilian populations of the Third Reich responded to the atrocity. 

Touchscreens enable visitors to see and hear refugee and survivor testimonies. Physical heritage includes survivors’ personal documents and possessions, such as a yellow star, and an original concentration camp prisoner uniform on loan from the memorial site at Mittelbau-Dora in Germany.

Museum accreditation

Next for the Centre is an application for Museum Accreditation, which would demonstrate its ability to meet agreed standards for visitor services, education and the management and care of its collection. The accreditation scheme could pave the way to new sources of funding. 

Our growing collection of testimony from survivors hasn’t been used for academic research so far. It’s waiting to be discovered.

About the Holocaust Exhibition and Learning Centre

The Centre was organised by the Holocaust Survivors’ Friendship Association (HSFA) - a registered charity which was set up in 1996 by a group of Holocaust survivors – in partnership with the University.

Its funding includes more than £600,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the HSFA with additional contributions from the University and major charities and individual donors.

The Centre houses 300 square metres of exhibition space plus learning facilities, an auditorium and space for reflection.

For more information visit holocaustlearning.org.uk