70 years after the Holocaust: What have we learnt?

Members of the public are invited to a guest lecture exploring the legacy of the Holocaust.

Northumbria University, Newcastle is set to welcome Sir Andrew Burns, Chairman of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), on Wednesday 7 May to deliver a public lecture entitled 70 Years After the Holocaust: What Have We Learnt?

The lecture will discuss why the events of the Holocaust remain important, and why the British government supports Holocaust education, remembrance and research seventy years after the end of World War II.

Topics covered will include the unresolved issues that continue to challenge societies, survivors and their families, and the rationale behind the role of an Ambassador for Post-Holocaust issues.

Sir Andrew will also discuss the continuing struggle with issues of property restitution and the return of looted art; best practices for teaching about the Holocaust and the prevention of genocides and mass atrocities in troubled and conflict-ridden countries around the world.

Sir Andrew is the United Kingdom Envoy for Post-Holocaust Issues and Head of both the United Kingdom’s Delegations to IHRA and the International Commission for the International Tracing Service. He is the former British High Commissioner to Canada, British Consul-General in Hong Kong and Macau and British Ambassador to Israel and has been Chair of the Committee of University Chairs as well as an International Governor of the BBC.

This key event supports Northumbria’s own extensive Holocaust research. Professor of History, Tom Lawson, teaches and researches the Holocaust and genocide studies and has published a number of books and articles on the subject. Reader in Arts and Director of Fine and Visual Arts Programmes, Jane Arnfield (who was also the Artistic Director for Newcastle upon Tyne’s Holocaust Memorial Event in 2010/11) has taken her Holocaust research internationally, with a theatrical production entitled The Tin Ring. The play, which is performed by Jane, is based on a memoir by Holocaust survivor Zdenka Fantlová, which was adapted from a book by Mike Alfreds and Jane Arnfield.

The Tin Ring has toured to New York, Mumbai and the House of Commons, and will soon be returning to the United States to be performed in Washington DC.

’70 Years after the Holocaust: What have we learnt?’ takes place at 6.30pm in Northumbria University’s City Campus East on Wednesday 7 May. A pre-lecture drinks reception will begin at 6pm.

If you would like to attend, send an email to nu.events@northumbria.ac.uk

For more information about history at Northumbria University visit www.northumbria.ac.uk/humanities.