Historian to honour Holocaust dead

January 11, 2008

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THE Holocaust will be commemorated with a discussion by a leading historian and an exhibition of art by a concentration camp survivor.

Oldham-born historian Sir Ian Kershaw, who is widely-regarded as the world's leading expert on Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich, will deliver a lecture examining some of the horrors of Nazi Germany.

The professor of history at Sheffield University, whose recent biography of Hitler topped the bestseller charts, is credited with making pioneering discoveries about the regime.

The talk, at the Manchester Jewish Museum on Sunday, is one of a range of events taking place in the region in the run up to Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27.

An exhibition by artist and Holocaust survivor Maurice Blik is to be the centre-stage event at the Imperial War Museum in Salford.

The acclaimed sculptor was born in Amsterdam in 1939.

Liberated

After spending nearly two years in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, his family were liberated and they went on to make a new life in Britain.

A moving mixture of film, art and photographs assembled by the artist will reflect his childhood experiences.

The January 27 memorial event is held annually on the anniversary of the Russians' liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland in 1945.

It commemorates the lives lost in the Holocaust and other more recent genocides, such as Darfur, Rwanda and Bosnia. Memorial events are also being held in Wigan and Leigh. The ceremonies of commemoration will take place on January 24 at Wigan town hall at 10.30am and at Leigh town hall at 1.30pm. All are welcome.

Wigan mayor John O'Brien and poet Ian Grey will give readings.

Schoolchildren will perform music and their art will be on display.

Carole Tyldesley, head of heritage services at Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust, said residents would also remember victims of genocide.

She said: "We would be delighted for as many people as possible to come along.

"It is important that the borough pays its respects to all those who lost their lives or have suffered as a result of the Holocaust and other more recent acts of genocide."

What do you think? Have your say.

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Laura Norder, Didsbury (11/01/2008 at 16:03)

Possibly too late in the day but, perhaps the organisers could arrange to have the event filmed and recorded - with a small charge for the CD to defray costs.

I'm sure there are many people - not least those in schools and colleges - who would benefit from seeing such an exhibition.

Just a thought.

BluePolarBear, ex of Stockport (11/01/2008 at 22:37)

Ian Kershaw is a top notch historian.Franz Neumann is one of the other ones i'd rate for anyone interested in this horrific but period.They who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it.

David, Manchester (12/01/2008 at 12:09)

We should not forget each and every holocaust, like the Japanese invasion of China (Nanking), Rwanda, communists Pol Pot and Stalin killing millions, the Armenian tragedy and the British when they sent back the Cossacks to the communists in USSR to certain death. The problem with saying "The holocaust" is that it is already an error and part of collective amnesia that there has only been one genocide in the last century.

Richard Berembaum (12/01/2008 at 12:21)

How biased can Sir Kershaw be to pay homage to one side of the historical players ?

How feeble can he be to give his game away so blatantly ?

How biased a historian must you be to reach such public acclaim, that is, by the comformist media ?

Do we live in a Manniquean world ?

Haven't you by any chance heard of some David C. Irving ?

Princess_Pam, Crumpsall (12/01/2008 at 15:01)

One thing that annoys me about people who talk about the Holocaust is that they only talk about the 6 million Jewish People killed. They always conveniently forget the other 5-6 million killed in concentration camps who were not jewish. It's very convenient but we should remember people who were gay (or suspected of being gay), gypsies, the mentally ill, socialists, communists, intellectuals, etc were also murdered. They should be included too in all discussions of the Holocaust or included in any memorials.

lebist, Blackley (12/01/2008 at 15:43)

Richard Berenbaum as you appear to be a David Irving fan could I recommend you give The Flat Earth Society your attention as their ideas are more credible than his.

BluePolarBear, ex of Stockport (13/01/2008 at 01:15)

Richard,is that the David Irving who is a holocaust denier?Whose integral bias propels him to reject the words of survivors,and even the words of nazi's themselves.
The same Irving who rejects the evidence of whole villages,towns and communities dissapearing,and the evidence of documents the meticulous nazis kept?The evidence of gas chambers was also rejected ,as it didn't fit Irvings childishly ignorant theories.
Is this that same Irving who has been discredited again and again,by left wing and more conservative historians ?
Irving is no historian,he is akin to a flat earther who calls himself a scientist.
Sadly there have been and continue to be atrocities committed by humans,shaped by ultra-nationalism,racism,sectarianism,twisted religion and greed.No one should turn a blind eye to the atrocities of Stalin,and indeed no credible historian does.Neither must we forget the Palestinians plight,or those in the former Yugoslavia,or indeed the lives lost in Rwanda,or Iraq,under Saddam or the Bush led,greed mongers.
Neither though,must we ever forget those the nazi's butchered,in what was an attempt to destroy a whole race of people, in crude industrial fashion'.Nor the other people the twisted nazi's hated,and murdered, gays,freemasons,Gypsies,socialists,political opponents,trade unionists ,liberals, radicals,Allied forces,and civilians, and those deemed to be "life unworthy of life"(ie with mental health problems or whose i q was deemed too low).
Millions of children were scarred for life by the holocaust too,though the far right only values the lives of ayran children..and has always despised those it judges to be children of "inferior races".
It insults their memory when Irving is considered a historian,rather than a crude, extremist propagandist.

Bill, Kiriat Motzkin (13/01/2008 at 09:52)

I live in Israel. I've seen and heard so much holocaust that to know any more I would have to have been in it.
And the previous posters are right. There have been other genocides, but what the Nazis did to the Jews has eclipsed all others. Even what the Nazis did to 4 million people that were not Jewish, the poor souls that never get a look in.

BluePolarBear, ex of Stockport (13/01/2008 at 19:01)

Very well said, and very balanced Bill.I also see that another poster,sees Irvine as a flat earther.What a ridiculous figure this Irving is,and how sad that he has acheived a level of fame,far beyond what his limmited talent deserves.
I've read the works of historians with whom I disagree,and I can see their dilligent digging,through source materials,and can appreciate their conclusions are well argued.Irvine however is fifth rate,he is to historians what Paris Hiltion is to music.

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