Southampton Holocaust & Genocide Memorial Day 2023

As every year, the Parkes Institute for the Study of Jewish/non-Jewish Relations is co-organising with Solent University Southampton’s Holocaust and Genocide Memorial Day event. Holocaust and Genocide Memorial Day is the annual, national commemoration and remembrance of victims of national, ethnic, racial, and/or religious persecution. For 2023, we will have two events.

Wednesday 25 January
Commemorative Event, Solent University

Our core commemorative event will take place in the Palmerston Lecture Theatre at Solent University on Wednesday 25th January from 5.30pm to 8pm (refreshments will be served at 5.30pm and after the event at 7.30pm). This event is hybrid, free, and all are welcome to attend. Those attending online will need to register and will be sent joining information with registration.

For 2023, we have chosen to commemorate the ‘Holocaust by bullets’ at Babyn Yar, Ukraine, both because it has featured relatively less in UK Holocaust discourse and because of its contemporary relevance in the context of the Russian war of ‘denazification’ of Ukraine. The main event will feature a panel discussion with experts in Holocaust education and Eastern European history Professor Jeremy Hicks (Queen Mary University of London), Graham Cole (Parkes Honorary Fellow and Holocaust Education Trust educator) and Dr Markian Prokopovych (University of Durham). It will be an opportunity to reflect on the current Russian regime’s weaponisation of Ukrainian collaboration during the Holocaust, the representations of Babyn Yar in Soviet and post-Soviet time, and more specifically the ethical and historical questions raised by Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa’s recent film Babi Yar. Context (2021). There will also be a reading of poems reflecting on the genocide in Cambodia by students from Solent University. Southampton school pupils’ reflections from Outreach workshops will also be shared as part of the event.

If you'd like to find out more about the 'Holocaust by bullets', the Babyn Yar massacre and our reflections on screening Babi.Yar. Context , please see our blog post, ' Holocaust by Bullets: Historical and Ethical Questions '.

Thursday 26 January
Film screening, Babi Yar. Context (2021), Union Films

On Thursday 26 January at 6.30pm, the Phoenix Film society at Union Films, University of Southampton will co-host a screening of Sergei Loznitsa’s film Babi Yar. Context (2021). The film will be introduced by Claire Le Foll and Graham Cole This screening is free to attend but, due to the nature of the film, it will be open to over 18s only. Register here .