OUTREACH VISITS
In the months preceding Holocaust and Genocide Memorial Day, the Parkes Institute Karten Outreach Fellows and colleagues organise and run a series of workshops in sixth form colleges around Hampshire. Where possible these workshops include testimony from a Holocaust survivor arranged through the Holocaust Educational Trust (HET).
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Our University-style seminar workshops provide students with an insight into what they can expect if they pursue higher education, encouraging them to work with a variety of sources while broadening their knowledge of historical events. The opportunity to hear a survivor's testimony with a Q&A session is a once in a lifetime opportunity for many of the students and the responses which come from this opportunity demonstrate the impact it has.
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We are incredibly grateful to Graham Cole and the HET for their continued support of our outreach programme. Graham, an Honorary Fellow of the Parkes Institute and long-time educator for HET, had facilitated a number of outreach sessions alongside the Karten Fellows in recent years and his hard work and enthusiasm during the workshops is central to their success.
From Left to Right: William Bergman speaks with a student during a visit to Barton Peveril Sixth Form in 2019; Walter Kammerling gives his testimony at Bartol Peveril Sixth Form in 2018; and Walter Kammerling speaks to students at Itchen Sixth Form College in 2017
The Holocaust and Genocide Memorial Day education programme is delivered by members of the Parkes Institute Outreach Team with support from Graham Cole at the Holocaust Educational Trust. The outreach programme is made possible through the generosity of the Ian Karten Trust, who fund the position of Outreach Fellow for doctoral students. The following stories document how three Outreach Fellows have been involved in Holocaust and Genocide Memorial Day.
Nicola Woodhead
I'm Nicola Woodhead, and over the last five years, I have spent three of them as a member of the Parkes Institute Outreach Team. I have been heavily involved in Southampton's annual Holocaust and Genocide Memorial Day commemorations. Predominantly working on the education side, delivering workshops in local schools and sixth forms. These visits often include a talk from a Holocaust survivor. It is often the survivor which the students reflect upon in their responses. Additionally, I have worked on previous HMD exhibition, a particular highlight was curating a Kindertransport exhibition to commemorate its eightieth anniversary.
Katie Power
My name is Katie Power, and I held the role of Karten Outreach Fellow between between from 2015 until 2020. One of my core responsibilities during this time was overseeing Southampton's annual Holocaust and Genocide Memorial Day commemorations, which involved facilitating local school and college visits, curating the HMD exhibition and organising the public commemorative event. I regularly visited local schools and sixth form colleges to deliver research and testimony-led educational workshops, often accompanied by a Holocaust survivor whose testimony was central to these visits. Despite stepping back from the role of Outreach Fellow, I am proud to continue my work with the Outreach team as part of the team curating this digital exhibition.
Dr Jennifer Craig-Norton
My involvement in Holocaust Memorial Day commemorations during my University of Southampton Outreach Fellowship stands out as one of the most rewarding aspects of my time at the university. Along with other Outreach fellows, we delivered lessons on the Holocaust to Sixth Form Colleges around Hampshire, and collected the students’ reflections for HMD exhibitions. It was especially gratifying to see the thoughtful engagement of young students as they interacted with this difficult history and to watch them grapple with primary source materials such as testimony, correspondence, photographs and other documentation. The final reward was to see their reflections displayed and appreciated by the HMD audience and university students when the exhibitions were shared with the public.