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The University of Sussex

 09 January 2002 

Rescuers, resisters and survivors of the Holocaust remembered

Trude Levi suffered the horrors of Auschwitz and Buchenwald before collapsing from exhaustion on the infamous "death march" of 1945 and being left for dead. Somehow she survived. She went on to write about her harrowing experiences of the holocaust and the poverty and hardship she experienced after the war in her memoirs, A Cat Called Adolf.

Hungarian-born Trude, now 78, will be talking about her memoirs for Holocaust Memorial Day 2002, at the University of Sussex on January 23.

The free annual event, which this year focuses on the themes of rescue and resistance, includes talks, film shows and discussions and will look at both the historical perspective and current situation with regards to refugees and asylum seekers.

Chana Moshenska, director of educational programmes for the Sussex Centre for German Jewish Studies and organiser of the event, says: "There are important messages from the Holocaust that relate to contemporary issues. Why is it that some people become rescuers while the vast majority are just bystanders? Why do some choose to risk losing their lives through moral or spiritual resistance?"

University of Sussex historian Sybil Oldfield will talk about German women rescuers and resisters, while Centre for German Jewish Studies researcher Deborah Schultz will chair a discussion on visual representations of rescue and resistance.

Rebekah Webb and Lori Gemeiner, also researchers for the Centre for German Jewish Studies, will address Holocaust education and racism on the internet, while Shanti Haft, from the Brighton Campaign for Asylum Seekers, will look at the current issues facing refugees and asylum seekers in Britain.

The day will end with a showing of the Czech film, The Power of Humanity, which describes the work of a British stockbroker, Nicholas Winton, who helped more than 600 Czech children escape the Nazis in 1939 by setting up the Czech Kindertransport. Some of those who were rescued will be among the guest speakers after the film show.

Holocaust Memorial Day, which is a national event, is actually on Sunday, January 27, the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.




 Notes for editors 

For further information, please contact Jacqui Bealing, or Alison Field, University of Sussex, Tel. 01273 678888, Fax 01273 877456, email J.A.Bealing@sussex.ac.uk or A.Field@sussex.ac.uk.

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