To mark Holocaust Memorial Day (January 27th) the College offers full support to a local youth history group, the Hartlepool Holocaust Memorial Group, funded by Hartlepool Borough Council Youth Services.
One aspect of this is the production of a film, and this year Gary Kester travelled with the group to Preston to film a testimony by Lady Milena Grenfell-Baines, one of 669 children saved from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia by Sir Nicholas Winton in 1939. The resulting film has since been acclaimed internationally as a “powerful and emotional work of historical importance” (the words of Holocaust Survivor Eva Paddock), and can be viewed here.
It has been shown in the Imperial war Museum, in Israel, Prague, and various locations in the United States, and has also been used in talks by Sir Nicholas’s daughter Barbara Winton. It is now being used in talks by Milena across the world. The video is branded with the College and RESPECT identities, ensuring that it receives full credit.
The College also hosted gratis a large-scale event by the Hartlepool Holocaust’s Memorial Group (see attached page from the College Briefing). Following this Milena contacted the College for help with a variety of aspects of her work promoting the legacy of Sir Nicholas, and visited the College in March (again see attached Briefing page for details).
This included the creation of a website by Marketing’s Brian Barnes (also a RESPECT Team member) and a collaboration by Engineering’s Mark Elliott and Marketing’s Gary Kester to create a 1/6th scale model of a sculpture Milena is working to organise for installation at Prague Station, from where the “Winton Children” departed. Mark and Gary were invited to attend a reception at the Slovakian Embassy in London, though Gary could not attend as he was on adoption leave. Mark travelled to London and was introduced to the Ambassador, Ľubomír Rehák, who formally thanked Mark for the assistance the College has rendered without charge. Milena has agreed to return to the College to talk to students about her experiences.
