Holocaust Centre North Archive, courtesy of the family of Iby Knill – Chris Knill and Pauline Kinch

By KLTV Newsdesk – 

Commemorative evening at the University of Huddersfield will honour survivors, families and future generations on the 81st anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz

Holocaust Centre North will mark Holocaust Memorial Day 2026 with an evening of intergenerational storytelling and commemoration, bringing together survivors, their families, educators and community partners to reflect on remembrance across generations.

Tuesday 27 January 2026 marks the 81st anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz.

To commemorate this profoundly significant moment in history, the centre will host an evening of reflection on the day itself, aligned with this year’s international theme, Bridging Generations.

The anniversary serves as a call to action, reminding society that the responsibility of remembrance does not end with survivors, but lives on through their children, grandchildren and a new fourth generation engaged in Holocaust education and research.

An evening of remembrance at the University of Huddersfield

Holocaust Centre North is inviting the public to attend its Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration at 6 pm on Tuesday 27 January at its home at the University of Huddersfield.

The event will explore the power of remembrance across generations, featuring intergenerational Holocaust survivor conversations in person, alongside stories drawn from the Holocaust Centre North Archive.

Survivor testimony at the heart of the commemoration

Central to the evening will be testimony from Holocaust survivor Iby Knill, one of the 16 survivors whose accounts underpin the centre’s permanent Through Our Eyes exhibition.

An interview between the centre’s Head of Collections, Dr Tracy Craggs, Iby, her daughter Pauline and her son Chris, examines the complexity of this history within the family and offers reflections on intergenerational remembrance.

It took Iby many years to speak openly about her experiences in Nazi concentration camps.

When she eventually did, she went on to write two books and speak tirelessly in schools about what had happened to her.

For her family, their relationship with this history and its inherited trauma was complex.

Iby speaks about the understanding she received from her husband, Bert, who recognised when she needed space: “I found occasionally things just got too much for me, and I’d just have to get away and just leave, and I used to go to Londo,n and I uses to just walk for days and it was the only way to cope.’

The impact on families and future generations

Dr Elanor Stannage, Head of Communities at Holocaust Centre North, highlights the intergenerational impact of such experiences: “Iby’s son Chris describes how he ‘grew up feeling there was a hole somewhere, not quite knowing why’.

The Knill family show a remarkable generosity and courage in their willingness to share the depth and complexity of their unfathomable experience, as do all survivor families who are willing to share those experiences with a wider world.

Perhaps, through their survival despite such horror, we can better understand the global trauma the Holocaust has wrought on humanity and our responsibilities within this post Holocaust world.”

Honouring victims and standing against hatred

During the memorial event, candles will be lit in remembrance of the six million Jewish men, women and children murdered during the Holocaust.

The centre will also commemorate the millions of others murdered through Nazi persecution, including Roma and Sinti people, LGBTQ+ people, disabled people and many more, as well as victims of subsequent genocides and atrocities across the world.

Community partners will also take part, including Community Arts Organisation 6 Million +, pupils from Carlton Primary School and others committed to promoting unity, understanding and shared humanity.

The event will reflect on another vital generation: those who dedicate their time to remembering, commemorating and educating, working across decades to keep this history alive and strive for a world in which every human life is valued equally.

Preserving memory through archives and education

Dr Alessandro Bucci, Director of Holocaust Centre North, said: “The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust theme Bridging Generations offers us as an organisation an opportunity to share some of these precious relationships with our collection donors and the insights they bring.

We have the great privilege of connecting with whole families as we are gifted the honour of preserving these traces of their family’s lives, shaped by such cruelty and loss, within our collection.

We have always seen how valuable intergenerational knowledge and memory is and our archive contains many multigenerational interviews.

They are such an important historical resource as we understand the impacts of this history on future generations across the world.”

Holocaust Centre North began as the Holocaust Survivors Friendship Association, providing a space for survivors to come together in mutual support.

It soon developed a second purpose: sharing lived experiences to promote remembrance, Holocaust education and a less divided world centred on shared humanity, regardless of race, religion or creed.

Today, the charity cares for an archive encompassing more than 150 families who experienced persecution under the Nazi regime, preserving objects, testimonies and relationships entrusted to its care.

Its permanent exhibition is built from the testimony of Holocaust refugees and survivors who rebuilt their lives and families in the North of England.

Through intergenerational interviews and artworks, the centre continues to document the enduring legacies of the Holocaust on first, second and third generations.

Beyond Holocaust Memorial Day, these resources are accessible through online audio guides on the centre’s website, supporting researchers and educators seeking to understand the long-term impacts of the Shoah.

How to attend

Tickets for Holocaust Centre North’s Holocaust Memorial Day event at 6 pm on Tuesday 27 January 2026 are free but must be reserved in advance.

Bookings can be made via the Holocaust Centre North website.