"These were real people" - Manchester Jewish Museum marking Holocaust Memorial Day

Manchester Jewish Museum are marking the international Holocaust Memorial Day with a Museum Open Day involving reflective performances and workshops created with a group of young people called the ‘Creative Activists’.

The ‘Creative Activists’ are a group of people aged 16-30, who are seeking to create powerful acts of sharing and connection with their local communities to help make a positive difference in the world.

Creative Activist Emily Hurst told us " We want to encourage people to remember actively, especially when it comes to refugees. Also remembering in verbs, remembering people, remembering loved ones through doing things - writing, baking and getting involved. We're really excited."

Since 2020, they’ve be working at the museum with local artist Becky Prestwich as part of Imperial War Museum’s Second World War and Holocaust Partnership Programme. Becky told us: " There's an exhibition that the young people have made. They've been doing lots of writing and telling Holocaust stories in different ways."

"They've been looking at stories particularly people with connection to Manchester, so thinking of the Holocaust, not only what happened in the camps but also how it affected the people that came and made their lives in Manchester."

"It's about sharing those different ways."

Today, entry to the Manchester Jewish Museum will be free of charge, although bookings are required due to limited capacity. The events will begin at 10:30am with a textile exhibition displayed in the Ladies Gallery of MJM’s historic, former synagogue.

The exhibition will be introduced by a Manchester-based artist, Laura Nathan. Her works explore her Jewish family heritage through questions, textiles, creative processes and personal narratives.

Visitors are also invited to watch a performance of the Manchester Jewish Museum’s Song-writing and Poetry Group. The Group have been collaborating with the Creative Activists to create songs from their reflective poems, which were inspired by reading, listening and learning about lesser-known Holocaust and Second World War stories from the Museum’s collection.

The songs, as much as the poems, explore themes of journeys, love, loss and joy. They stitch together the young people’s own experiences. They recognise that historic stories of individuals come with absences and an inability to fully recollect or understand how people felt in the past.

To find our more information or to get involved, visit the Manchester Jewish Museum website.

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