DISCUSSION PANEL
Memorial Sites and Memory of Atrocities in Times of Crisis
Moderator: Marine Dudziak-Vannier, Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Poland
Dr. Andreas Kahrs is a historian, who studied in Hamburg and Kraków and received his PhD from the Humboldt University of Berlin. His research focus is “Operation Reinhardt”. He is the founder and managing director of the NGO what matters. The NGO, among others, provides multiday programs on the history of the Holocaust and on current antisemitism in several places in central Europe and Israel, as well as international work on combatting antisemitism. Target groups for projects and consulting are universities, law enforcement, sports institutions, corporates and state institutions, and Jewish organisations. He has organized projects on site at the Auschwitz Museum for 20 years.
Dr. Matthias Heyl studied History (Major), Psychology and Education (Minors) at the University of Hamburg. He finished his PhD thesis, a comparative study on the development of Holocaust Education in West Germany, the Netherlands, Israel, and the US, in 1996. From 1992 to 1996, he worked at the Faculty of Education at the University of Hamburg. From 1997 to 2002, he was the head of the Research and Study Center for Holocaust Education in Hamburg. Since 2002, Heyl has been head of the Education Department at the Ravensbrück Memorial Site and its International Youth Meeting Center. He has been co-editor and author of various books and essays on Holocaust education, Holocaust studies, antisemitism, psychoanalytical perspectives on the Shoah, trauma, and perpetrator issues. He calls himself a “Master in Missing”. Currently he is the deputy director of the Ravensbrück Memorial Site.
Olivia Marks-Woldman has led the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust since 2012, overseeing a huge growth in engagement in communities across the United Kingdom and at national level. Holocaust Memorial Day is marked with local events, a national Ceremony and a national moment to Light the Darkness. His Majesty The King is Patron of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust. She is a member of the UK delegation to IHRA and is a former Chair of the Committee on the Holocaust, Genocide, and Crimes Against Humanity. Marks-Woldman is also a trustee of Kids, the charity for children and young people with disabilities.
Dr. Lena Casiez is head of the Education Culture Research and International Department at the
Photo: panel discussion.