Touching the Past – A workshop for AS/A2 students
How can artefacts enrich our understanding of the past? By combining original artefacts with replicas of items used during the Holocaust, this handling session explores key aspects of the historical narrative, challenges students to consider what is meant by ‘authenticity’ and asks how historians construct an understanding of the past. This workshop can stand alone or be combined with a visit to The Holocaust Exhibition.

Dates Throughout term by special arrangement
Times By arrangement
Session length 50 minutes
Suitability AS/A2
Party size Maximum 30

Nazi Germany and the Holocaust
In partnership with the London Jewish Cultural Centre, the day will explore historical interpretations of Hitler’s Third Reich.

The morning will consist of two lectures: A twisted road to Auschwitz? – The intentionalist-functionalist debate by Professor Mary Fulbrook of University College London, and Ordinary men, willing executioners? – Explaining the actions of the perpetrators of mass murder by Dr Mark Levene of Southampton University.

In the afternoon there will be an opportunity to meet a Holocaust survivor and visit The Holocaust Exhibition, Crimes against humanity and Unspeakable: The Artist as Witness to the Holocaust.

Date 21 November 2008
Times 10.30am – 4.30pm
Suitability AS/A2
Cost £15 per student. One teacher free with every ten students
Booking Please apply by letter to the Education Department with cheque made payable to Imperial War Museum for the full amount. If you require an invoice instead, please let us know.

Unspeakable: The Artist as Witness to the Holocaust
Interactive gallery tours can be arranged for students to explore the different ways
artists have tried to come to terms with the Holocaust – a difficult and in many ways
unspeakable episode in twentieth century history. The exhibition looks at work by official
war artists such as Leslie Cole and Doris Zinkeissen, contemporary artists such as Paul
Ryan and Jenny Stolzenberg and Holocaust survivors such as Roman Halter and Edith
Birkin.

Dates Throughout term by special arrangement
Times By arrangement
Session length 30–45 minutes
Suitability AS/A2
Party size Maximum 15