Catalogue description Holocaust Centre North (Holocaust Survivors' Friendship Association)

Records of the Holocaust Survivors’ Friendship Association charity, publicly known as Holocaust Centre North.

HSFA originated in 1995, after a small group of social workers at the Leeds Jewish Welfare Board realised that many of their clients had something in common – they were Holocaust survivors. The LJWB approached Holocaust survivor Heinz Skyte to plan a mutual support group for fellow survivors and in 1996 HSFA was formally established. The HSFA’s activities soon grew from survivors sharing their experiences with each other over tea and coffee, to survivors regularly speaking about their lives and the impact of the Holocaust in schools and in public.

HSFA became a registered charity in 2000 and an incorporated charity in 2017. In 2018, HSFA opened an exhibition and learning centre on the University of Huddersfield campus, now called Holocaust Centre North. The Centre works across five strategic areas to tell a global history through local stories:

1) Permanent and temporary exhibitions

2) Growing archive of documentary evidence of the Holocaust

3) Programme of education and public learning activities, including archive residencies for contemporary artists

4) Research in partnership with the University of Huddersfield and the broader academic community

5) Community support and friendship

The Centre houses the HSFA archive, which contains organisational records of the charity (for instance governance, administration, correspondence, Holocaust Centre North activities) as well as 130+ sets of personal papers from Holocaust survivors, descendants and associates who were/are connected to the north of England. HSFA employed its first Archivist in late 2021 and cataloguing the archive began with the initiation of ‘Homeward Bound’ in January 2023, a three-year HSFA project to catalogue, digitise and increase the number of personal papers by 50%.

The archive is arranged in two sub-fonds:

HCN/1: Personal papers

HCN/2: Organisational records of HSFA and Holocaust Centre North

Please note there is graphic content throughout the collection, including potentially offensive language and potentially distressing images and descriptions of abuse, violence and death.

Holocaust Survivors' Friendship Association

University of Leeds

Anysz, Barry

Banasch, Vera

Bergen, Dr Amanda

Bernheim, Elisabeth

Black, David

Black, Eugene

Black, Lilian

Budzik, Josef

Carter, Liesel

Chillag, John

Chillag, Lawrence

Craggs, Dr Tracy

Dalton, Hilary

Dublon, George

Erner, Saul

Fairfax, Diane

Fairfax, Richard

Freund, Margit

Gill, Andrew

Gilmore, Lynda

Gilmore, Robin

Ginsburg, Ibi

Ginsburg, Val

Goldberg, Edith

Goldberg, Trude

Goldman, Nik

Grant, Ruth

Green, Michelle

Hargreaves, Victoria

Harrison, Brett

Hartland, Jenny

Hersh, Arek

Hurst, Thea

Hustler, Dennis

Jackman, Gerald

Jacoby, Kiks

Jonkers, Claudia

Jonkers, Hari

Jorysz, Martin

Kagan, Lady Margaret

Kapel, Dr Martin

Karmeinsky, Steve

Katz, Fay

Keczkes, Veronika

Kennedy, Helena King, Ida

Kingsley, Max

Klipstein, Berta

Knill, Iby

Kolar, Paula

Kornberg, Sir Hans

Krips, Hans

Kubie, Tom

Leavor, Marianne

Leavor, Rudi

Mendel, Rachel

Michaelis, Lorle

Millet, Elly

Pearson, Sue

Pollock, Dr Griselda

Randall, Hannah

Reiman, Frank

Ripton, Suzanne

Rivlin, Danny

Rogoff, Ruth

Rosenberg, Yetta

Rosner, Bob

Rotenberg, Stella

Samson, Klaus

Schatzberger, Marc

Schatzberger, Rosl

Seifer, Gerda

Shooman, Bernice

Silman, Trude

Simon, Gail

Skyte, Heinz

Skyte, Thea

Smith, Amber, Wellesley-

Spencer, Edith

Spier, Agnes, Grunwald-

Steinberg, Dr Hugo

Sterne, Ernest

Sterne, Ruth

Studley, Eric

Studley, Hilde

Tirr, Erika

Open, subject to conditions. Please contact Holocaust Centre North's Collections team for more information about access and use.