The Sussex Digital Holocaust Education Project

The Sussex Digital Holocaust Education Project is underpinned by the question: What did people know about the Holocaust in Britain as it was unfolding? To investigate this, the project turns its attention to the Mass Observation Archive (M-O), one of the Special Collections held by the University of Sussex at The Keep. Centered around everyday life, the Mass Observation social research organisation (1937-1950s) and the Mass Observation Project (1981 – ongoing) collected personal writings including diaries, day surveys and directive replies and topic collections to capture the thoughts and opinions of those living in Britain. This presentation will introduce the audience to the project’s key initiatives and explore some of its core findings so far. Primarily, it will reflect upon the emerging research of The Isaacsohn and André Families’ Research Fellows and will discuss the project’s digital ambitions moving forward.

Dr Kate Marrison is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Weidenfeld Institute of German-Jewish Studies, University of Sussex, where she is currently leading the ‘Sussex Digital Holocaust Education Project’ and working on the ESRC-funded ‘Co-creating Recommendations for Digital Interventions in Holocaust Memory and Education’ and the HEIF-funded ‘Dealing with Difficult Heritage’ projects. Her research is primarily focused on digital memory practice, education and commemoration as it emerges at the intersection between Holocaust studies and media theory.