City-centre site for new free school revealed
IN NOVEMBER 1938 he narrowly escaped the atrocities of Kristallnacht – the Night of the Broken Glass – a pogrom against Jews throughout Nazi Germany.
Now Yorkshire Holocaust survivor Heinz Skyte has loaned the precious few possessions he managed to keep when he escaped Germany to the region’s new Holocaust Heritage and Learning Centre.
Due to open in 2018 at the University of Huddersfield, the new centre will attract thousands of visitors from across the region and beyond, taking people on a journey from the rise of the Nazis in Germany and the occupation of Europe through to Germany’s surrender in 1945.
The story of the Holocaust, how it happened, the impact on people’s lives and its relevance for today will be told through an exhibition featuring historical artefacts and the stories of those who experienced it, many of whom settled in Yorkshire.
Mr Skyte, 97, from Leeds, recounts the turbulent times leading up to 1939, describing horrifying memories of torch-wielding Nazis lining the streets, burning synagogues and seeing his father sent to Dachau concentration camp for no other reason than he was Jewish.
Along with letters, photographs and documents, Mr Skyte has loaned personal items he brought to England when he fled the Nazis. He said: “To the visitors who come here this is perhaps just history, but to me it is my life. It is very important for me to share these items with the centre, as they are evidence for the events of the Holocaust. One of these documents is a letter from my wife’s headmaster in 1938 when she was a young girl, banning her from the school, solely based on her Jewish faith. Another is a heartfelt note from my mother to her parents at the time they were sent to Theresienstadt concentration camp, where they sadly died just two weeks later.
“These items don’t just teach people of what happened, but of how genocide, in all its horror, quickly become acceptable to so many. I just hope that the people of Yorkshire and beyond will make the visit to the new centre to understand it better.”
The centre has already received support from a host of benefactors, including funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund of more than £600,000.
The scheme, which is backed by the University of Huddersfield, Pears Foundation and the Association of Jewish Refugees, has also received support from regional businesses, including Shulmans LLP, a law firm based in Leeds.
Shulmans’ Simon Jackson, a past president of the Leeds Jewish Representative Council who has been assisting the Holocaust Survivors Friendship Association (HSFA) on the project, said: “The victims of the Holocaust suffered horrendously; most did not survive so recording the details of eye witnesses still with us is vitally important.”
Emma King, the centre’s director, added: “The meeting with Heinz has been incredibly humbling and adds priceless detail to our archive collection.” A CITY-CENTRE location has been unveiled as the site for a new £19m sixth form college for 1,200 students in a Yorkshire city.
A former Victorian mill site, off Nelson Street, has been chosen for New College Bradford, which is set to open its doors in 2019.
Bradford Council has worked closely with the Government’s Education and Skills Funding Agency (EFSA) to ensure the free school can go ahead at the site, which was earmarked for a £14m swimming pool complex that has since been axed.
The new school will be run by the New Collaborative Learning Trust, which also runs schools in Doncaster and Pontefract.
Bradford Council carried out a review of post-16 education last year, which identified the need for a small number of large sixth-form schools in key areas of demand, such as Bradford city centre. The review found that standards would improve if smaller sixth forms within schools were shut and pupils instead attended larger specialist sixth-form colleges.
Some schools in the city have already announced they would be closing their sixth forms.
Coun Alex Ross-Shaw, Bradford Council’s executive member for regeneration, planning and transport, said: “We welcome this major investment into Bradford city centre. The site has excellent transport links and will be accessible to young people across our district. It will increase the footfall into our city and provide an excellent campus for young people to learn in.”
Coun Imran Khan, executive member for education, employment and skills, added: “This is great news for Bradford’s young people. New College Bradford’s trust have a strong track record for delivering post-16 education.
“This new school will boost the choice and quality of A-level, BTEC and other qualifications available. It will increase the chances of young people from Bradford fulfilling their potential and going on to the higher education and employment they aspire to.”
Bradford Council has sold the site to the EFSA to enable the development of the new school.