Gathering The Voices Scotland

Testimonies of Holocaust survivors who settled in Scotland

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Holocaust survivor relives the moment he arrived in Glasgow after fleeing Nazi Germany to educate kids

Henry returned to Central Station to educate secondary school pupils (Image: PA)

A Holocaust survivor has relived the memory of arriving in Scotland after escaping Nazi Germany to educate school pupils about the Second World War.

Henry Wuga, 98, returned to Glasgow Central Station to share his story with youths.

He joined Poppyscotland and Gathering the Voices to help launch new lessons for Scottish schools, based on his story and that of other young refugees during World War Two.

Mr Wuga escaped Nazi Germany in 1939, aged just 15, leaving his parents behind in Nuremberg, and went to Glasgow on the Kindertransport.

The Jewish refugee made Scotland his home, marrying Ingrid, who also escaped via the Kindertransport, and managing his own catering business.

Henry Wuga, Holocaust survivor (Image: PA)

Read the story on the Daily Record website: Holocaust survivor relives the moment he arrived in Glasgow after fleeing Nazi Germany to educate kids – Daily Record

Learning about the Holocaust

Learning about the Holocaust

Learning about the Holocast

East Renfrewshire and Renfrewshire’s 2020 Holocaust Memorial Day Event

Howard Singerman, one of the founder members of Gathering the Voices, was the keynote speaker at East Renfrewshire and Renfrewshire’s 2020 Holocaust Memorial Day event, which this year was commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz Concentration Camp.

It was a powerful ceremony with local school pupils playing a major role and setting the scene musically.

The other speaker, Arnesa Buljušmić-Kustura, spoke movingly of her experiences and losses as a young child growing up in Bosnia at the time of the civil war in Yugoslavia.

Howard Singerman

Howard then, with great dignity, told his mother’s story from the time she and her family were deported from Hungary in June 1944 to Auschwitz Concentration Camp. He spoke of the nearly four hundred and thirty thousand Hungarian Jews who were murdered at Auschwitz-Birkenau in a period of just two months, and of the need to remember and learn from the horror of the Holocaust. He read two of the poems he has written in honour of his mother and her murdered family. His speech was very powerful and touched the hearts of all who were present.

After the ceremony the guests were invited to Carmichael Hall for tea, and also had the opportunity to view the Anne Frank Exhibition and learn more about the Gathering the Voices project.  

Saskia Tepe in Southern Arizona

On 5th December, and 9th and 26th January I spoke at three separate 55+ communities in Southern Arizona, to a total of over 150 residents ranging in age from 55 to 80, in order to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and introduce the concept and aims of International Holocaust Memorial Day.

Audiences were very receptive, interested in the idea of oral databases like Gathering the voices as they felt personal stories of survival were a wonderful way of accessing history and learning lessons from the past.

Of course, my mother’s story continues to inspire and I am proud that I can continue to share it here in the USA.

Learn more from Saskia Tepe Testimonial

Update from Gathering the Voices

Gathering the Voices has presented/exhibited at over 90 locations since we commenced this Refugee and Holocaust Testimony project in 2012.

Exhibit

We have presented to over 11,000 Scottish pupils and to over 2,000 teachers, lecturers, students and adults. In addition, over 20,000 pupils and 22,000 adults have viewed our unique exhibition. 

Presentation venues have included Aberdeen, Dundee, Kelvingrove Art Gallery in Glasgow, Kilmarnock, Irvine, the Scottish Parliament, Hull, Wiener Library in London, Landshut in Bavaria, Germany, Nice, France and Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, Israel.

The Gathering the Voices Exhibition has also been featured at Scotland’s Holocaust Memorial Day Events over 4 times and received favourable and encouraging press reviews.

Image result for Scotland's Holocaust Memorial

UCU@GCU: Event To Mark National Holocaust Memorial Day 2019

Staff and students are warmly invited to an event at GCU to mark National Holocaust Day 2019, hosted by the GCU branch of the UCU (University and Colleges Union).

Dr Angela Shapiro, GCU Honorary Fellow and UCU supporter, will deliver an engaging talk on the theme ‘Torn from home’. The session will encourage us to reflect on how the enforced loss of a safe place to call ‘home’ is part of the trauma faced by anyone experiencing persecution and genocide. This includes reflections on those impacted by the Holocaust and in subsequent genocides including Cambodia, Bosnia, Darfur, Rwanda, and most recently in Myanmar. It will also encourage us to reflect on the lived experiences of refugees and asylum seekers from around the world who are forced to flee their homes to seek safety and rebuild their lives in Glasgow and elsewhere. Dr Shapiro is a member of the ‘Gathering the Voices Association’, and will also provide an overview of the project’s work and the contributions made by GCU students.

Time: MONDAY, 28 JANUARY 2019, 13:00 – 14:00

Where:

Glasgow Caledonian University
Cowcaddens Road
Glasgow G4 0BA
United Kingdom