Stanley Burton Centre for Holocaust Studies
The Stanley Burton Centre for Holocaust and Genocide studies (SBC) is a teaching and research centre located within the school of History at the University of Leicester.
The Centre
The centre was founded by Professor Aubrey Newman, in 1990, thus being the oldest Holocaust research centre at a British university. It was renamed the Stanley Burton Centre in 1993, after Stanley Burton of Leeds endowed a Lectureship in Jewish Studies to the University of Leicester. Its name was amended in Centre for Holocaust and Genocide Studies in 2011, after it expanded its focus to other cases of mass violence in Europe and its colonies from the 19th to the 21st centuries. Its current director is Dr Alexander Korb. The SBC operates a specialist library on the Holocaust. The SBC organises an annual conference on the Holocaust, attracting high profile Holocaust historians to the university. Recent speakers have included Yehuda Bauer, Deborah Lipstadt, Richard Overy, Sir Martin Gilbert, David Cesarani and Christopher Browning. Each year, the centre organises the 'Holocaust Awareness Week' with films, seminars and public lectures. The Centre also organises outreach programs to the local community, attempting to maintain a cohesive atmosphere and raise awareness of the Holocaust's legacy. The centre's activities are largely maintained by student volunteers.
Mission Statement from the University website
The Stanley Burton Centre sets out:
- To conduct research into the Holocaust, its implications and subjects closely related to it, including Jewish history, inter-faith relations, anti-Semitism and racism, fascism and extreme right-wing political movements, crimes against humanity and genocides.
- To foster the study of the Holocaust and these related subjects at an undergraduate and postgraduate level, to develop and disseminate advanced knowledge and reflection on the issues and values they raise.
- To promote an understanding of the Holocaust and these related subjects amongst the general public, to inform and encourage a wider social reflection on the issues and values they raise.
- To expand the production of scholarly publications in these areas to bring the particular contribution of the Stanley Burton Centre to current debates on the Holocaust and its related issues.
- To create and develop links with other institutions and individuals sharing the aims and objectives of the Centre.
- To provide a physical location within the University of Leicester to centralise, co-ordinate and develop these activities.
Links with other institutions
The Burton centre maintains ties with the Wiener Library in London, the National Holocaust Centre in Laxton as well as with research centres in other universities.