2010
Dr James Smith CBE, Mrs Marina Smith, and Dr Stephen Smith – A mother and two sons who founded a centre for remembrance of the Holocaust
Honorary Degrees of Doctor of Letters (HonDLitt) in recognition of their outstanding contribution to Holocaust education and awareness, especially of young people.
A rare triple award for a remarkable family. Stephen Smith is Executive Director of the Shoah Foundation, of Los Angeles, and a member of the Inter-governmental Taskforce on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research (ITF). In 1995 he and his brother James co-founded the UK Holocaust Centre at Laxton in Nottinghamshire, and their mother Marina was its first education director.
As schoolboys, James and Stephen had visited Israel with their parents and began to realise that the Holocaust was more than a Jewish concern. As adults they further engaged with the issues and decided to create a centre for remembrance, reflection, education and training for professionals. They also co-founded the Aegis Trust, which campaigns against crimes against humanity and genocide. The Holocaust Centre engages with pupils, teachers and researchers at all levels of education to raise awareness of not only the Holocaust of the Second World War, but more recent genocides such as those in Armenia, Cambodia and Rwanda.
Dr James Smith received a CBE in 2014 for services to Holocaust education and genocide prevention.