Pears Foundation

In recognition of its significance, the Holocaust is the only historic event which is compulsory within the history curriculum in British schools.  Holocaust exhibitions and learning centres offer their visitors (both adults and children) a unique opportunity to work with artefacts and archival material and engage in learning outside the classroom. We have supported many of the UK’s major learning centres, helping them to build their capacity and engage with more visitors, especially young people.

Holocaust Centre North

Located on the University of Huddersfield campus, the Holocaust Centre North tells a global history of the Holocaust through local stories of survivors and refugees who built new lives in the North of England. Its work spans archives and collections, learning, artistic research, exhibitions, and survivor welfare.

Its learning programmes are designed to deepen students’ knowledge and understanding of the causes, consequences, and legacies of the Holocaust by addressing common misconceptions, fostering critical thinking skills, and highlighting why it is important to study the Holocaust in the present. By engaging with the collections, students learn about the history of the Holocaust through the stories of local survivors and refugees. The Centre also works with artists to bring to life the lesser-known stories in its archive, in ways that are meaningful to the communities surrounding the Centre.

Pears Foundation has been a core funder since the Centre first opened in 2018.

Partner since: 2017
Funding invested: £638,000

The National Holocaust Centre and Museum

The National Holocaust Centre and Museum (NHCM) is one of the Foundation’s most enduring partnerships. Founded by the Smith family in 1996, it delivers Holocaust education programmes to over 20,000 children annually, through workshops at the Centre, in their schools and online.  The education programme draws on the Centre’s academic expertise, its museum collection, exhibitions and memorial gardens, survivor testimony and digital resources to develop students’ understanding of how and why the Holocaust happened.

Secondary-age students learn about the Holocaust through objects, survivor testimony and educator-led workshops that help them to think critically about individual and societal responsibility as well as modern challenges such as online hatred and conspiracy theories. The Journey – the UK’s only Holocaust exhibition designed for primary-aged children – uses the story of a child in 1930s Berlin to help children learn, in an age-appropriate way, about the discrimination which led to the Holocaust.

At the heart of the NHCM is the community of Holocaust survivors who have given so much of themselves to tell their stories and answer questions. The Centre has pioneered the use of voice recognition and AI to create digital interactive experiences in order to ensure that their testimony remains central to its education programmes.

Pears Foundation has been part of the Centre’s story for over two decades, providing long-term unrestricted funding, capacity building support, capital funding to support the maintenance and development of the site and dedicated funding to establish new projects, including  digital testimony.

Pears Foundation also supports the Centre’s sister organisation, the Aegis Trust, which works towards the prevention of genocide and crimes against humanity and helped establish the Kigali Memorial Centre in Rwanda.

Partner since: 2003
Funding invested: £4.5million

The Wiener Holocaust Library

The Wiener Holocaust Library is one of the world’s leading and most extensive archives on the Holocaust, the Nazi era and genocide. The Library’s unique collection of over one million items includes published and unpublished works, press cuttings, photographs and eyewitness testimony. Its Research and Engagement programme educates the public, schools, students and scholars and includes their educational website The Holocaust Explained.

Partner since: 2012
Funding invested: £338,000

We also provided funding to establish the Holocaust Galleries at the Imperial War Museum London and the Scottish Jewish Heritage Centre in Glasgow.