An evening celebrating the remarkable life of Holocaust survivor Dora Love will be one of the highlights of a week-long series of events being organised by the University of Essex for Holocaust Memorial Week.

Co-ordinated by Professor Rainer Schulze, the week will focus on the theme of disability and euthanasia.

The week starts on Monday 23 January when the University’s History Society will host a Twilight Zone Café at the Love Bistro@ The Minories in Colchester High Street. The talk by Professor Schulze: ‘Euthanasia Killings in Nazi Germany: Stepping Stone to Genocide – An Introduction to the main theme of The University of Essex Holocaust Memorial Week 2012’ will be from 6.30pm-8.30pm.

On Tuesday 24 January, Holocaust survivor and Essex Honorary Graduate, Dora Love, who died in October last year, will be remembered at a special event at the University’s Lakeside Theatre from 7.30pm-9.30pm. The evening will include performances of her poems and extracts of her testimony given to the Shoah Foundation about how she survived the hell of Stutthof concentration camp.

There will be a movie screening of Honeymoons, followed by a discussion on ‘Representations of genocides, their impact and their aftermath in mainstream films" on campus on Wednesday 25 January at 7pm.

Colchester’s new visual arts venue, firstsite, will also host a round table discussion titled ‘Disabled and Equal? How far have attitudes towards disability changed since the euthanasia killings of the Nazis?’ on Thursday 26 January at 6.30pm with representatives from the University, Essex Police, LEPRA and health professionals.

On Friday 27 January, National Holocaust Memorial Day, the History Society will host a round table discussion at 6pm on the ‘Other Victims of the Holocaust – Disabled people, Roma and Sinti, gay men – what have we learnt?’ which will be followed by a Celebration of Light to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust and the other genocides.

All events are free and open to members of the public. However, spaces are limited for the Twilight Zone Café, the Dora Love celebration evening and the firstsite round table discussion. To register for these events or for more information about the week’s events, please telephone: 01206 872400 or e-mail events@essex.ac.uk.