1988: Founded by Lord Janner of Braunstone and the late Lord Merlyn Rees, the Trust was established in 1988 as a result of renewed interest and need for knowledge about the Holocaust during the passage of the War Crimes Act.
1991: An early success was ensuring that the Holocaust was included in the National Curriculum for England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 1991 – for Key Stage 3 students (11-14 year olds).
1998: The Trust successfully campaigned to have the assets of Holocaust victims and Survivors released and returned to their rightful owners.
2001: Having played a central role in the establishment of an annual Holocaust Memorial Day in the UK in 2001, the Trust continues to support schools and communities in observing this national commemorative event held on January 27th each year.
2005: HM Treasury announced that it would provide funding of £1.5 million per year for the Holocaust Educational Trust’s Lessons from Auschwitz Project, giving two students from every school in the country the chance to take part in educational visits to Auschwitz-Birkenau.
To date, more than 12,000 students from all regions of the UK have participated in the course, thanks in large part to government funding, to which now comes from the Department for Education (formerly the Department for Children, Schools and Families), the Scottish Government and the Welsh Assembly Government. On 28th June 2010 the new Secretary of State for Education, Rt Hon Michael Gove MP said: "The commitment to support the Holocaust Educational Trust which the last government gave is one we are proud to be able to continue with."
2007: Recollections: Eyewitnesses Remember the Holocaust, a groundbreaking DVD-ROM, won a prestigious BAFTA award. The interactive resource, produced by the Holocaust Educational Trust together with the University of Southern California Shoah Foundation Institute integrates testimony from 18 eyewitnesses to the Holocaust, including Jewish survivors, Roma and Sinti survivors, Jehovah’s Witness survivors and political prisoners – preserving their experiences for future generations to learn from.
2010: As a direct result of an initiative by the Trust to secure formal recognition for the small group of British men and women who worked to aid and rescue Jewish people and other persecuted groups during the Holocaust, in 2010 the Government issued a new award formally acknowledging their bravery.
