Born in 1932 to Jewish and socialist parents in Hungary, Dr Kaposi survived the horrors of the Debrecen ghetto and forced labour camps in Austria, losing half her family during the Holocaust. After the war and life under Stalinist rule, she escaped to England following the 1956 Uprising. Over the decades, she became a pioneering engineer, educator, and author, and in 2021 was awarded an MBE for Services to Holocaust Education and Awareness.
The event, organised in collaboration with the Holocaust Educational Trust (HET), included reflections on her earlier work Yellow Star-Red Star, and introduced her forthcoming co-authored book, Harmage and Hope: (An)ecdotes on Exclusion, Prejudice, and Harm. Written with Professor Dr Anja Ballis (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich) and Professor Ian Pyle (Aberystwyth University), Harmage and Hope explores the impact of systemic injustice, antisemitism, Islamophobia, and homophobia through interdisciplinary lenses.
The concept of 'harmage' 鈥 a new term coined by the authors 鈥 captures the cumulative harm caused by exclusion and prejudice, while 鈥(an)ecdotes鈥 offer powerful, personal narratives that connect historical suffering with contemporary experiences of injustice. Together, the book鈥檚 approach seeks not only to educate but to inspire meaningful reflection, dialogue, and action. With educational resources and a model for understanding harm in society, Harmage and Hope will launch at an international educators鈥 conference in M眉nster, Germany, in November 2025.
Reflecting on the talk, Dr Gareth Evans-Jones, Lecturer in Philosophy and Religion and convenor of the Judaism in the Modern World module, said:
鈥淭his was such a unique experience for our students 鈥 deeply moving, intellectually rich, and ethically urgent. To learn directly from someone who lived through one of the darkest chapters in human history and continues to shape the future of education and justice is an experience that will stay with us all. This is the third talk we鈥檝e hosted with the Holocaust Educational Trust, and we鈥檙e extremely thankful for this ongoing partnership.鈥
Professor Peter Shapley, Head of the School of History, Law and Social Sciences, added:
鈥淲e are very grateful for the relationship we have built with the Holocaust Educational Trust. It provides our students with rare and valuable opportunities to engage with living history, to reflect critically on contemporary injustices, and to be inspired by voices like Dr Kaposi鈥檚. These are the kinds of experiences that shape both scholars and citizens.鈥
The event marked another step in the university鈥檚 commitment to fostering education that bridges history with contemporary challenges, equipping students not only with knowledge, but with the empathy and agency to build a more just future.
