making history matter – Olivia’s role in Holocaust education and archival work

Olivia is a volunteer archive services case worker and Holocaust education project assistant at The Together Plan. She comes from a non-Jewish, military family, and often moved to different countries across the world, including the United States, Cyprus and Northern Ireland.

At university, Olivia took a module in her second year about the Middle East; originally fascinated by her father’s experience in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait. Two weeks into her second year, the October 7 terror attack happened. When the attack happened, she was in the library, watching the attack unfold. Immediately, before the attack had finished, she saw people online celebrating the attack. This sparked her to research antisemitism further. She presented a primary source on ‘Osama bin Laden’s letter to America’ for this module, where she analysed his excuse for the attack – the Jews. After this assignment, her lecturer encouraged her to take the third-year module titled, Antisemitism: The Longest Hatred.

That same year, she went on a university trip to Berlin, where she visited the Jewish Museum and Sachsenhausen. With the ‘trip to uncover the past’ and the present-day war between Israel and Hamas, Olivia wanted to write her dissertation on the links between twentieth century antisemitism and present-day antisemitism. Her dissertation, titled, ‘An Indefinitely Ending Persecution? The Long Legacy and Repercussions of Nazified Antisemitism in the Middle East,’ analysed the correlation from Hitler to Hamas. She graduated with a First-Class degree in History and scored the second highest dissertation grade with 85%.

Knowing that she wanted to go further in her education, but unsure of what course to take, Olivia decided to pursue her passion for learning about Judaism. She applied via the Jewish Volunteering Network as an archive services case worker at The Together Plan charity during her final semester at university. Since then, she has managed a broad scope of enquiries, ranging in date from the 1800s to after the Second World War, including when she was scaling mountains in Nepal and teaching English to the children! As part of her role, Olivia acts as an intermediary between the Belarus liaison manager and the client, establishing regular contact between the two to assist with the enquiry.

In August 2025, Olivia attended a two-week conference with ISGAP (Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy). This led to Olivia obtaining a deeper understanding of antisemitism, encouraging her to think about Holocaust education.

When the opportunity arose in December to apply for a part-time Holocaust education project assistant job with The Together Plan and their project, Making History Together, she applied immediately. Having succeeded in her application, she began with proof-reading the programme materials for the 2026 course and has assisted in putting all of the education packs together and will be helping to run the programme this term. As she is not Jewish, part of her role is to observe and re-work the materials so that they can be delivered to a non-Jewish audience.

Olivia has repeatedly stated that the programme is not only fascinating but one of a kind. Despite knowing a few Hebrew and Yiddish words, she had never heard of the phrase, Tikkun Olam (repair the world). Since learning this phrase, she now tries to incorporate some form of kindness, once a day, knowing that even the smallest bit of kindness can pave the way for a better world.

For more information about the Making History Together programme online supplement in Russian, Belarusian and English – click here.

For more information about the Making History Together travelling exhibition – click here

To find out more about the Making History Together programme – email us – [email protected]