Resting atop Mount Herzl and looking west over the beautiful Jerusalem Forest, Yad Vashem, The World Holocaust Remembrance Center, has been the world’s leading institution on Holocaust remembrance and education since its establishment in 1953. Welcoming almost one million visitors per year, Yad Vashem focuses its work and mission on four pillars of remembrance: commemoration, documentation, research, and education. Providing educators with innovative and effective methods for Holocaust education is one of the ways that Yad Vashem ensures that the memory of the Holocaust and its victims remains relevant today and in the future. One way that this is accomplished is through intensive teacher training opportunities. In fact, for four days in June of 2018, 360 Holocaust educators from 52 countries convened at Yad Vashem for its 10th International Conference. Thank you to a very generous donor in the Milwaukee Jewish community and the support of HERC’s leadership, I was incredibly fortunate this summer to participate in this deeply emotional and educational conference, learning from some of the greatest minds in the field and broadening my own perspectives on Holocaust education.
The central theme of the conference was “Time, Place, and Relevance” which allowed ample opportunity for discussion and focus on many issues, but one major question in particular: what does Holocaust education look like after survivors are no longer living? One can hardly argue that hearing, first-hand, the personal testimony of an individual who was subjected to the barbaric inhumanity of the Nazis and their collaborators, is not a life-changing experience. As HERC’s director of education I have received feedback from countless principals, teachers, students, and community members, that hearing from a Holocaust survivor deeply impacted them and caused a shift in their perspective.
The central theme of the conference was “Time, Place, and Relevance” which allowed ample opportunity for discussion and focus on many issues, but one major question in particular: what does Holocaust education look like after survivors are no longer living? One can hardly argue that hearing, first-hand, the personal testimony of an individual who was subjected to the barbaric inhumanity of the Nazis and their collaborators, is not a life-changing experience. As HERC’s director of education I have received feedback from countless principals, teachers, students, and community members, that hearing from a Holocaust survivor deeply impacted them and caused a shift in their perspective.
The power of hearing these testimonies in person was not lost on me for an instant as I sat with a small group of educators during one session of the conference, listening to the testimony of Holocaust survivor Daniel Gold. Born in Lithuania in 1937, Daniel and his family were forced into a ghetto for several years before they managed to escape and find refuge with a Lithuanian peasant family who provided them a safe place to hide. Daniel’s mother was killed by the Nazis, however, after his father was liberated from the Dachau concentration camp, he and his father settled in Israel. Throughout his talk Daniel returned, over and over again, to his unwavering support of Israel, even having served as an IDF air force pilot during the Six Day War. Daniel also told us of his travels to Rwanda where he worked closely with survivors of the Rwandan genocide to speak about the dangers of hatred, bigotry, and racism.
Whether in Israel, Rwanda, or Milwaukee, yesterday or tomorrow, the time and place of crucial conversations about the Holocaust, either with students, peers, children of survivors, or survivors themselves are constantly changing, but the relevance of these discussions – regardless of when or where they occur – remains a constant. Our task, as Holocaust educators, is to ensure that these stories continue being told and that the voices of the six million never go unheard.
Whether in Israel, Rwanda, or Milwaukee, yesterday or tomorrow, the time and place of crucial conversations about the Holocaust, either with students, peers, children of survivors, or survivors themselves are constantly changing, but the relevance of these discussions – regardless of when or where they occur – remains a constant. Our task, as Holocaust educators, is to ensure that these stories continue being told and that the voices of the six million never go unheard.