Martyrdom & resistance, March/April 2017

шшшшвшшшг MERICAN & INTERNATIONAL SOCIETIES FOR YAD ERT S. COOK LIBRAR^ MARTYRDO ISTANCE March/April 2017 - Adar/Nissan 57^7 Vol. 43-No. 4 ISSN 0892-1571 DOCUMENTATION, ACCOUNTABILITY AND HEROISM: LEARNING FROM THE PAST TO ENHANCE THE FUTURE Barbara Gutfreund Arfa Professional Development Conference on Holocaust Education The Education Department of the American Society for Yad Vashem and its Young Leadership Associates held its nineteenth annual professional development conference on Holocaust education on March 19, 2017. This year’s program was gen¬ erously supported by the Barbara Gutfreund Arfa Endowment Fund for Holocaust Education. This program is a collabora¬ tive effort with the Association of Teachers of Social Studies of the United Federation of Teachers, the Educators’ Chapter of the UFT Jewish Heritage Committee, and the School of Education of Manhattanville College. Participants in this year’s pro¬ gram, which included educa¬ tors from all five boroughs of New York City and from the tri-state area, received in- service credit for completing the conference. The program also included a display of the educational unit developed by the International School of Holocaust Studies, “The Legend of the Lodz Ghetto Children.” This educational resource, along with our array of Traveling Exhibitions, is available to schools to enrich their educational programs on the Holocaust. Through teaching we warn about the consequences of extreme and baseless hatred and prejudice. We educate to promote tolerance, in the hope that through our efforts, future generations will make sure that the Holocaust, a tragic chapter in human history, will not repeat itself. This con¬ ference, organized by Dr. Marlene W. Yahalom, director of education of the American Society, has proven to be a strong vehicle to promote the mission of Holocaust remembrance and mem¬ ory through education over the years. The conference was created by Caroline Arfa Massel, Founding Chair of the Young Leadership Associates of the American Society and Executive Board member of the American Society, in 1999. Caroline Massel opened the pro¬ gram with very poignant remarks about the creation of this program and the establishment of the Barbara Gutfreund Arfa Endowment Fund for Holocaust Education in memory of her mother, Barbara Gutfreund Arfa, z”l. Marlene W. Yahalom, PhD, Director of Education of the American Society, spoke about the importance of this program in its efforts to raise Holocaust awareness through educa¬ tion, and acknowledged the heroism and foresight of President Dwight D. Eisenhower in documenting and ver¬ ifying the atrocities he saw in his visit to Ohrdruf. n April of 1945, then General Eisenhower toured Ohrdruf — a subcamp of the Buchenwald concen¬ tration camp. It was as result of this difficult visit that President Eisenhower ordered army photogra¬ phers and filmmakers, members of the news media and legislators to cre¬ ate visual evidence of the atrocities that his visit revealed to the world. His thinking was that if ever in the future there should develop a tendency to call this “propaganda,” then this visu¬ al evidence, supported by affidavits, would meet the challenges of those claims. President Eisenhower’s ability to foresee the era of Holocaust denial, and thereby plant the seeds to ulti¬ mately meet the challenges present¬ ed by these false claims, is a testa¬ ment to his sharp understanding that by ordering the creation of this visual evidence, his actions would shape the course of Holocaust memory and the con¬ duct of future leaders. By creat¬ ing evidence, President Eisenhower ensured that the behavior of future leaders would be accountable. Mary Eisenhower, grand¬ daughter of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and CEO of People to People International, was our keynote speaker this year. She spoke about the importance of ethics and responsibility, and the role of documentation and the obliga¬ tion to accurately document the Holocaust so that the informa¬ tion taught is verified, authenti¬ cated and recorded for present and future generations. She emphasized that the lessons of the Holocaust need to be mandatory education for stu¬ dents, to enable them to be proactive in their lives to be a part of the effort to ensure this part of history does not repeat itself. Dr. David Silberklang, senior historian at Yad Vashem, shared his remarks on the topic of “Does War Have a Moral Compass: Reflections on Allied Responses to the Shoah.” Dr. Yahalom presented a workshop to participants on the role of postage stamps in documenting the Holocaust, and provided teaching strategies to introduce students to learn about the Holocaust, and pre¬ serving its memory through postage stamps. ur program and theme this year, Documentation, Accountability and Heroism: Learning from the Past to Enhance the Future - Role Models for our Children, represents an oppor¬ tunity to reflect on our obligations to (Continued on page 2) IN THIS ISSUE The Holocaust’s great escape . 3 The clandestine history of the Kovno Jewish ghetto police . 4 Treasure in a suitcase . 5 Researchers uncover vast numbers of unknown Nazi killing fields . 6 On the run from the Nazis . 8 Global initiatives virtually commemorate the Holocaust . 9 Diaries of a Nazi monster. . 10 Love letters of the Holocaust . 11 The true story of the zookeeper who hid Jews . 1 5 ASYV Annual Spring Luncheon . 16 (left to right) Mary Eisenhower, keynote speaker, Caroline Massel, Executive Board member; and David Silberklang, sen¬ ior historian at Yad Vashem.