Martyrdom & resistance, September/October 2020

AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR YAD VASHEM September/October 2020-Tishri/Cheshvan 57^1 Vol. 47-No. 1 ISSN 0892-1571 HOLOCAUST EDUCATION DURING CHALLENGING TIMES: DETERMINATION TO PREVAIL A year ago, our projections about our educational outreach were a very dif¬ ferent conversation. We spoke about our continued progress in expanding our work regionally and nationally through a va¬ riety of events, venues and resources developed by Yad Vashem’s International School for Holo¬ caust Studies. We continued to underscore the importance of enriching and encouraging Holo¬ caust education and the presence and mission of Yad Vashem in this process. As we are all well aware, these past few months, owing to the complicated circumstances and challenges we face with COVID-19, with school closures, the absence of face-to-face in¬ teraction, anxiety about this deadly virus, and un¬ certainty about the future in terms of a cure, we have had to rethink and recalibrate many as¬ pects of our work that until now did not surface. Today, we collectively navigate uncharted waters to sustain our joint mission of Holocaust remem¬ brance through education. In the course of identifying opportunities to reach a broader audience, we have successfully pivoted to remote format and, thankfully, can continue our work during these unprecedented times. The fluidity of adapting also provides a glimpse into many learning and networking op¬ portunities previously not considered. We can now connect with educators across the nation to broaden our reach and empower more teachers to share our mission of Holocaust remembrance with ease thanks to the variety of remote plat¬ forms available. While these connections existed in the past, pivoting to remote format has proven to be ben¬ eficial for both the host and the participant. Ease of access through Zoom allows educators to par¬ ticipate in programs and seminars across the globe, providing them with a more comprehen¬ sive palette of professional development oppor¬ tunities. It is not enough simply to possess the knowledge. We need to keep in mind what is done with the knowledge and how it is dissemi¬ nated to be meaningful and relevant. Sustaining teacher training and professional development is essential. It is important to recognize that there are many aspects of Holocaust education that have not changed despite the multiple obstacles of pivoting to Zoom and remote format. We still face the same challenges: relevance of the Holo¬ caust; shrinking population of Holocaust sur¬ vivors; a future without Holocaust survivors; time Artifacts from a Holocaust survivor family. These artifacts were used before the Holocaust, hidden during the Holocaust, and proudly used continuously during lives rebuilt. constraints on educators for required subjects in their curricula; challenges of Holocaust denial; and rising tides of anti-Semitism — just to name a few. More importantly, the issues remain the same and are increasingly important. The resources are still available, but also in additional formats — live and remote. In times of unprecedented challenges due to the pandemic, we continue to carry the torch of remembrance through education and convey to the world the survival, resilience and strength of the Jews before, during and after the Holocaust. It is through education and the educational ped¬ agogy developed by Yad Vashem that we sustain this mission and transmit the lessons of the Holo¬ caust to present and future generations. We want to highlight the best of humanity when the worst was there. By restoring a human face to the victim, we can underscore the resilience of the Jewish people and their ultimate survival. We continue to consider what was lost and how Jews survived. The courage and resilience of Jews during the Holocaust must be acknowl¬ edged and promoted. This is also critical to ad¬ dress the rising tides of anti-Semitism and the efforts of Holocaust deniers to muffle these im¬ portant messages and facts. e have the additional obligation of transmitting the lessons from this event to present and future generations with a directive to educators in all educational settings. In Teacher and Child (1972), Dr. Haim Ginott, child psychol¬ ogist and author, requests the following from teachers. His request is timely and relevant for Holocaust educators today: Dear Teacher, I am a survivor of a concentration camp. My eyes saw what no man should witness: Gas chambers built by learned engineers, Children poisoned by educated physicians, Infants killed by trained nurses, Women and babies shot and burned by high school and college graduates. So, I am suspicious of education. My request is: Help your students become human. Your efforts must never produce learned monsters, skilled psychopaths, edu¬ cated Eichmanns. Reading, writing, arith¬ metic are important only if they serve to make our children more humane. Collectively, we will honor this request. We remain optimistic about sustaining our ed¬ ucational responsibility to this important subject, despite the many challenges we face, with simul¬ taneous learning platforms that we implement (Continued on page 2) American Society for Yad Vashem will hold a series of virtual events this fall and winter. See page 9 for details