Educational Projects in Israel and Abroad

For many years, Yad Vashem's Education Department organized educational programs and produced educational materials for a variety of target populations and educational institutions in Israel and abroad.

The activities of the Education Department grew, the services that it provided expanded, and as a result The International School for Holocaust Studies was established in 1995 - the only one of its kind in the world. The International School for Holocaust Studies building was dedicated in 1999 as part of the Yad Vashem 2001 development plan. The School comprises 17 classrooms, a modern multimedia center, a resource center and an auditorium, and its teaching staff numbers about 100 people.  Annual courses are held all over Israel for over 800 teachers, and 2-3 week seminars for teachers from abroad in 7 languages are held in the School as well.  Each year 80,000-100,000 students and about 50,000 soldiers take part in symposia and activities run by the School. 

There has also been an increase in the School's activities in conjunction with the security forces: the School holds special seminars for all levels of the military command corps, the national security college, policemen and officers, border patrol staff and the General Security Service. An expression of the School's important contribution to the security forces' educational program is the fact that yearly, a delegation from the General Staff comes to the School for a seminar before Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day, as do the Chief of Police and the senior command corps of the Israel Police Force.

The School's professional teaching staff takes part in international forums, and organizes courses abroad.  A team of experts has developed a range of educational programs and study aids on the topic of the Holocaust, including advanced multimedia programs, maps, books, tapes and other teaching aids.  The School has recently added the Holocaust Resource Center to Yad Vashem's internet site, and has held teachers' courses via the internet.

The School puts special emphasis on Jewish education and on activities in Commonwealth countries, and works in association with other organizations, such as the Jewish Agency.  The programs are appropriate for different groups, and in recent years the School has also started working with the ultra-orthodox, new immigrants, and teachers in the Arab-Israeli sector.

The School has hosted 3 international conferences for educators, with the most recent being "The Legacy of Survivors: the Moral and Ethical Implications for Humanity" held in April 2002. Hundreds of educators and survivors from 28 countries took part, including Nobel Prize laureates such as Prof. Elie Wiesel and author Imre Kertesz, along with Serge Klarsfeld, Per Ahlmark, Simone Veil, Aharon Barak and others.

Copyright ©2004 Yad Vashem The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority