by Dr. Doron Avraham

Sixty years after the end of WWII, Europe is exploring its past, evaluating the present and preparing for the future. Growing interest in the Holocaust, the demand for curricula and pedagogical training, and the willingness to begin formal Holocaust education in schools has led to an urgent need for the establishment of an educational and training network on the subject throughout Europe.

In early March, a new department began operating in the International School for Holocaust Studies—the European Department. The purpose of the Department is to expand Holocaust education on the continent, primarily in formal educational settings. Most of the Department’s activities are funded by generous contributions from the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims (ICHEIC), which has pledged support for these activities over the next 10 years.

Activities of the European Department will focus on two main spheres: training teachers in Holocaust education, and preparing curricular materials for teachers and pupils in countries throughout Europe.

Teacher training: providing the tools
The European Department’s activities seek to reinforce educational approaches already used successfully by the School in Israel and around the world. This primarily means teaching about the Holocaust in a systematic, age-appropriate and coherent manner. The courses run by the School abroad are thus designed not only to teach specific topics from a historic point of view, but also to expose teachers to pedagogic methods and teaching techniques borrowed from a variety of other disciplines such as history, religion, art and literature. They also provide educators with the tools they need to cope with issues that may prompt unexpected questions or uncertainty, such as: How were such horrific crimes allowed to happen? How was the human image protected? and What happened to faith during the Holocaust?

The training courses are designed according to a specific format based not on a one-time encounter, but rather initial meetings with the teachers in their own environment, a two-week seminar at Yad Vashem, and a follow-up seminar back in their native country. The courses are also geared to those working in memorial sites, museums and research institutions whose ongoing work involves educational activity.

Curricula development: unique programs
Aside from professional training, the Department develops curricular material for teachers and pupils abroad. Although the Holocaust is an event with worldwide significance, treatment of the topic—especially within the education system—almost always reflects the attitude and history of the country in which it is taught. Thus while some of the programs have a more general, universalistic quality, others are produced in response to the unique needs and interests of a particular nation. For example, an online course for Hungarian teachers compares the events of the Holocaust in Hungary vis-à-vis other countries on the continent. Another unique program for Russian speakers examines the issue of “onlookers” in the Soviet Bloc.

The Department produces teaching materials in several different formats, such as teaching units, posters and online courses. Some are single lesson plans, based on a particular issue, while others are broader and include several lessons on different topics. In addition, comprehensive programs are in production, which will combine Holocaust education while focusing on various topics, such as an online lesson plan on the Holocaust in the Soviet Union, and a general online course for teachers from Poland, slated for 2006.

This year the Department will also begin uploading courses for teachers overseas, and for the first time provide a distance-learning format similar to that already used by Israeli teachers. Yet despite technological advances and the growing use of the Internet, there is still a demand for more conventional teaching materials, such as workbooks and guides for teachers and pupils. As such, the Department continues to produce a wide range of curricular materials for teachers from abroad in their native language.

Activities and seminars continent-wide
Although relatively new, the Department has already conducted several training courses, including a seminar for directors of memorial sites and heads of local authorities (in which the memorial sites are located) in Hungary. The first seminar of its kind, it advanced the relationship between designing memorial and remembrance sites and Holocaust education, both locally and nationally. The Department also organized a seminar for Russian teachers, who visited Yad Vashem for the first time and learnt innovative teaching methods. A course was also held for Austrian teachers and police officers at the site of the Muathausen concentration camp.

Throughout 2005 there will be seminars for teachers from other countries, including Belgium, England, Lithuania, Romania, German, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Italy, Austria, Poland, Sweden, Slovakia, the Ukraine and Greece.

The author is Head of the European Department at the International School for Holocaust Studies.

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