1. European Department – ICHEIC Program
2. International Projects Department
3. Department for International Seminars in English and the Jewish World
4. Spanish Desk

1. European Department – ICHEIC Program

During the last few months the European Department has been actively working with seminars for European teachers at the International School for Holocaust Studies. This autumn, we welcomed both graduate docents of Yad Vashem seminars as well as new educators from various Holocaust museums and centers in Poland, including the Auschwitz Museum. The graduates were impressed with the presentation of the new museum and the discussions of current events. The 42-strong group had the opportunity to visit an Israeli school and discuss Holocaust education with Yad Vashem museum guides. Both of the experiences were highly regarded by the participants.

There were 25 participants in the group from Baden, all of whom came from a theological background. To balance the classroom time of intense workshops and lectures on the Shoah, the group took part in a tour in Israel that strongly reflected their Christian background, guided by their coordinator, Mr. Hans Scholz. The lecture by Dr. Pessach Schindler, the sessions with Dr. Nathan Kellermann and the encounter with the survivors were marked clearly as highlights of the seminar.

The ISHS European Department looks forward to welcoming a group from Holland at the end of 2007 and in March 2008 our first ever seminar of educators from Serbia.

2. International Projects Department

First-Ever Seminar for UN Staff at Yad Vashem

The United Nations Department of Public Information’s Holocaust Outreach Programme partnered with the International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem, to provide training to twelve United Nations information officers on the history of the Holocaust and its relevance today, October 27-November 1, 2007. The participants represented the global network of United Nations Information Centres located in: Ankara, Baku, Bangkok, Bucharest, Kiev, Manila, Minsk, Moscow, Pretoria, Tbilisi, Tokyo and Yerevan. This first-ever forum outlined the circumstances that led to the Holocaust and examined issues surrounding individual and collective responsibility in preventing genocide.

3. Department for International Seminars in English and the Jewish World

Winter Seminar for Jewish Educators December 21, 2007 – January 6, 2008

The Winter Seminar for Jewish Educators will be hosting 21 participants from around the globe. The seminars is designed to give teachers and academics an intense learning experience focusing first and foremost on the history of the Shoah, while including a wide range of lectures and activities focusing upon a range of topics in the areas of art, theology, literature, antisemitism, and Holocaust denial.

International Winter Seminar January 6, 2008 – January 24, 2008

This winter, 40 participants from countries around the world will be participating this January in the International Winter Seminar. They represented a wide spectrum of educators - schoolteachers, University professors and Holocaust museum personnel. Most of the participants were not Jewish and for the majority this was their first visit to Israel.
The international seminars in English are designed to address the interests and needs of academics, teachers, members of the clergy, museum personnel, and community leaders. Participants routinely come from 10-15 countries and it is this diverse population that allows for an educational experience that challenges the participants to look not only at their own pedagogical and cultural views but also those of the teachers they meet here

4. Spanish Desk

During January and February, two teacher training seminars will take place for some 75 educators from Spanish-speaking countries, including: Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, Mexico, Panama, Columbia, Venezuela and Spain. The stated aim to train these educators to teach the Holocaust in Jewish and state schools.

In February, a teacher-training seminar will take place in Argentina, attended by some 400 teachers and 150 youth group leaders. This seminar is part of BAMA, a special cooperative project with the Jewish Agency, with the support of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.

The Spanish desk is also completing five educational units for kindergarten ages through high school.

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