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Holocaust education

HHREC Announces Summer Educator’s Study Tour of Holocaust Museums and Historic Sites March

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The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center (HHREC) will host teachers and others interested in learning about the history of the Holocaust at the HHREC National Educators’ Trip to Germany & Poland June 24-July 9, 2023.

HHREC Director of Education Steve Goldberg and professional tour guide Gerrit Book will lead a two-week series of educational seminars from June 24th to July 9th. This program is designed to offer insight into the history of the Jewish Community in Germany and Poland, trace the origins of the Holocaust, and tour monuments and memorial sites. The tour will include stops at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin, the Brandenburg Gate, Auschwitz-Birkenau, the former Warsaw Ghetto, and Sachsenhausen, a former concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany.

“Our sponsorship of this educational mission enables our teachers to enhance their understanding of this dark period in human history by literally ‘walking the walk’ where the Holocaust was conceived and implemented.” said Steve Goldberg, HHREC Director of Education. “They also can see how the perpetrators have memorialized their victims through unique monuments. This life-changing experience will impact their teaching in the years to come.”

For more information, contact Steve Goldberg sgoldberg@HHRECNY.org or visit the HHREC website hhrecny.org.

News courtesy of the HHREC.

Memory Keepers Event Schedule Announced by the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center

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The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center  (HHREC) of White Plains, has announced their Memory Keepers Story Hour schedule for the end of this year and through 2022.

These events will be offered on a virtual online platform, and will feature HHREC Holocaust Survivors, Liberators, and Generations Forward speakers – a second, third and fourth generation group that includes children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors.

Lisa Salko

The event series will be offered on Zoom, and resume on Wednesday, November 17th, and will feature HHREC Generations Forward Speaker Lisa Salko. Salko tells the story of 13 Drivers’ Licenses. In November of 2018, she travelled with her sisters and cousins to Lichtenfels, Bavaria, Germany to reclaim their grandfather’s and two great uncles’ drivers’ licenses which had been confiscated by the Nazis 80 years earlier, shortly after Kristallnacht and rediscovered while the town was digitizing records in 2017. The Thirteen Drivers’ Licenses project was recently honored at a ceremony in Munich, Germany with a prize that acknowledges outstanding achievements in historical and scientific research, in educational work and journalism. The HHREC Memory Keepers Story Hour speaker series schedule includes:

November 17th, 2021 – Lisa Salko

December 8th, 2021 – Mindy Nagorsky-Israel

January 12th, 2022- Naomi Koller

February 9th, 2022- Phyllis Shaw

March 9th, 2022- Maddy Israel and Esther Loewenthal

April 6th, 2022- Noa Ganz and Sam Pittman

May 11th, 2022 – Monica Mandell

June 8th, 2022: Joseph Kaidanow

“These stories provide a unique opportunity to hear from a very special group of Survivors and next generation family members into the consequences of human hate, and help people reflect, as they realize that choices matter, that one person can make a difference” said HHREC Executive Director Millie Jasper. She added “We are eternally grateful for the contributions from these courageous men and women who share their stories of survival and personal experiences from the Holocaust, and to their children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren for their effort to help share them today , and for generations to come. Sadly, the number of our Survivors is dwindling, and we are taking great care to recognize what they mean to all of us and preserve their memories and the impact they have had – and will continue to have – for future generations.”

The HHREC launched the Memory Keepers Story Hour series in 2020 in support of their mission – to teach the lessons of the Holocaust, to promote the right of all people to be treated with dignity and respect, and to encourage speaking up and acting against all forms of hate, bigotry, and prejudice. The HHREC has been inviting guests to attend these events to hear members of their Speakers Bureau share their family’s uniquely powerful Holocaust experiences and present their testimonies to their origins. The HHREC Memory Keepers Speakers Bureau includes 26 Holocaust Survivors, 3 Honorary Holocaust Liberator Speakers, and 36   GenerationsForward Speakers who tell their stories from a “next generation” perspective, adding new meaning to the survivors’ powerful stories.

All virtual events begin at 7 p.m. To register for these events, email Millie Jasper mjasper@hhrecny.org for Zoom log-in information or call the HHREC at 914.696.0738.

About The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center

The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center is a not-for-profit organization based in White Plains New York that serves Westchester, Fairfield and neighboring counties. Their Mission is to enhance the teaching and learning of the lessons of the Holocaust and the right of all people to be treated with dignity and respect. We encourage students to speak up and act against all forms of bigotry and prejudice. Their work with students and teachers helps schools fulfill the New York State mandate that the Holocaust and other human rights abuses be included in their curriculum. Since 1994, they have brought the lessons of the Holocaust, genocide and human rights crimes to more than 1,500 teachers, and through them to thousands of middle and high school students. Through their volunteer Educators Program Committee, the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center gives teachers the unique opportunity to develop programs for themselves and others. These programs not only enrich teachers’ knowledge about the Holocaust and related issues, but they   also provide the lens through which to view all other human rights violations. For more information call 914.696.0738 email info@hhrecny.org 

HHREC Announces 2022 Summer Educators Tour Plans and Registration Opening

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The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center (HHREC) has announced their 2022 Study Tour of Germany and Poland. This HHREC educational mission offers teachers  a unique opportunity to visit the sites of the Holocaust in Germany and Poland and speak with experts in the field. The guided tour and trip will run from July 2nd to 17th and will be offered to educators from the Lower Hudson Valley of New York and from other parts of the U.S.

” We are very excited to resume offering our Educators Study Tour in 2022” said Steven Goldberg, Co-Director of Education at HHREC. “And while we have enjoyed offering this unique biennial program to teachers here in Lower Hudson since 2012, is it gratifying to hear from many others around the country who are planning to join us.  The is designed to expand teacher comprehension of this monumental event in human history and inspire and motivate them as they prepare to teach the lessons of the Holocaust and promote protection of Human Rights to their students.  He added “It is very important to us and our mission to pass on the lessons we have learned for the future.” 

Trip highlights for the 2022 HHREC Summer Tour include:

  • Sightseeing Coach Tour of Berlin, including Berlin Wall Memorial, Brandenburg Gate, Bebelplatz
  • Holocaust Memorials in Berlin (Murdered Jews of Europe, Memorial in the Bavarian Quarter, Memorial Track 17 – Berlin Grunewald, Homosexuals, Sinti and Roma, “T4” Memorial, Stolpersteine)
  • Educational programs at the House of the Wannsee Conference, Murdered Jews of Europe Memorial Museum, Jewish Museum (Berlin), Stasi Museum Marienfelder Refugee Center, Documentation Center Nazi Party Parade Grounds in Nürnberg, Nürnberg Courthouse, Polin (Museum of the History of Polish Jews)
  • Tour and educational program at Sachsenhausen and Auschwitz-Birkenau
  • Tour of Kasimierz historic Jewish section of Krakow
  • Panel discussion on Jewish life and antisemitism in Germany today and visit to a synagogue in Berlin
  • Panel discussion on Migrant Settlement in Germany: Education, Housing, Employment, Legal Issues
  • Program on tolerance education and civil society in Germany: 7xjung – training ground for solidarity and respect

The Summer Tour Trip cost includes intercontinental roundtrip flights New York (JFK) – Berlin (BER), public transportation including local coach or taxi, local and long-distance trains, Intra-European trains and flights, and accommodations include breakfast in 3- and 4-star hotels (14 nights) in Berlin, Nürnberg, Warsaw, Krakow, lunches and dinners, an English- speaking guide, lectures, discussions, and local guided tours in English or with English translation, and museum entrance fees. Lower Hudson Valley New York educators will receive a $2100 honorarium, and all participants will receive 90 CTLE hours at the conclusion of the program.

For more information, and to register, visit hhrecny.org/educators-study-tours or contact Steven Goldberg at sgoldberg@hhrecny.org

About The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center

The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center is a not-for-profit organization based in White Plains New York that serves Westchester, Fairfield and neighboring counties. Their Mission is to enhance the teaching and learning of the lessons of the Holocaust and the right of all people to be treated with dignity and respect. We encourage students to speak up and act against all forms of bigotry and prejudice. Their work with students and teachers helps schools fulfill the New York State mandate that the Holocaust and other human rights abuses be included in their curriculum. Since 1994, they have brought the lessons of the Holocaust, genocide and human rights crimes to more than 1500 teachers, and through them to thousands of middle and high school students. Through their volunteer Educators Program Committee, the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center gives teachers the unique opportunity to develop programs for themselves and others. These programs not only enrich teachers’ knowledge about the Holocaust and related issues, but they   also provide the lens through which to view all other human rights violations. For more information call 914.696.0738 email info@hhrecny.org 

The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center Forges New Partnership with Yeshiva University

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The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center  (HHREC) of White Plains, NY has entered into a partnership with the Emil A. and Jenny Fish Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Yeshiva University to further promote education programs, events and archived resources for schools and educators. 

“We are very excited to be working with the Fish Center at Yeshiva University on this collaboration and partnership” said Millie Jasper, Executive Director at the HHREC. “Their University has taken a very important step in providing education on the Holocaust, and we  look forward to working with them to promote and support their new education program  for our growing community.”

“Holocaust Education, at its core, is character education – which is sorely needed in today’s world”, says Dr. Shay Pilnik, Director of the Fish Center.  “With this new media series, students and adults will learn about leading edge initiatives from countries that were not directly involved in the Holocaust.  We are grateful  for the partnership with Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center.”

The Emil A. and Jenny Fish Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies strives to build a cadre of teachers, professional and lay leaders across the United States who are committed to Holocaust Education and Remembrance, ready to meet the challenges that the field is facing as survivors of the Holocaust are passing away and awareness of the subject in public memory is fading. Through courses, lectures, conferences, research and more, the Fish Center is dedicated to the study of the Shoah (Holocaust) from a perspective steeped in the history, culture, religion, and spiritual life of the Jewish civilization annihilated by the Nazis and their collaborators. They are also planning lectures, workshops, seminars and communal resources and activities to ensure that the Shoah and other genocides will continue to be remembered and further studied. By leveraging world renowned scholars and offering innovative programming for students and the public, this mission is to ensure that the Holocaust and other genocides are remembered. The Fish Center offers a Master’s degree program in Holocaust and Genocide Studies.

The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center is a not-for-profit organization based in White Plains New York that serves Westchester, Fairfield and neighboring counties. Their Mission is to enhance the teaching and learning of the lessons of the Holocaust and the right of all people to be treated with dignity and respect. We encourage students to speak up and act against all forms of bigotry and prejudice. Their work with students and teachers helps schools fulfill the New York State mandate that the Holocaust and other human rights abuses be included in their curriculum. Since 1994, they have brought the lessons of the Holocaust, genocide and human rights crimes to over 1,500 teachers, and through them to thousands of middle and high school students. Through their volunteer Educators Program Committee, the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center gives teachers the unique opportunity to develop programs for themselves and others. These programs not only enrich teachers’ knowledge about the Holocaust and related issues, but they also provide the lens through which to view all other human rights violations.

 

HHREC Student Contest In Progress during April which is Genocide Awareness and Prevention Month

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The 20th Century is often referred to as the “Century of Genocide.” Unfortunately, this trend has continued into the 21st Century. Many of these genocides either began in April or include significant events which occurred in April.

The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center (HHREC) would like students to raise awareness about these genocides and remember those who were lost as a result of “man’s inhumanity to man.”   To this end, we are sponsoring a special student contest.

Student Contest:

Create an original project in visual arts, poetry, music, or other media of artistic expression that commemorates some aspect of a genocide which has occurred in the 20th or 21st centuries. Examples include the Armenian Genocide, the Holocaust, the Cambodian Genocide, the Bosnian Genocide, the Rwandan Genocide, the Genocide in Darfur, and many others.

Deadline for submission of projects: April 30, 2020.  Projects, with the simple information sheet, need to be submitted by email to Julie Scallero, Co-Director of Education at jscallero@hhrecny.org

All projects will be evaluated by the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center’s Co-Directors of Education, Steve Goldberg and Julie Scallero.

We will select 3 winners (one for grades 7 and 8, one for grades 9 and 10, one for grades 11 and 12) who will receive a certificate and will  have their projects announced on our Facebook and Instagram pages.

Additionally, we will make a donation, on the winners’ behalf, to the AFYA Foundation, whose mission is to improve global health by rescuing surplus medical supplies and delivering them to underserved health systems around the world. Not only is this organization working to provide medical supplies during the COVID-19 crisis, they were a past keynote presenter at our Human Rights Institute for High School Student Leaders.

We look forward to viewing your submissions and hope you stay well during these uncertain times.

Questions:
Email Julie Scallero jscallero@hhrecny.org
Steve Goldberg sgoldberg@hhrecny.org

Genocide Awareness and Prevention Month Student Contest
Name _________________________________________________   Grade ___________

Email address __________________________________________
School________________________________________________
Social Studies teacher ___________________________________
Project Title ____________________________________________

Brief Description of Project (4 or 5 sentences)