News
Educators from Poland at Yad Vashem
A seminar for Polish teachers and educators took place November 14-26, 2010, at the Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem.
Taking part in the seminar were 25 staff members and guides of Museums as well as other Memorial Sites, middle and high school teachers, educators and trainers from various institutions involved in educational work about the Holocaust and the Second World War.
The seminar participants heard lectures and participated in the workshops conducted by, among others, Rabbi Yishayahu Balog, Dr. Gideon Grief, Dr. Simcha Epstein and Yaron Karol Becker, and Orit Margaliot. Lecture topics were diverse: The essence of Judaism, from anti-Semitism to Nazi ideology, identities within Israeli society and culture, and Israeli society and the Holocaust.
In addition to lectures the participants had the opportunity to meet with survivors: Genją and Nachomem Manor, Alona Frankel and Father Romek Yaakov Weksler Waszkinel.
Participants also visited the Yad Vashem campus, including the Valley of Communities and the Synagogue, the new Historical Museum and Archives, Library, Pedagogical Centre, the Visual Center and Art Gallery. The program also included study trips, among them, around Jerusalem, a study visit to Masada, Nazareth, a tour of the Sea of Galilee area, and Capernaum. An important part of the program was a visit to a Synagogue during Shabbat celebrations, as well as a meeting with students and teachers from a school that had taken part in a program of meetings with Polish youth. The next seminar is planned for late 2011.
The "Judaism — History and Culture of Polish Jews — Holocaust" Seminar has been jointly organized by the Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem and the State Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau since 1993. This project is an important element of the long-term cooperation between the two institutions, which is an essential part of joint educational work. So far, the seminars have been attended by around 500 teachers, educators and guides.
