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Educators from Terezín at the Auschwitz Memorial

Over twenty educators from Terezín took part in the seminar, “Auschwitz – history and symbolism”, organized in October by the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust.

The project consists of three parts and the first of the two are held each year in Terezín and are conducted by the Centre for Education as well as representatives of other Memorial Sites from all over the world (including, among other nations, Israel, the USA, UK, Holland, Germany and Poland). The final stage is held every two years as a seminar at the Auschwitz Memorial Site.

The extended study tour, a diversity of lectures, talks, workshops as well as film screenings are conducted by lecturers, historians, and museum personnel and are meant to do more than only familiarize the participants with the history and knowledge about the Holocaust at Auschwitz and the Theresienstadt ghetto. First of all, these sessions are meant to bring the teachers closer to the methods of educating about the Holocaust and train them to prepare young people for visits to Memorial Sites.

- The effects of our work at both the Memorial Site and in Terezín are truly satisfactory – stated Alicja Białecka, manager of the Program Section of the ICEAH. – Concrete cooperative work among museums has a positive effect on raising awareness of the participants, awakens them to reflect, teaches the methods of how to educate about the Holocaust and, what is most important, encourages visits to authentic historical sites. The best evidence of this is are the growing numbers of young people from the Czech Republic and Slovakia who visit to our Museum.

The visit of the teachers from the Czech Republic and Slovakia, was the third and final stage of the seminar, “How to teach about the Holocaust”, organized yearly since 2000 by Pamatník Terezín (the Terezín Memorial) in cooperation with the Czech Ministry of education, the Center for Education and Culture, and the Jewish Museum in Prague. In 2001, the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust has started its cooperation with Pamatník Terezín and has been directly linked to working in educating and training teachers from the Czech Republic, and currently teachers from Slovakia, who joined this group several years ago.