News
Polish-Dutch educational cooperation
From the 4 - 9 of March 2012, the third seminar was held in the Netherlands under the auspices of the Holocaust Education in European Perspective project (HEEP). The project is conducted for teachers, educators, as well as staff of institutions that deal with the history of World War II and the Holocaust. It is possible due to the cooperative work between the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Anne Frank House in Amsterdam.
In this year’s seminar, 30 individuals participated (15 from Poland and 15 from the Netherlands), who continued working in mixed groups on projects that had been undertaken last year, involving, among others: the preparation of a guidebook, which is to serve as an educational aid for use with the traveling exhibition entitled, "Anne Frank – a history for today,” development of a guidebook for Dutch teachers to prepare young people for visits to the Auschwitz Memorial Site, and the creation of teaching materials for the graphic novel entitled "The Search" for Polish teachers.
The project also includes the creation of an educational exhibit, which deals with national minorities within Poland.
During the seminar, participants had the opportunity to present and learn about new techniques used in teaching about the Holocaust and World War II in both of the countries. The main emphasis was placed on education at memorial sites, the proper methods for preparing young people for visits to these types of places, as well as the newest methods of transmitting knowledge about the subject of the Holocaust.
Participants were given the opportunity to visit, among others, memorial sites in Vught and Westerbork, Hollandsche Schowburg Monument, and the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, where they learned about the educational work organized by those institutions.
The three-year long HEEP project that is coordinated at the Auschwitz Museum by the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust began in 2010. In addition to the cooperation between the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, several institutions from both Poland and the Netherlands work in assisting the fulfillment of this project, including: The Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, State Museum at Majdanek, Museum of the Former Nazi Extermination Camp in Sobibor, The Polish-German Centre Association, Pedagogical University in Cracow, Hollandsche Schowburg Monument, National Monument Kamp Vught, and the Netherlands Auschwitz Committee.
Participants of the program are teachers, instructors, educators, and methodologists as well as employees of educational departments of memorial sites connected with the history of World War II.
