News
Seminar in Yad Vashem completed
25 middle school and secondary school teachers, educators as well as employees of memorial sites and institutions conducting educational activity in the field of history of the Holocaust and World War II participated in the seminar entitled “Judaism — the History and Culture of Polish Jews — the Holocaust” which took place on November 2–13 at the Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem. On the Polish side, the seminar is co-organized by the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust in the Auschwitz Museum.
Seminars “Judaism — the History and Culture of Polish Jews — the Holocaust” are a joint project between the Yad Vashem Memorial Institute in Jerusalem and the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Oświęcim since 1993. This project is an important element of the long-term cooperation between the two institutions, an essential part of which is constituted by joint educational activities. Within the cooperation, Israeli educators visit the Auschwitz Museum every summer in order to take part in the seminar entitled “Auschwitz in the collective consciousness in Poland and around the world. The role and significance of the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial for Jews and Poles”.
Participants of the seminar who had been selected in ICEAH recruitment process and participated in the preparatory meeting held at the Auschwitz Museum before the event, listened in Israel to historical lectures and took part in workshop sessions devoted to the methodology of teaching about the Holocaust based on Yad Vashem educational materials suitable for different age groups. The sessions concerned among others the following topics: Judaism, diversified Jewish identities in Poland in the interwar period, Nazi ideology, the shaping of memory about the Holocaust as well as Polish-Jewish relations.
Apart from sessions devoted to history, the program included also workshops about the use of poetry, film and art in teaching about the Holocaust. “The sessions, apart from factual knowledge, were a great source of educational tools and methods of teaching about the Holocaust. They showed me the way through the difficult and painful history of the Holocaust, at the end of which we will always find the commemoration of Victims”, said Agnieszka Mysakowska, History teacher from the Janusz Korczak II Secondary School in Wieluń.
An important part of the program were meetings with survivors: Genia and Nachum Manor from the “Schindler’s list” as well as Alona Frankel, Israeli writer and illustrator, author of a series of books in which she tells among others the story of her family who remained in hiding during the Holocaust. Participants visited the History Museum as well as subsequent sections of the Yad Vashem Institute: Archives, Library, Pedagogical Centre, Visual Centre as well as Art Gallery.
A visit to the synagogue during Shabbat celebrations constituted another important experience, together with a visit to an Israeli secondary school and a meeting with students and teachers. “It was a great opportunity to exchange our experiences and compare the methods of teaching about the Holocaust in both countries”, said Małgorzata Andrychowicz, Polish language teacher from the Primate of the Millennium Middle School in Grójec. “I found many inspirations also thanks to meeting teachers and educators from all around Poland who are interested in the topic of Holocaust and realize valuable projects in their communities”, she added.
REFLECTIONS OF SEMINAR PARTICIPANTS:
Agnieszka Mysakowska — History teacher, Janusz Korczak II Secondary School in Wieluń
This seminar is a great variety of sessions prepared at the highest level, both factual as well as educational. Lectures and workshops were devoted to issues concerning Shoah as well as politics, religion and culture. It also consisted of meetings with Survivors. Their moving memories were not blurred by the passage of time. The sessions, apart from factual knowledge, were a great source of educational tools and methods of teaching about the Holocaust. They showed me the way through the difficult and painful history of the Holocaust, at the end of which we will always find the Commemoration of Victims. They will certainly become the driving force of my further activity in the field of promoting the knowledge about the history of the Jewish nation.
Małgorzata Wójcik-Dudek — Polish language teacher, Stanisław Wyspiański II Secondary School in Będzin
The visit in Yad Vashem cannot be overvalued as far as its educational as well as organizational aspects are concerned (both Polish and Israeli organizers were up to the job). Yad Vashem is not only the center of Israeli research on Shoah. This place helps us in understanding contemporary Israel, the country trying to rethink its past. Exploring the campus is like reading an encrypted text, the meaning of which becomes more and more meaningful over time. In order to understand it, one has to learn basic facts. That is why a visit to the campus is preceded by many hours of lectures and workshops, which help in understanding its narration.
Anna Stańczyk — guide, Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum
The seminar was for me an interesting experience, as it showed the Israeli perspective of the Holocaust, which is the key element of the guide’s job. Meetings with Yad Vashem staff and numerous lectures revealed in a very consistent and legible way a certain idea connected with talking about the Holocaust, which I will certainly use in my work.
Ewelina Malik — doctoral student, Institute of Political Science and International Relations of the Jagiellonian University
Organizers divided the program of the seminar into theoretical and practical sessions. The idea of workshop sessions was to present the methodology of teaching about the Holocaust as well as to provide the answer to the question on how to teach about the Holocaust at different levels of education. The meeting with teachers working in Israeli schools constituted an important point in the program of the seminar. They presented the philosophy of teaching about the Holocaust in Israel. Session devoted to the issue of shaping the memory about the Holocaust in Israel conducted by Mrs. Orit Margaliot was particularly valuable, so I would like to express my sincere thanks for it.
