50 NYC Public School Teachers Will Learn About Holocaust Representation and Pedagogy at Unique Program by The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous

NEW YORK – The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous has teamed with the New York City Department of Education and the New York Tolerance Center to provide a special training program for 50 public high school teachers from throughout the five boroughs.

Teachers will attend an intensive, one-day seminar, which will enable them to have a better understanding of certain aspects of the Holocaust. The program will take place on Tuesday, January 16 at the New York Tolerance Center, 226 E. 42nd St. (between Second and Third avenues).

The purpose of the daylong program is to better enable educators to gain more in-depth knowledge for the expressed purpose of teaching the Holocaust. Holocaust teaching has become an essential part of high school curriculum in New York State and other states. This program takes place from 8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. Participants will be exposed to multiple topics through lectures, workshops, question and answer sessions, discussion groups, and educational materials.

The program features two keynote speakers: The first by Dr. Tim Cole, professor of social history at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom, who will discuss contemporary Holocaust representation. He is also the author of Selling the Holocaust: From Auschwitz to Schindler, How History is Bought, Packaged, and Sold, which questions whether the Holocaust has become too commercialized.

The second speaker, Simone A. Schweber, professor of education and Jewish studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will discuss pedagogical approaches to teaching the Holocaust. She is the author of Making Sense of the Holocaust: Lessons from Classroom Practice, which takes a critical look at individual teachers in their classrooms.

Participants selected for the program are English or Social Studies high school teachers from NYC public schools. Each session will offer access to today’s leading scholars in the fields of Holocaust studies and provide assistance in curriculum development. The program will be supplemented by group discussions on individual approaches to these topics.

“The purpose of the program is to improve teachers ability to provide Holocaust education,” said JFR Executive Vice President Stanlee Stahl. “Each year we continue to provide a critical space for teachers to learn from each other and increase their knowledge of this tragic period of history. We hope this will enable teachers to provide their students with better and more accurate information.”

The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous was created in 1986 to provide financial assistance to non-Jews who risked their lives and often the lives of their families to rescue Jews during the Holocaust. Today, the JFR supports more than 1,300 aged and needy rescuers in 28 countries. The Foundation also runs an internationally lauded Holocaust education program for middle and high school teachers and Holocaust center personnel that preserves the legacy of rescuers through its national Holocaust teacher education program.

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