March 15, 2002
UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM AND CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY HOST 2ND ANNUAL SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TEACHER FORUM ON HOLOCAUST EDUCATION
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, in cooperation with the Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education and School of Education at Chapman University, will host the 2nd annual Southern California Teacher Forum on Holocaust Education from March 21- 23 at Chapman University. This focus of this year’s Forum is “Technology and the Teaching of the Holocaust,” and will feature live interactive computer sessions with educators from the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. Designed by Holocaust educators at the Museum and Chapman University, the Forum is a free, three-day comprehensive examination of current Holocaust education practices.
“California is one of five states mandating Holocaust education,” says Stephen Feinberg, “This Forum will enable teachers to more effectively meet the state’s educational requirements. Participants interact with Holocaust education experts from California and around the country, and, most importantly, listen to Holocaust survivors speak about their experiences and why keeping this memory alive is crucial.”
The Forum will examine Holocaust education methodology; explore why Holocaust education is important in contemporary studies; review California’s Holocaust education requirements; identify local and national Holocaust education resources available to educators; and consider online and other technological tools available to Holocaust educators.
Conference Highlights include:
- Live interactive computer session—video and audio—with Holocaust educators from the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. Anne Frank House educators will answer participants’ questions and review online Holocaust educational tools.
- Presentation by Holocaust survivors Kurt and Gerda Weissmann Klein. Gerda’s story was told in the award-winning documentary “One Survivor Remembers,” which will be screened at the Forum. Other Holocaust survivors living in Southern California will also make presentations.
- Presentation by Dr. Michael Berenbaum, Chair, Education Committee, United States Holocaust Memorial Council, “The Power of Film in Teaching About the Holocaust.”
- Presentation by Dr. John Roth, “Why Teach About the Holocaust?” Dr. Roth is the Russell K Pitzer Professor of Philosophy at Claremont McKenna College. His books include, Approaches to Aushwitz: The Holocaust and Its Legacy.
- Session on non-Jewish victims of the Holocaust.
- Presentation by Jerry Fowler, Staff Director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Committee on Conscience. The Committee on Conscience is tasked to alert the national conscience about potential contemporary instances of genocide and crimes against humanity. The Committee is currently focusing on the situation in Sudan.
This Forum has been made possible through support from: the Bank of America Foundation; the Samueli Foundation; the Gonda Family Foundation; and the Ziering Family Foundation.
A complete conference schedule is available. Please contact Andrew Hollinger in the Museum’s Media Relations Department at 202/488-6133 or ahollinger@ushmm.org if you would like to attend any part of the Forum or speak with organizers or participants.
The Holocaust Museum’s Education Division offers programs for educators of all levels of Holocaust education experience. The Museum hosts Educational Forums and Conferences across the country. This is the 2nd Annual Forum in Southern California. Each July, the Museum hosts the Arthur and Rochelle Belfer National Conference for Educators, which is specifically designed for secondary educators with fewer than five years’ experience in teaching the Holocaust. In August, the Museum hosts the Mandel Teacher Fellowship Program, providing a five-day seminar for 25 selected educators with at least five years of experience in Holocaust education.
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is America’s national institution for the documentation, study and interpretation of Holocaust history and serves as this country’s memorial to the millions of people murdered during the Holocaust. Since opening in April 1993, the Museum has welcomed more than 17 million visitors. The Museum’s primary mission is to advance and disseminate knowledge about this unprecedented tragedy; to preserve the memory of those who suffered; and to encourage its visitors to reflect upon the moral questions raised by the events of the Holocaust as well as their own responsibilities as citizens of a democracy.
