July 1, 2002
EDUCATORS FROM ACROSS U.S. TO ATTEND WORKSHOPS AT HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
More than 250 Educators to Attend Eighth Annual Belfer Conferences
The eighth annual Arthur and Rochelle Belfer National Conference for Educators will be held in July at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. Two three-day workshops will bring together more than 250 secondary school teachers from 46 states to share rationales and strategies for teaching Holocaust studies. Teachers with five or fewer years of experience in teaching about the Holocaust will attend from July 7-9; teachers with more than five years of Holocaust teaching experience can attend the session from July 21-23, entitled “A Next Step.”
Belfer Conference teachers will work closely with Holocaust Memorial Museum educators and scholars to develop Holocaust education strategies for use in a variety of classes, including history, literature and social studies. Teachers will also work with Holocaust survivors who have spent years teaching and lecturing about the Holocaust to students of all ages.
“Many educators are interested in teaching Holocaust studies, but lack the resources, time and training to include this complex history in their curricula,” explains the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Director of Teacher Workshops, Warren Marcus. “The Belfer Conferences provide teachers a background in Holocaust history through extensive study of the Museum’s exhibitions, familiarizing them with educator resources designed by the Museum and providing instruction from outstanding teacher trainers and scholars.”
Since their inception in 1994, the Belfer Conferences have brought approximately 2,500 teachers from all 50 states and the District of Columbia to the Holocaust Museum. The Belfer Conferences are funded by a grant from The Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Foundation—a supporter of Jewish, medical, educational, social service, and cultural organizations.
In addition, every August the Museum hosts the annual Mandel Teacher Fellowship Program for teachers with five or more years’ experience in Holocaust education. The Mandel Fellowship program is an intensive, week-long Holocaust seminar. Only 25 educators are accepted each year. Currently, there are 145 Mandel Fellows from 45 states and the District of Columbia. Together, these conferences allow the Museum to serve novice and expert Holocaust educators in developing Holocaust teaching techniques and broaden the scope of Holocaust studies nationwide.
The Museum’s Education Division has developed numerous resources and services to help educators and students learn about Holocaust history that are available through the Museum’s Library or on its Web site at www.ushmm.org. Currently, the Museum serves more than 30,000 educators annually.
For more information regarding the Belfer Conferences, or to arrange for interviews with or photography of the organizers or participants, please contact the Museum’s Media Relations Department: Andy Hollinger, 202/488-6133 or ahollinger@ushmm.org.
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 17.7 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.
