March 19, 2003
UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM AND UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA HOST 1ST ANNUAL NORTHERN CALIFORNIA TEACHER FORUM ON HOLOCAUST EDUCATION
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, in cooperation with the Graduate School of Education, University of California at Berkeley and The Holocaust Center of Northern California, will host the 1st annual Northern California Teacher Forum on Holocaust Education from March 27 – 29 at The University of California, Berkeley. The Forum will provide an in-depth evaluation of Holocaust education methodology and explore the content, methodologies, and rationales for teaching this complex history. This year’s Forum will emphasize the use of technology and literature in Holocaust education. Approximately 200 Northern California educators are scheduled to attend.
“California is one of six states mandating Holocaust education,” says Stephen Feinberg, the Museum’s Director of National Outreach. “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.”
Sessions will cover Holocaust education guidelines, examine local resources available to Holocaust educators, and special emphasis will be placed on using literature and technology in teaching the Holocaust. In addition to presentations by Museum educators, conference Highlights include:
- Presentation by Bernat Rosner and Frederic Tubach, authors of An Uncommon Friendship: From Opposite Sides of the Holocaust. Mr. Rosner, a Hungarian Jew, was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau where his family was murdered. The same year, Mr. Tubach, a son of a Nazi officer, was preparing to join the Hitler Youth. The two men later met in the United States where they had rebuilt their lives and formed a friendship.
- Presentation by Holocaust scholar Dr. Michael Berenbaum, Chair of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Education Committee. Dr. Berenbaum is also director of the Sigi Ziering Institute for the Study of Ethics and the Holocaust at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles.
- Presentation by Museum Acting Director of Outreach Technologies, Lawrence Swiader on effectively using the Web in Holocaust education.
- Presentation by Alexandra Zapruder, editor of Salvaged Pages: Young Writers’ Diaries of the Holocaust.
- Presentation by Janet Rubin, editor of Images from the Holocaust: A Literature Anthology.
- 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.
This conference is made possible by grants from Mathilde Albers and the Bay Area Friends of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the Bank of America 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 1st Annual Forum in Northern California. In April, the Museum will host the 3rd Annual Southern California Forum at San Diego State University. Each summer, the Museum hosts two, three-day Belfer Conferences for Holocaust educators and the Mandel Teacher Fellowship, an intensive five-day workshop for educators with at least five year of experience teaching Holocaust studies. In addition, the Museum hosts workshops across the country throughout the year.
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 nearly 19 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.
