Never Again: Holocaust News for Nov. 20, 2015

New resources for teaching about the Holocaust unveiled

NEW YORK, Nov. 20, 2015 — The Center for Initiatives in Jewish Education (CIJE) and USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education on Nov. 16 launched the IWitness-CIJE Jewish Day School initiative. Held at Yeshiva Darchei Torah in Far Rockaway, New York, the event was attended by more than 100 educators from dozens of day schools and Yeshivot.

The attendees received a demonstration of the IWitness educational platform, learned about the new partnership and heard from several speakers who will work to bring this ambitious, four-year project to schools and classrooms. The IWitness-CIJE Jewish Day School initiative will offer new resources and activities in IWitness for effective and appropriate teaching of the Holocaust at Jewish day schools and Yeshivas.

“After speaking with educators, scholars and especially schoolchildren, I believe Holocaust education is sorely lacking,” said Elly Kleinman, CIJE board member, philanthropist and president of the Kleinman Holocaust Education Center. “It’s high time to maximize what children learn through this collaboration of efforts between CIJE and USC Shoah Foundation. Hopefully, this program will have success in filling the void.”

IWitness provides Internet access to 1,467 full life histories, testimonies of survivors and witnesses to the Holocaust and other genocides integrated into student-centered activities that can be used by teachers across multiple disciplines to encourage critical thinking and self-reflection, helping students get a sense of their own place in the world, while also developing digital literacy and other 21^st-century competencies.

“Through our new partnership, children will be able to better grasp what life was like for a lost grandparent before, during and after the Holocaust,” explained CIJE President Jason Cury. “These firsthand testimonies are both poignant and heart wrenching. Yet they teach valuable lessons about the circumstances, strength and heroism of survivors. The IWitness-CIJE Initiative will enable schools to focus on this material in a way that is meaningful and appropriate for each student.”

According to Stephen D. Smith, executive director of the USC Shoah Foundation, “IWitness is a dynamic resource that can complement a curriculum of Holocaust, Judaic and even general studies. We’re grateful that CIJE will be our partner and will help integrate the IWitness collection of audio-visual testimonies into the classroom.”
Following an overview of the program goals and demonstrations, the educators heard from world-renowned Holocaust scholar and professor, Dr. Michael Berenbaum who will be leading the project.

“History is often written by an elite few,” Berenbaum remarked. “These testimonies are written by a shoemaker a baker, a tailor — extraordinary people who lived through the Holocaust. We want this to be responsive, inclusive and present material in such a way that schools feel comfortable using it, teaches the values they want to teach, while focusing on the values before, during and after Shoah.”

*
Preceding provided by the USC Shoah Foundation and the Center for Initiatives in Jewish Education.  Any comments in the space below should include the writer’s full name and city and state of residence, or city and country for non-U.S. residents.