About Us
Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, is the ultimate source for Holocaust education, documentation and research. From the Mount of Remembrance in Jerusalem, Yad Vashem carries out meaningful educational initiatives, groundbreaking research and inspirational exhibits. Using innovative technology, Yad Vashem maximizes an expanding global audience's access to the vast information in its archival collections. Yad Vashem stands at the forefront of unceasing efforts to safeguard and impart the memory of the victims and the events of the Shoah period; to document accurately one of the darkest chapters in the history of humanity; and to grapple effectively with the ongoing challenges of keeping the Holocaust relevant today and for future generations.
Founded in 2005, the European Department of the International School for Holocaust Studies of Yad Vashem organizes approximately 50 seminars annually in Jerusalem for European teachers. With an original mandate to form partnerships in eleven countries, the staff of the Department now train educators from some 40 countries across the continent. In addition to promoting national and pan-European professional networks of graduates, the staff of the Department develop study materials for educators and students alike in some 18 European languages.
Our Work
Yad Vashem's seminars for visiting European educators emphasize dialogue from the outset and throughout. The staff foster discussions following lectures and workshops, guiding participants closer to viewing the Holocaust through a Jewish perspective. The exchange of perspectives is particularly enriching, both for the participants and for the staff.
In addition to teachers' professional development activities conducted in Israel, members of the Department's staff travel to Europe to work with local educators some 40 times annually. The staff conduct educational activities both in the large cities and in outlying areas of western and eastern Europe with a view to promoting the work of seminar graduates, fostering teachers' networks, and maintaining contact with current partners and meeting new ones. Further to their routine follow-up work, the staff regularly conduct special seminars in Europe for graduates from national and international networks.
Partnerships
Although teachers are the primary target audience for the European Department's activities, the staff also coordinates specially customized seminars for a broad range of opinion leaders from European civil society. Noteworthy examples include Christian clergy, jurists, police officers, journalists, national elected officials and representatives of pan-European organizations, first and foremost the European Union. Furthermore, the Department has formed partnerships with over 200 organizations in Europe, including education ministries, universities, museums, teachers' unions, and other Holocaust-related non-governmental organizations.
The European Department has strengthened its ties with its partners throughout the continent in recent years by signing cooperation agreements with European education ministries with a view to accrediting the Department's activities in Jerusalem. As of mid-2018, the education ministries of 21 European countries officially accredit Yad Vashem's professional development programming on the Holocaust for teachers from their countries.
Our Philosophy
The Department's professional staff include native Israelis and immigrants from around the world, who speak multiple languages and are well-trained to teach the history of the Holocaust and pedagogy. When organizing educational activities, the staff of the Department tailor the content to the needs and background of the participating educators. Participants from across the continent both broaden their knowledge bases about the Holocaust and learn how to teach this challenging topic in the classroom. The staff of the Department model how to use age-appropriate educational units and pedagogical resources in several languages during seminars at Yad Vashem, and they provide print and online resources for use in the classroom.
Teacher Feedback
Yad Vashem is one of the few non-governmental institutions in the world that has ties with all EU member states, and the center for European professional development in Holocaust studies is actually located in Israel. Feedback from Yad Vashem's educational seminars has been overwhelmingly positive, as seen in a few examples:
“The program was well planned; it has been nice with different perspectives. The program has been chronological including a lot of workshops. I got a lot from the lectures. My knowledge about Jews and their history has increased than before I came. I think it has been good that we were allowed to visit the high school and talk with the students. Good to hear the Holocaust survivor testimony. Thanks for having us!”
-From a seminar for Danish student teachers, March 2017
"I have learned how to redirect my teaching from something negative to something positive, with new energy. When you teach with passion, everyone feels your energy! You are an example of us about how to make things work and how to make a difference in the world! Keep up the great job."
-From a seminar for Macedonian educators, June 2017
“This has been a wonderful opportunity that I will highly recommend to others. The quality of the teaching has been first class. I feel like I have learned so much more about a subject which I thought I knew about. The week was moving, thought provoking and inspirational. I am inspired to find a way to take the learning forward back home. At the very least, we must act on this learning. My biggest lesson is that the Holocaust was not caused simply by people following orders, but by a catastrophic shift in cultural norms which gave huge numbers of people permission to act out of hatred. There is an important issue of what it is to be human and I am not convinced anymore of an innate goodness, but rather of a learned set of moral values which must be nurtured. The importance and responsibility of national leadership is noted here. I am also more conscious of how vulnerable the Jewish people were in this environment. There was no real opportunity to fight back. I think that this is important to know that it is possible to be so completely disempowered by no fault of your own.”
-From a seminar for Irish and Scottish educators, June-July 2017
“What I have noticed through these lectures is the emphasis on two ideas, the idea of choice and the idea of cognitive empathy while teaching and talking about the Holocaust. I’m very grateful to Yad Vashem for this new approach and perspective in teaching about the Holocaust. I have a lot of new ideas on how to implement activities in my classroom. Thank you for this opportunity.”
-From a seminar for Croatian educators, July 2017
"Noa Mkayton’s lecture on the educational concept was a good outline, but I would have liked to spend more time discussing it in detail. Her presentation was important from the perspective of a teacher, namely not to show students piles of corpses but rather to highlight individual stories and humanize the victims by showing them individuality. I also understood that we need to stop using photos made by the Nazis that do not document a Jewish perspective and find a way to connect with pre-war identity."
-From a seminar for Polish educators, October 2017
“Very unique special experience. I am thankful, from my heart. I felt as though this seminar was tailored just for us. Starting with the commemoration ceremony on Yom Hashoah was actually good before the seminar. The seminar was like putting a puzzle together. It was a very tight schedule and this can be hard. I would have liked to walk more around the campus, especially to see the impressive architecture.”
-From a seminar for German journalists, April 2017
External Evaluation
In the interest of continually learning and ensuring the effectiveness of its content and methods, Yad Vashem welcomes review by external parties. Brandeis University in the United States published an evaluation of Yad Vashem's seminars for European educators as early as 2006, and the Israel-based Henrietta Szold Institute followed up with successive evaluations in May 2009, January 2011, and August 2012. The Szold Institute completed a follow-up study in August 2020, along with a summary in English.
Contact Us
Interested parties may contact the European Department and send inquiries via email at europe@yadvashem.org.il
Phone:+972-2-6443656
Fax:+972-2-643 3649
