24 June 2018
On Monday, 25 June 2018, some 350 teachers, from 50 countries will attend the opening ceremony of the 10th international conference at Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, entitled, "Teaching the Holocaust: Time, Place and Relevance." Participants of this four day conference from 25-28, June, 2018 include, teachers and educators from China, Poland, Australia, Canada, Germany, Sweden, France, Lithuania, Turkey and Israel, directors of education departments in museums and Holocaust memorial institutions, representatives of Ministries of Education from several countries as well as graduates of Yad Vashem international educational seminars.
"The conference is a platform for all key partners to advance the field of Holocaust education," stated Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev. Conference participants aspire to teach the Holocaust in a meaningful and relevant way while contending with an ever-changing reality along with local and global challenges."
More than 40 experts from Yad Vashem and abroad will participate in various lectures, workshops and panel discussions. Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev and the Director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum, Dr. Piotr Cywinski, will hold a special discussion on the challenges facing museums that preserve Holocaust remembrance. The Conference will raise timely topics such as “The Holocaust: Shifting Definitions, Misrepresentations and Comparisons,” "The Phenomenon of the New Antisemitism,” “Shifting Narratives of the Holocaust in Contemporary Societies” and "Women in the Holocaust." Other panels will address teachers' educational challenges when visiting authentic Holocaust sites and how to make the Holocaust relevant in the classroom.
"Yad Vashem is the only organization able to gather this amount of educators under one roof to have a comprehensive discussion of this type and at this level," explains conference organizer Ephraim Kaye, Director of the Jewish World and International Seminars Department at the Yad Vashem International School for Holocaust Studies. "The goals of the conference are to explore how schools around the world are teaching the Holocaust today, and in what way Yad Vashem can assist in the process, and the future of Holocaust studies."
The opening session will take place on Monday, 25 June 2018 at 20:00 in the presence of Yad Vashem Council Chairman Rabbi Israel Lau and Director General of Yad Vashem Dorit Novak
The closing session of the conference in memory of Dr. Izzy and (Ruth) Babs Asper z"l, will take place on Thursday, 28 June, at 17:15, in which Yad Vashem Academic Advisor Prof. Yehuda Bauer, will speak about "The Impact of the Holocaust on Our World Today." The Asper Foundation, long-term partners of Yad Vashem, recently recommitted their support of the Asper International Holocaust Studies Program.
The conference will be held in English with simultaneous translation into Spanish, French and Russian. The conference is open to the press. Journalists wishing to participate are asked to register in advance.
The International Conference is possible thanks to the support of Yad Vashem's partners in Yad Vashem initiatives around the world in Holocaust education, the Adelson Family Foundation, the Asper Foundation, the Azrieli Foundation, the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany, Gandel Philanthropy and the Genesis Philanthropy Group.
