Conversations About the Holocaust

Prism 2013 Issue Now Available

2013-03-31T17:59:00.000-04:00

The 2013 issue of PRISM - An Interdisciplinary Journal for Holocaust Educators is now available online in PDF. PRISM, a peer-reviewed journal, launched in 2009 and been a valued resource for Holocaust educators around the world. Each issue explores a specific theme through a variety of scholarly lenses. The 2013 issue is devoted to examining the Kindertransport through historical research, poetry, art history, pedagogy and personal narrative.

Be sure to check the article by Kay Andrew, Institute of Education at the University of London, UK. Kay provides readers with a thoughtful article titled "The British Government and the Kindertransport: Moving Away from the Redemptive Story" pages 54 - 60.

Kay's article is certain to inspire critical thinking into the complex issues that accompany teaching, and learning about the Kindertransport. CLICK HERE to access PRISM.

Greek Football Player Banned for Fascist Salute

2013-03-17T21:05:00.000-04:00

Although it was St. Patrick's Day and most news services were reporting on Celtic celebrations around the world, there was no avoiding the flurry to reporting when Greek footballer Giorgos Katidis received a lifetime ban from Greece's soccer federation, EPO. Katidis gave what appears to be, the Fascist salute in celebrating winning the soccer match.

The Toronto Sun reported that: "Katidis, 20 (photo above), a former captain of Greece's under-19 team, made the alleged salute in celebrating his winning goal in a 2-1 Super League victory over lowly Veria late on Saturday.

"The player's action to salute to spectators in a Nazi manner is a severe provocation, insults all the victims of Nazi bestiality and injures the deeply pacifist and human character of the game," EPO said in a statement.

Katidis was heavily criticized by political parties and fans on Twitter and Facebook following the incident at the Athens Olympic Stadium."

The actions are particularly deplorable as commemorations have been taking place in Greek cities such as Thessaloniki this week, marking the 70th anniversary of the deportation of Greek Jews to Nazi concentration camps such as Auschwitz-Birkenau.

The Sun goes on to report that: "Katidis denied he gave a Nazi salute. "I am not a fascist and would not have done it if I had known what it meant," Katidis said on his Twitter account." Given the media attention give to the the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn movement in Greece, it is difficult to believe that Katidis did not know or understand the significance of the gesture.

Click Here to read the entire article from The Sun.

70 Years Ago - Deportation of Greek Jews

2013-03-16T17:26:00.000-04:00

News service providers around the world are reporting on the commemorative activities related to the 70th anniversary of the deportation of Greek Jews from Greece's second largest city Thessaloniki to Auschwitz-Birkenau. The Global Post has reported that: " Amid worry about the rise of Greek neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn, Jewish leaders from around the world arrived in the northern city [Thessaloniki] an event that decimated the Jewish populartion of the so-called "Jerusalem of the Balkans."

The news provider goes on to report that "Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is expected to address a commemoration ceremony on Sunday."

It was on March 15, 1943 that the first train deported from Thessaloniki to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.

Stuttgart Museum Returns Nazi-Looted Painting

2013-03-14T15:00:00.000-04:00

Earlier this month, the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart returned a Nazi-looted painting to Clarence Epstein, who heads Concordia University's restitution project. The painting is attributed to Master of Flémalle (1375-1444) and is titled 'Virgin and Child." In a press release issued by Concordia University, the university noted that it is "acting on behalf of the executors of the Estate of Max Stern and its three university beneficiaries (Concordia University, McGill University, and Hebrew University.) The piece is an example of the early Northern Renaissance style.

The press release goes on to tell a little of the incredible story of the original owner of the painting: "The Stuttgart recovery comes on the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Galerie Stern in Düsseldorf by Max Stern’s father, Julius. It was once one of the most important commercial galleries in the city, having developed relations with museums across Germany. By the middle of the 1930s, with the rise of Nazism and the expulsion of Jewish members from the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts – a division of Goebbels’ Reich Culture Chamber – the gallery’s fate was imminent. The Virgin and Child painting was one of several works sold to secure an exit permit for Max Stern’s mother, Selma.

During World War II, Max Stern was interned in England and Canada before settling in Montreal in 1941. In the following decade, he began his own art restitution efforts. Canadian government officials provided him with letters of introduction to European diplomats, while members of the Canadian military stationed in Germany helped recover two of his paintings. Stern was to become one of the most important art dealers in Canadian history, building bridges between artists and collectors in Europe and Canada."

Click here to discover more about this incredible story.

Canadian Chair Year - 2013 - IHRA

2013-03-14T12:39:00.003-04:00

On March 5, 2013, Canada assumed the Chair of the International Holocaust Alliance (IHRA) in an official handover ceremony in Berlin, Germany. Canada will hold the position of Chair until March 2014.

In a media release issued by the Canadian government, Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney commented: Our government believes it is critically important to be engaged in efforts to teach future generations the lessons of the Holocaust and help prevent future acts of genocide. The Holocaust stands alone in the annals of human evil and has important lesson to all of us - universal lessons that must not be forgotten. To read the entire press release, CLICK HERE.

During the year of the Canadian Chair, Canada will undertake a number of national initiatives including a Award for Excellence in Holocaust Education, an international academic conference that will take place October 6–7, 2013, at the University of Toronto, and participation in an International Poster Contest.

The theme of the conference is New Scholars, New Research on the Holocaust. It will coincide with meetings of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance in Toronto. The conference call for proposals closes on April 30, 2013

Book Launch at German Consulate in Toronto

2013-03-06T10:00:00.000-05:00

Looking for something interesting and informative to in Toronto on 14 March 2013?
Well, the German Consulate, Intellect Books and the Canadian Centre for German and European Studies at York University will be hosting a special launch of World Film Locations: Berlin.

Editor, Dr. Susan Ingram along with local contributors to the yet will be in attendance to discuss and sign the book.

And if you cannot attend the launch but order the book, look for my contribution, a film review of Leni Riefenstahl's soft-propaganda classic- Olympia.

The book launch is presented in conjunction with the multi-media exhibit, Museuminsel Berlin, Keeping the Past- Facing the Future.

Date: 14 March 2013

Time: 5:00pm

Venue: German Consulate- Toronto

2 Bloor Street East, 25th Floor

Light refreshments will be served.

IHRA Launches New Website!

2013-03-05T12:49:00.002-05:00

New Look, New Feel to International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Website

Earlier this week the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) launched an updated version of their website - which now reflects their recently designed logo that was unveiled in late 2012. As part of their new digital approach to reaching the general public as well as academics and educators, the IHRA has launched a Facebook page and a Twitter Account. Check out these new sites to learn about the work of the IHRA and the work being done regionally by the member countries.

IHRA currently has 31 member countries and four observer countries. Membership is open to all countries, and members must be committed to the Stockholm Declaration and to the implementation of national policies and programs in support of Holocaust education, remembrance, and research. Member countries are encouraged to develop multilateral partnerships and to share best practices.

Each member country sends a delegation to IHRA meetings that is composed of both government representatives and national experts. In addition to the Academic, Education, Memorials and Museums, and Communication Working Groups, specialized committees have been established to address antisemitism and Holocaust denial, the situation of the Roma and the Roma genocide, comparative genocide, and special challenges in Holocaust education.

Today, Canada officially assumes the Chair for the 2013-2014 year. Stay tuned more news about what is happening in Canada in Holocaust Education.

Neuberger's Holocaust Educators' Study Tour 2013

2013-03-04T10:30:00.000-05:00

The Sarah and Chaim Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre announced last week that it will be offering their Holocaust Educators' Study Tour in July 2013. This is a unique educational program that brings together teachers, teacher candidates and teaching faculty to sites of Jewish memory in Austria and Poland. Scholarships, funded by private donors, are available to participants.

The program is limited to 24 teacher participants and led by professional Holocaust educators and, where possible, a Holocaust survivor. By visiting historic sites of destruction (Auschwitz-Birkenau, Majdanek and Mauthausen), of Jewish culture (Lublin Yeshiva) and of rescue (Schindler's Factory) participants actively encounter living history. The program is supplemented with pedagogigcal methods and expertise to enable participants to teach about the Holocaust in new and meaningful ways when they return to their classrooms. In the photo above, participants from the 2010 program dance in the synagogue in Tykocin, Poland.

The Study Tour will take place form July 2-12 and applications are currently being accepted.

To learn more about the program, CLICK HERE.

Take the IWitness Challenge!

2013-03-03T10:23:00.000-05:00

I know, two blog posts, two days apart on the same topic - but that's how excited I am about the USC Shoah Foundation's IWitness Challenge! It is my hope that all Canadian and American teachers will encourage their students to take part in this incredible learning opportunity.

There are just so many things to love about this project, and kudos to the team at the Shoah Foundation for developing such a forward thinking yet pragmatic project. And of course any time Canada gets included in the conceptualization is an added bonus!

And it is not just me lauding the innovation and pedagogy behind this project - the American Association of School Librarians has named IWitness as a top website for teaching and learning, providing students with guided exploration of full-life histories of nearly 1,300 testimonies and other witnesses to the Holocaust. Incidentally, the Shoah Foundation's Visual History Archive also includes testimonies of survivors of the Rwandan genocide, and recently partnered to include Armenian genocide testimonies.]

To take part in the IWitness Challenge, students watch testimonies or portions of testimonies that they have a particular interest in (and with more than 9,000 keywords to enable students to search the testimonies there will not shortage of interesting topics and themes), and to use these testimonies in individual or group projects. The contest challenges participants to do something positive in their community that exemplifies the message that one person can indeed make a difference! Access to the IWitness educational website is completely free of charge.

For more information on IWitness, CLICK HERE

To discover IWitness, CLICK HERE

Registration for the challenge is open until 30 June 2013, and video essays must be submitted by 31 October 2013.

The Faces of the Ghetto Exhibition Opens in Toronto

2013-03-02T10:35:00.000-05:00

If you are looking for something to do on Sunday 3 March 2013, why not drop by York University and check out the incredible exhibit The Faces of the Ghetto: Pictures by Jewish Photographers from the Lodz Ghetto, 1940-1944. The exhibit is being presented by the Israel and Golda Koschitzky Centre for Jewish Studies and Osgoode Hall Law School at York University. This is the only venue in Canada that will be featuring the exhibit, making this an even more "must see" exhibition.

On Sunday, 3 March 2013, a special lecture will be featured in the Moot Court Room at Osgoode Hall Law School, at 4:00pm. The keynote speaker will be Jan T. Gross, a professor of history at Princeton University and author of several books including Neighbours and Fear. Dr. Thomas Lutz, Director of the Topography of Terror Documentation Centre in Berlin which curated the exhibition, will also be in attendance.

For more information about the exhibition, opening times, and events connected to the exhibition, please click HERE.

USC Shoah Foundation Announces IWitness Challenge!

2013-03-01T13:30:00.000-05:00

Earlier this week, Steven Spielberg - Founder of the USC Shoah Foundation announced the Institute's IWitness Video Challenge. This very special challenge is open to students in the US and Canada. I was thrilled by the inclusive approach taken by the challenge organizers, and Canadian students will be able to enter a zone designated specially for Canadian entries. This means that there will be a Canadian finalist alongside the American finalists!

This innovative contest challenges secondary school students to act on the legacy of Schindler's List and to do something positive in their community that exemplifies the movie's message that one person can indeed make a different. Students will be guided in their community service projects by the testimonies they watch in IWitness. And with approximately 1,300 full length testimonies available in IWitness, students can choose a testimony and a project that appeals to their personal interests.

IWitness stands alone as a free educational website that brings the human stories of the Holocaust to teachers and students who can access the internet. Each testimony uploaded to IWitness is documented in detail, allowing students to choose aspects of the testimony they want to learn about at they time they log into IWitness. This innovative platform engages teachers and students by engaging them in multi-media, student centre learning.

As part of the IWitness Video Challenge, students are asked to create a one-to four-minutes video essay with the video-editing tool available on the IWitness website. This allows students to link their voices to those in archive who inspired them to act.

To learn more about IWitness - CLICK HERE.

To learn more about the IWitness Challenge - CLICK HERE

And get involved in the IWitness Challenge today!

Commemorating Jewish Heritage Month with IWitness - One Voice at a Time

2013-02-28T17:46:00.001-05:00

IWitness: One Voice at a Time

Although there is still snow (and slush!) on the ground in Toronto, the Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre in Toronto is already gearing up for Ontario's annual Jewish Heritage Month in May. The month received official designation in 2012, when the Ontario Provincial Legislature passed Bill 17. The bill, which received all-party support, can be read in its entirety here.

So, in honour of Jewish Heritage Month in Ontario, the Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre invites the public to spend an evening discovering the remarkable and inspiring testimonies of Canadian Holocaust survivors along with special guest, Dr. Kori Street, Education Director of the USC Shoah Foundation.

The Neuberger is proud to invite the public to experience the testimony of Toronto-area Holocaust survivors - one voice at a time.

Tuesday, May 7 | 7:30 PM
Tamari Family Hall, Lipa Green Centre, Sherman Campus
4600 Bathurst Street

CLICK HERE to reserve your seat, or to simply to find out more about this incredible opportunity to commemorate Jewish Heritage Month.

USC Shoah Foundation IWitness Program to be Featured in Toronto

2013-02-21T20:07:00.001-05:00

Dr. Kori Street (pictured above with students during her presentation in Toronto during Holocaust Education Week 2012), Director of Education at the USCShoah Foundation - The Institute for Visual History and Education in Los Angeles, California, will deliver the keynote address at the Neuberger’s 33^rd Symposium on the Holocaust. Kori is the recipient of the 2011 Distinguished Faculty Award, conferred by Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta, and one of the leading international educators on the use of recorded testimony. Her expertise and engaging presentation style has made her an in-demand speaker at leading centres of Holocaust education globally. She has introduced IWitness in Australia, Hungary and Italy. Join us as Kori introduces it to Canadian students and teachers!

As part of her presentation, Kori will introduce one of the Shoah Foundation’s latest technological programs – IWitness. This internet platform brings the human stories of the Institute’s Visual History Archive to high school students and their teachers by engaging multimedia-learning activities. Kori will demonstrate how teaching with IWItness integrates digital literacy, problem-based learning and information literacy into classroom learning.

Kori's session will be followed by a lunch break, and then the students will have an opportunity to dialogue with a Holocaust survivor speaker in small groups.

7 May 2013
9:30 am - 2:00 pm
OISE – The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
University of Toronto
252 Bloor Street West, Toronto (TTC: St. George)

CLICK HERE for more information.

UNESCEO Publishes Holocaust Education Tool

2013-02-17T09:11:00.004-05:00

Media sources reported this week that UNESCO published an educational booklet titled "Why Learn About the Holocaust"? The publication was timed to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day (27 January 2013). The publication provides an overview of Holocaust education. The UNESCO website notes that "the brochure explains that the Holocaust was a defining historical moment; that genocide is not inevitable; that states and citizens have responsibilities; that silence contributes to oppression and that prejudice and racism have roots. In addition, it explores the challenges and opportunities of teaching about the Holocaust and provides educational resources on the Holocaust and other genocides.

The publication also raises important questions to engage with during the learning process including: "How do schools worldwide handle the Holocaust as a subject? In what areas of the world does the Holocaust form part of classroom teaching? Answers to these questions will be provided in late 2013 by a project conducted by UNESCO and the Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research. For the first time it will be possible to compare representations of the Holocaust in school textbooks and national curricula.

Holocaust Education exemplifies UNESCO’s vision of education as the starting point for building peace and nurturing the principles of dignity, equality and mutual respect of all men and women. CLICK HERE to read the entire article. THe booklet can also be downloaded directly from UNESCO's website.

George Brady Receives Germany's Order of Merit

2013-02-15T15:20:00.000-05:00

Toronto resident and Holocaust survivor George Brady received the Order of Merit from the Federal Republic of Germany earlier this month. In an announcement on the website of the Consulate General of the Republic of Germany in Toronto, an article states: " On February 7, 2013, on the eve of his 85^th birthday, George Brady, the brother of Hana from the world-famous book and film Hana's Suitcase received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, given to him on behalf of the Federal President of Gemany from the hands of German Ambassador, Werner Wnendt, and the Vice-Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the German Bundestag, Hans Ulrich Klose.

German Consul General, Sabine Sparwasser said: " (….) today, I hope, feels like a triumph to you, a vindication of all you have worked for: your struggles to survive the holocaust; your efforts to honour the memories of those who perished; and, perhaps most astonishingly, your determination to put aside hatred and work for greater tolerance and reconciliation among the peoples of the world." George Brady was joined in the brief ceremony by his wife Teresa, his children, grandchildren and close friends." In the archival photograph above George Brady is seated with his sister Hana.

CLICK HERE to read the complete article.

Golden Dawn Party Forges Links with German Neo-Nazis

2013-02-06T05:18:00.006-05:00

Today's post is from SPIEGEL ONLINE, which has reported a disturbing occurrence whereby the Greek far-right party "Golden Dawn" (pictured above holding a rally in Greece) has formed links to German neo-Nazi organizations. Spiegel Online writes: "A spokesman for the Bavarian arm of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution told SPIEGEL ONLINE: "Golden Dawn has an international network of contacts and also has contacts with Bavarian neo-Nazis. These contacts are nurtured through mutual visits and at meetings at right-wing extremist events in Europe."

"The Greek right-wing extremist party Golden Dawn is establishing close contacts with Bavarian neo-Nazis and began setting up a cell in Nuremberg last year. The party, known in Greek as Chrysi Avgi, even held a conference in a southern German city recently.

Bavaria's state intelligence agency is particularly interested in meetings that have been taking place between right-wing extremists from Greece and those in Bavaria. An umbrella organization of Greek communities in Germany has called on all Greeks in Germany to reject attempts by neo-Nazis to promote "violence, inteolerance and social cannibalism."

Golden Dawn is led by Nikolaos Michaloliakos and has called for a revolution in Greece and an "ethnically pure" nation. Members of the party are accused of physically attacking immigrants and members of the country's left-wing. They also regularly stage intimidating marches, wearing military uniforms and singing Nazi chants, in immigrant neighborhoods of Athens.

Support for the party has increased following the debt crisis and the radical austerity measures imposed on Greece by international lenders. Golden Dawn won seats in parliament for the first time in last year's election and is currently polling at 12 percent.

CLICK HERE to read the entire article from Spiegel.

Canada Announces Teacher Award for Holocaust Educators.

2013-01-30T14:53:00.000-05:00

In honour of Canada holding the chair for the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (formerly the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research - ITF) for 2013, Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney announced the launch of a national award for excellence in Holocaust education.

Teachers who demonstrate excellence in Holocaust education are now eligible to win a $5,000 award for their school. More information about the award: English & French.

More details on the nomination requirements are available at www.cic.gc.ca/holocaust-award or www.cic.gc.ca/prix-holocauste.

Hungarian Holocaust 2014 Memorial Committee

2013-01-22T21:11:00.001-05:00

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) formerly known as the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research (ITF) announced that the Hungarian Holocaust 2014 Memorial Committee held its founding session on 17 January 2013. The Hungarian government set up the body, which is responsible for preparing the commemorative events marking the 70th anniversary of the deportation of Hungarian Jews in 2014. (pictured above is a Holocaust memorial in Budapest, Hungary.)

Permanent delegates to the Committee include Minister of Human Resources Zoltán Balog, former Prime Minister Péter Boross, President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences József Pálinkás, as well as the President of the Federation of Jewish Communities Péter Feldmájer and the Ambassadors of the United States, Israel, Germany and Austria.

The chair of the Committee, Minister of State heading the Prime Minister's Office János Lázár, said in his address that the Government decided to set up the body because it regards it as particularly important to face the past, something which could not take place under the Communist regime, and to offer apologies as the Hungarian state was also guilty of the Holocaust. He added that the Government decided to set up the Committee at the initiative of Jewish organizations and would like its memorial events to be determined by civil organizations.

The Committee considers addressing youth its main objective, the Minister of State explained. Minister Zoltán Balog also highlighted that education on the Holocaust has a special role in the national curriculum, and Jewish organizations contributed greatly to the elaboration of the teaching material. Deputy Prime Minister Tibor Navracsics also stressed the importance of the education of future generations. The importance of teaching Holocaust history was reinforced by Head of the March of the Living Foundation Gábor Gordon and Director of the Holocaust Memorial Centre Szabolcs Szita. CLICK HERE to read more about the work of the Committee.

Canada Issues Stamp to Honour Wallenberg

2013-01-18T11:03:00.002-05:00

Canadian news providers are all reporting on the release of a new stamp honouring Raoul Wallenberg. Global News has reported that the new stamp was released Thursday 17 January 2013. The date is significant since it marks the day when Wallenberg disappeared while in Soviet custody. It is believed that he died in captivity, although the time and circumstances of his death remain a mystery. In Canada, 17 January is officially designated as Raoul Wallenberg Day.

Wallenberg is credited with saving at least 20,000 Jews in Budapest during the Second World War by giving them Swedish travel documents, or moving them to safe houses. Global News also reports that Wallenberg was also instrumental in dissuading German officers from massacring the 70,000 inhabitants of Budapest's ghetto.

CLICK HERE to read more from Global News.

Shoah Foundation - Leader in Digital Technologies

2013-01-08T15:24:00.000-05:00

One of the highlights of the AHO conference currently being held at the USC Shoah Foundation in Los Angeles, was a "behind the scenes" look at the technologies and methodologies utilized by the Shoah Foundation. In addition to generating Motion JPEG 2000 duplicates of the testimonies for preservation, other copies in commonly used formats such as MPEG, Quicktime, Flash and Windows Media Player aRe also created so that more people can access the Visual History Archive. Have multiple versions and copies archived also safeguards the longevity of the copies.

This intensive digitization has also led to the development and launch of IWitness, an incredible online resource that allows teachers, educators and students access to approximately 1300, fully indexed complete testimonies. IWitness offers many ways for educators to integrate Holocaust-survivor testimony into curricula, while allowing students flexibility in working with survivor testimony. This incredible learning resource was recently named by the American Association of School Librarians as one of the Top 25 Websites for Teaching and Learning. CLICK HERE to discover more!

How Well Do We Know Anne Frank?

2013-01-04T12:49:00.001-05:00

If you are looking something interesting to read over the weekend, try one of the latest articles found on Spiegel online which discusses the evolving conceptualization of Anne Frank in contemporary consciousness. The fascinating article by George Diez notes: "Anne Frank was, of course, a victim who represented the 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazis. Her story became one, as is often stated, that keeps us from forgetting. It was never to happen again, and making sure that it wouldn't was also one of the roles of Anne Frank, who has a shared legacy as both a girl and a memorial.

She was the friend, the strong one, the difficult one, the girl in love, the girl who fought with her mother and discovered her vagina, and the girl who, despite her death, tells a story of hope.

She was the saint of the Holocaust and its teenage star. But there is one thing she rarely was: herself.

A New Focus on Anne Frank

If the producers and the screenwriter of what is, surprising as it may be, the first German film about Anne Frank, have their way, that could soon change. The film, which is scheduled for cinematic release in 2014, seeks to tell the story of both her life and death. It offers viewers the whole Anne Frank, more than just the girl who lived in an annex in Amsterdam -- the story of both her childhood and her life in a concentration camp.

The Frank Family Center now being built in Frankfurt may also help to change our perceptions of Anne Frank. Scheduled to be opened in 2016, it will tell the story of the deep-seated, 400-year relationship between the Frank family and the city of Frankfurt, a story that long predates the Holocaust.

Finally, the work of the Anne Frank Fund in Basel, which is currently embroiled in a lawsuit with the Anne Frank Foundation in Amsterdam, could also change the way we view her.

The organizations worked in parallel for a long time, the Basel fund, with its Jewish affiliation, and the Amsterdam foundation, which repeatedly stresses that it operates in the way Otto Frank would have wanted -- even though letters from the 1960s and 70s reveal Otto Frank's suspicions about the foundation.

The dispute between the two organizations is symptomatic, reflecting all the things that have been said about Anne Frank and all the things she has been turned into.

She has been used to preach humanism, and she has been formed into a universalistic icon, a cautionary tale of what humans do to humans, one meant to keep us alert so that we won't forget the genocides in Bosnia and Rwanda, even though this means minimizing or even suppressing the specifically Jewish part of her life, her suffering and her thoughts.

She has been used to explain the Holocaust, even though it isn't mentioned in her diary and its horrors only play a marginal role in her story from the annex in Amsterdam. But perhaps this is what made her story such a success, because it was the story of the crime of the century without actually focusing on that crime, the tale of a dark fate without the mention of death, but with the constant belief in survival, one that persisted, contrary to all reason." CLICK HERE to read more!

AHO Winter 2013 Seminar - Testimonies: Preservation, Access, and Education for the 21st Century

2013-01-03T12:43:00.003-05:00

Next week from 7-9 January 2013, the Association of Holocaust Organizations (AHO) will be holding their annual winter seminar in Los Angeles. The seminar will be hosted by the USC Shoah Foundation and much of the agenda will be devoted to utilizing recorded testimony in Holocaust education in environments such as the classroom, education, and academia.

Participants will also have the opportunity to work with the Shoah Foundation's signature classroom tool - IWitness. I have written several times about the impressive features of IWitness, and if you have not yet checked it out, set aside some time to explore this incredible learning tool!

CLICK HERE to learn more about IWitness, and stay tuned for more updates as I will be blogging from the AHO conference next week.

A New App - Oshpitzin!

2013-01-02T12:19:00.003-05:00

If you looking for a new, educational app for your ipad, iphone or Android device, you must try OSHPITZIN, the educational tool developed by the Auschwitz Jewish Center in Oswiecim, Poland. As the image above indicates, the screens are colourful, userfriendly and loaded with information that creates an engaged learning experience.

The app has many functions, one of which is a beautifully constructed guide to the traces of Jewish Oświęcim. It allows you to make a personal connection to the vanished Jewish world of synagogues, schools, stores, and places of daily life that existed before the Holocaust. Thanks to the Augmented Reality feature historical photographs blend into current camera views.See image above!

CLICK HERE to download the app, or to simply learn more about it. A great way to start off learning in 2013!

Nobel-Scientist Who Survived Fascism Dies

2012-12-31T15:03:00.004-05:00

From Vosizneias comes the remarkable life story of Rita Levi-Montalcini, a biologist who conducted underground research in defiance of Fascist persecution and went on to win a Nobel Prize for helping unlock the mysteries of the cell, died at her home in Rome on Sunday. She was 103 and had worked well into her final years. Italy honored Levi-Montalcini in 2001 by making her a senator-for-life.

Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno, announcing her death in a statement, called it a great loss “for all of humanity.” He praised her as someone who represented “civic conscience, culture and the spirit of research of our time.”

Italy’s so-called “Lady of the Cells,” a Jew who lived through anti-Semitic discrimination and the Nazi invasion, became one of her country’s leading scientists and shared the Nobel medicine prize in 1986 with American biochemist Stanley Cohen for their groundbreaking research carried out in the United States. Her research increased the understanding of many conditions, including tumors, developmental malformations, and senile dementia.

The 1943 German invasion of Italy forced the Levi-Montalcini family to flee to Florence and live underground. After the Allies liberated the city, she worked as a doctor at a center for refugees. In 1947 Levi-Montalcini was invited to the United States, where she remained for more than 20 years, which she called “the happiest and most productive” of her life. She held dual Italian-U.S. citizenship.

During her research at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, she discovered nerve growth factor, the first substance known to regulate the growth of cells. She showed that when tumors from mice were transplanted to chicken embryos they induced rapid growth of the embryonic nervous system. She concluded that the tumor released a nerve growth-promoting factor that affected certain types of cells.

Italian mathematician Piergiorgio Odifreddi said he was always struck by the contrast of this “petite, frail woman and the power of her mind.” He recalled comments that Levi-Montalcini made when she turned 100. She mentioned that she would sleep no more than two or three hours a night because “I have no time to lose,” Odifreddi told Sky TG24. CLICK HERE to read more of this fascinating life story.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day- Toronto

2012-12-31T11:00:00.000-05:00

The Sarah and Chaim Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre has announced that Prof. Doris Bergen will deliver the keynote address in honour of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, 27 January 2013. Doris L. Bergen is the Chancellor Rose and Ray Wolfe Chair of Holocaust Studies at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on religion, gender, and ethnicity in the Holocaust and World War II and comparatively in other cases of extreme violence. She is the author of several highly-acclaimed books and a member of the Academic Advisory Committee of the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

The program will take place at 11:00am, 27 January 2013 and is titled:

Morality & Loss: Expressions of Guilt in Holocaust Survivor Accounts »

Venue: Campbell Conference Facility at the Munk School for Global Affairs, University of Toronto

1 Devonshire Place, Toronto

Dr. Bergen will address the issues of blame, guilt and morality in Holocaust survivor testimony.

If you read and listen to personal accounts of the Holocaust, you may notice a paradox. Perpetrators – killers and their accomplices – regularly refuse to accept responsibility. “It was not my fault,” they protest. Yet survivors often make the opposite claim: “I am to blame,” they insist, for not seeing what was coming, for making the wrong decision, for acting or failing to act in some way. How do we explain this contrast, between those who wielded terrible power over the lives and deaths others yet refuse to acknowledge their responsibility, and those who were powerless yet after the fact express remorse. CLICK HERE to read more.