BOSTON (JTA) – New Hampshire will mandate Holocaust and genocide prevention education under a bill passed overwhelmingly by its House of Representatives. If Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican, signs the measure into law, New Hampshire would become the 14th state to require genocide prevention education in public schools, according… Read more »
Tagged Holocaust education
State legislative committee approves Holocaust education bill for Arizona schools
On Monday, Jan. 27, which was International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, bill #HB2682, submitted by Arizona Rep. Alma Hernandez with bipartisan support, passed unanimously in the House education committee. The bill requires Arizona schools to teach about the Holocaust and other genocides.… Read more »
Young people are responsible for most of New York City’s anti-Semitic attacks. Will Holocaust education help?
NEW YORK (JTA) — Jyrell McGriff, an African-American eighth-grader who lives in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, doesn’t interact much with the many Orthodox Jews who share his neighborhood. He sees them on the street or on buses. He also has fond memories of a Jewish teacher from years… Read more »
Makers of Krispy Kreme giving tens of millions to Holocaust survivors and education
(JTA) — A major German industry family will donate tens of millions of dollars to support Holocaust survivors and former forced laborers in the Nazi era. In addition to one-time donations to the Claims Conference and individual laborers, the Reimann family’s JAB firm has created a foundation designed to… Read more »
Anti-Semitic hate crimes in NYC have risen significantly in 2019
NEW YORK (JTA) — The number of hate crimes against Jews in New York City has risen significantly over the first nine months of this year, part of a citywide rise in such offenses. The New York Police Department has reported 311 total hate crimes through September, as opposed… Read more »
In the wake of another deadly synagogue shooting, we need Holocaust education more than ever
(JTA) — On the Shabbat morning of April 27, Hadassah member Lori Gilbert-Kaye was murdered while celebrating Passover at the Chabad of Poway. The synagogue’s rabbi, a male congregant and an 8-year-old girl were wounded as well by the self-avowed white supremacist shooter. We know that anti-Semitism is on the… Read more »
House members introduce bill that would fund Holocaust education programs in schools
WASHINGTON (JTA) — A bipartisan slate of House members introduced a bill that would grant money to Holocaust education in schools. The Never Again Education Act would establish the Holocaust Education Assistance Program Fund in the U.S. Treasury. The bill would combine appropriated funds and private donations. A release… Read more »
Holocaust survivor tells story to thousands of children via global talks, book
Sidney Finkel ended his self-imposed silence in 1993 about Holocaust survival as a child. At the insistence of his daughter, Ruth, he shared the story with his family of the young boy born Sevek Finkelstein. Born in Poland to a well-to-do family of seven, he lived an idyllic childhood… Read more »
Former resident continues Holocaust education in Austria
As a former member of the Southern Arizona Holocaust Survivors Group, I was touched by the article about Fort Huachuca (“Army dedicates plaque to survivors at Fort Huachuca Holocaust ceremony,” AJP 4/20/18). I had the privilege of attending the ceremonies on two different occasions while I lived in Sahuarita,… Read more »
How these teachers learned to teach the Holocaust
NEW YORK (JTA) — When Megan Corbin was in school, she learned about the Holocaust as an optimistic story. Her grade school, she said, “highlighted Anne Frank as the voice of hope, and that really wasn’t the reality.” Now, as an eighth-grade language arts teacher outside of Seattle, she… Read more »
Pinning of yellow star on 3-year-old reignites Israeli education debate
(JTA) — On April 19, Keren Zachmi’s daughter returned from her kindergarten near Tel Aviv wearing a yellow patch emblazoned with the word “Jude.” A teacher had put the yellow star on 17 kindergarteners so they would feel like Holocaust victims during Yom Hashoah, Israel’s national Holocaust commemoration day. Appalled,… Read more »
With fewer survivors around, Holocaust education is in transition
BOSTON (JTA) – On a recent morning, a group of seventh-graders in Natick, Massachusetts, was absorbed in a video of Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel’s acceptance speech of the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize. “Why did he win?” asked their teacher, Tracy Sockalosky. She guided the discussion to the importance of remembrance, a… Read more »