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Gizella Abramson Teaching the Holocaust Spring 2025 Conference
Below, you will see the agenda for this conference, which will also have all of the presentations and files embedded for your use by the day of the workshop.
Contact Information for the Conference Facilitators:
Lauren Piner, Region 1 Director: laurenepiner@gmail.com
Lee Holder, Region 2 Director: historyhawk308@gmail.com
Laurie Schaefer, Region 5 Director: lschaefer@wsfcs.k12.nc.us
| AGENDA ITEMS | LINKS TO RESOURCES USED |
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8:30: Introductions/Housekeeping |
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8:35-9:35: 3G Survivor Courtney Doi |
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9:35-9:45: Break |
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9:45-11:00: Breakout Session #1 (Teachers choose one when you register in the morning):
NC Council on the Holocaust Presentation: Guidelines and Rationale for Teaching the Holocaust In this session, participants will explore how to teach about the USHMM’s Guidelines for Teaching the Holocaust and consider their rationale for teaching about the Holocaust in their classroom. Participate in a discussion about these thoughtful guidelines and connect some of the key guidelines with lessons before creating a rationale for teaching the Holocaust, which will help teachers narrow their focus on what resources would best to use with their own students. |
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9:45-11:00: Breakout Session #1 (Teachers choose one when you register in the morning): NC Council on the Holocaust Presentation: Teaching a Holocaust Elective This session is for teachers who either are currently teaching an elective on the Holocaust or who would like to teach an elective in the future. Participants will explore the new framework for teaching an elective from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and also interact with two outlines for an elective that apply the new objectives and course materials from NCDPI as options for teachers to use when planning for their own course. Presenters in this session have all taught a Holocaust elective and will offer support and advice for how to get started. |
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9:45-11:00: Breakout Session #1 (Teachers choose one when you register in the morning): NC Council on the Holocaust Presentation: Oath and Opposition: Teachers in the Third Reich Education in Nazi Germany is the focus of this session, where participants will learn about the role of teachers in aiding or opposing the Nazis in German schools. Through four case studies of teachers and the choices that they made and survivor testimony, teachers will learn how to implement this lesson from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in their classrooms to help students understand the impact that teachers had on students during this time in history.
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11:00-11:15: Break |
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11:15-12:30: Breakout Session #2 (Teachers choose one when you register in the morning):
NC Council on the Holocaust Presentation: State of Deception: Nazi Propaganda How did words, images, and other techniques shape the general public’s thinking in Nazi Germany? What are some ways participants can engage their students in discussion related to antisemitism and hatred? Participants will discuss propaganda and take part in an activity that will help implement the study of Nazi propaganda in their classrooms.
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11:15-12:30: Breakout Session #2 (Teachers choose one when you register in the morning): Echoes and Reflections Presentation: Antisemitism: Understanding and Countering This Hatred Today This session will give an overview of how teachers can approach teaching about the history of antisemitism up to the modern day. It is critical for young people to understand the dangers of antisemitism today and the threat that it poses to both Jewish and non-Jewish populations. This program helps teachers to educate about antisemitism, examining its complexities from historic and contemporary perspectives. Educators gain strategies to help students respond to and counter antisemitism and forms of hate. Note: There is an entire unit that Echoes and Reflections has developed to teach about antisemitism, and this session will give an overview of it and will feature some of the resources and activities present in the unit. |
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11:15-12:30: Breakout Session #2 (Teachers choose one when you register in the morning): NC Council on the Holocaust Presentation: Photo Narrative and Timeline of the Holocaust This session will feature two hands-on lessons to use when helping students define the Holocaust, analyze primary sources, and build a historical timeline of the Holocaust. Both lessons are from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the NC Council on the Holocaust has some unique additions to the Timeline activity for teachers in NC, including two new layers. We highly recommend this session for all teachers, but especially those who are new to teaching about the Holocaust, as these lessons can provide a solid foundation for learning how and why the Holocaust happened. |
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12:30-1:30: Lunch on your own |
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1:30-2:45: Breakout Session #3 (Teachers choose one when you register in the morning): NC Council Presentation: Challenges of Escape Why didn’t the Jews just leave? Students often ask this question when they begin their study of the Holocaust, so this lesson incorporates primary sources, survivor testimony, and historical facts to help answer this complex question. By the end of the lesson, students may change their question to “How could so many of the Jews have managed to leave Germany?” Teachers of any experience in teaching the Holocaust will find this lesson to be an important one to use with their students.
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1:30-2:45: Breakout Session #3 (Teachers choose one when you register in the morning): Echoes and Reflections: Antisemitism: Understanding and Countering This Hatred Today This session will give an overview of how teachers can approach teaching about the history of antisemitism up to the modern day. It is critical for young people to understand the dangers of antisemitism today and the threat that it poses to both Jewish and non-Jewish populations. This program helps teachers to educate about antisemitism, examining its complexities from historic and contemporary perspectives. Educators gain strategies to help students respond to and counter antisemitism and forms of hate. Note: There is an entire unit that Echoes and Reflections has developed to teach about antisemitism, and this session will give an overview of it and will feature some of the resources and activities present in the unit. |
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1:30-2:45: Breakout Session #3 (Teachers choose one when you register in the morning): NC Council Presentation: Americans and the Holocaust By using a guiding activity to explore the Americans and the Holocaust online exhibition from the USHMM, participants will examine the motives, pressures, and fears that shaped American attitudes and responses to the threats of Nazism and the Holocaust during the 1930s and 1940s. Participants will learn about actions taken at all levels of society—by the government, the media, other organizations, and individual citizens—and how opportunities for action changed over time. This lesson promotes reflection and critical thinking about various factors that shaped attitudes and actions during that time and the factors that influence us today and also includes a lesson on how to incorporate archives of American newspapers during this time period to further explore what Americans knew about the Holocaust. |
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2:45-3:00: Break and Evaluations
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3:00-3:55: Holocaust Survivor Speaker Renee Fink At the age of four in the Netherlands, Renee’s life changed when she was sent to live with a Catholic family and her family was betrayed. Listen to her story as she tells us of the fate of her family and what it was like to survive apart from her family. |
