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Learning Institute on Antisemitism and the Holocaust

 

Tuesday, August 9th and 16th – 10:00 AM EST - 3:00 PM EST
Tuesday, October 25th (English) and Wednesday, October 26th (French) - 7:00 PM EST - 9:00 PM EST
Free program; registration required.
Register

Join the Toronto Holocaust Museum (formerly the Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre) to learn about the history of the Holocaust and antisemitism directly from Holocaust survivors, leading Holocaust historians and museum professionals. The Learning Institute on Antisemitism and the Holocaust will provide Ontario educators with the opportunity to participate in three free professional development seminars to learn about the historical and contemporary impacts of antisemitism, racism and xenophobia and how we can counter this hateful rhetoric.

 

During this seminar series, educators will become equipped with skills to contextualize Holocaust history for learners of various ages and help students recognize Holocaust distortion, minimization, and contemporary manifestations of antisemitism and hatred. This content is especially important now as antisemitism and hate crimes are rising in Canada. According to Statistics Canada, there has been a 42% increase in police-reported hate crimes since 2015. With 55% of all religiously motivated hate crimes committed against Jews. The program will also provide an opportunity to connect with peers engaged in similar work across Ontario, find inspiration for new ideas, and learn how teaching about the Holocaust can meet curricular goals. 

 

The seminars will take place from 10 am to 3 pm on August 9 and 16, with a third session offered in English on the evening of October 25 and in French on October 26 (more information below.) This program is open to all Ontario educators, and there is no cost to participate. Please note content will be geared toward those teaching at or above the middle-grade level. Attendance to all three sessions is recommended but not mandatory to partake in the program. Each seminar will feature unique content, building off that of the previous session, and lunch will be provided for participants. Please see below for further details regarding the content of each session.  

 

The program will be supported by an online learning platform ensuring that teachers have access to pedagogical tools and classroom resources year-round, as well as a community of practice network to support their work at this critical juncture when antisemitism continues to rise. This will provide teachers access to the most up-to-date tools to strengthen their teaching about the Holocaust and antisemitism in both English and French. 

 

For more information, please contact:

Alexandra Miller-Gerrard, Education Associate

(416) 635-2883 x 5521 / amiller-gerrard@ujafed.org

 

Funding for this program is generously provided by the Ontario Ministry of Education.

DAY 1: Best Practices and Next Practices in Holocaust Education: An Introduction

 

Tuesday, August 9, 2022 | 10 AM EST - 3 PM EST
In Person with virtual option available to those outside the GTA

 

Location

Schwartz/Reisman Centre, Lebovic Campus

9600 Bathurst Street Vaughan, ON

 

The Learning Institute will begin with an overview of Holocaust historiography and how antisemitism contributed to it. Highlights include: a powerful room-scale VR experience in which Holocaust survivor, Pinchas Gutter, leads the viewer through a concentration camp where he was imprisoned, and his family was murdered. This will be followed by a reflection activity involving Gutter’s memoir, Memories in Focus, providing participants with time to unpack their responses to the content discussed during the program. Michelle Sadowski, Educator, The Azrieli Foundation's Holocaust Survivor Memoirs Program will discuss using memoirs as a classroom resource and The First Step,A Guide for Educators Preparing to Teach about the Holocaust. Lunch will be provided to participants. 

  

If you are located outside of the GTA and unable to attend in person but are interested in participating in the program, please let us know as we will make a livestream link available. 

DAY 2: Experiential Learning Day

 

Tuesday, August 16, 2022 | 10 AM EST - 3 PM EST


Location
Various locations throughout the downtown Toronto core. Busing to downtown provided from Vaughan location.

 

  

The second day of the Institute is devoted to experiential learning opportunities. Participants will have the opportunity to explore the narratives of historical Jewish Toronto during the Ontario Jewish Archives’ award-winning Stories of Spadina walking tour of Kensington Market. We will also examine how antisemitism affected daily life for Toronto’s burgeoning Jewish community. After lunch, Pinchas Gutter will join us to share his first-hand experience during the Holocaust, reflecting on present day manifestations of antisemitism and hate. Finally, Dr. Hilary Earl, professor of Modern European History and Genocide studies at Nipissing University, will join us to discuss how antisemitism and racism during the Holocaust differed from contemporary manifestations we may encounter today. Lunch will be provided to participants. 

 

A shuttle bus will be available to take participants from the Schwartz/Reisman Centre (Lebovic Campus) to the various downtown locations, returning at the end of the program.

DAY 3: Contemporary Antisemitism and Explorations of Online Hate

 

Tuesday, October 25 | 7 PM EST - 9 PM EST

In Person with virtual option.

 

Location

Schwartz/Reisman Centre, Lebovic Campus

9600 Bathurst Street Vaughan, ON

 

The program will resume in October with a special 90-minute session at the Schwartz/Reisman Centre on countering online hate, antisemitism and Holocaust distortion. Étienne Quintal, manager of the Online Hate Research and Education Project, will provide a briefing on the proliferation of hate in online spaces. This discussion will cover current issues regarding social media platforms, the promotion of Holocaust denial online, and the dissemination of hate using co-opted symbols.

 

Étienne will also discuss Hatepedia, an online educational platform currently hosting Canada’s Hate Symbols List, which sheds light on symbolism used in hateful displays on and off-line. Hatepedia is an online resource centre built with original research to provide educators, parents, lawmakers, and researchers with tools to identify and counter the proliferation of online hate.

 

A French language version of this program will be offered virtually on Wednesday, October 25th at 7:00 PM. This workshop will be an excellent opportunity to get acquainted with relevant French terminology used to discuss themes regarding Holocaust education and contemporary antisemitism.

Register

Jour 3: L'antisémitisme contemporain et exploration de la haine en ligne

 

Mercredi, octobre 26 | 19:00 EST - 21:00 EST

En ligne

 

Joignez-vous à nous pour une discussion en français au sujet de la haine en ligne et de l’antisémitisme. Étienne Quintal, gérant du Projet de recherche et d’éducation sur la haine en ligne, partagera ses connaissances sur le sujet de la prolifération des idéologies haineuses sur les réseaux sociaux, et sera joint par la suite par un.e représentant.e du Musée de l’Holocauste de Montréal pour une session de questions et réponses.

 

Cette discussion couvrira des questions d’actualité comme les réseaux sociaux, la promotion de déni de l’Holocauste en ligne, et la dissémination d’idéologies haineuses au travers de symboles co-optés. 

 

Étienne parlera aussi d’Hatepedia, une plateforme éducative en ligne qui contient présentement la liste canadienne des symboles haineux, qui met en lumière le symbolisme utilisé pour propager la haine en ligne et hors ligne. Hatepedia est une ressource éducative bâtie au travers d'un projet de recherche original qui vise à donner aux éducateurs, parents, politiciens et chercheurs les outils afin d'identifier et de combattre la haine en ligne.

 

Cette discussion sera une excellente opportunité pour vous familiariser avec le vocabulaire francophone associé aux thèmes de l'éducation sur l'Holocauste et l'antisémitisme contemporain.

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Past Programs

Commemorating the Holocaust:
The Lost Sephardic World of the Balkans

 

Tuesday, March 29 @ 7 PM EST - 8:30 PM EST

Free program; registration required.

 

Join us for a special Professional Development opportunity for educators to learn more about the lesser known Holocaust history and experiences of Sephardic Jewry from the Balkans, Slovakia, and Greece. In this 90-minute webinar teachers will learn about the history of Sephardic Jews, discover primary and secondary sources that will help you share this history with your students in practical ways in the classroom. We will provide activities, lessons, and projects you can do with your students—all free and available in a Google Classroom for your convenience.

Program in partnership with Centropa.

Creating Critical Thinkers through Holocaust Education

 

A professional development opportunity

 

Tuesday, October 26, 2021 ~ 4:00-5:00 pm EST 

 
How do we teach students to be curious about what they read, ask relevant questions, and think critically?
Answer: Engage them in the stories of people who survived all that history threw at them—stories they can relate to—and teach them how to analyze the photographs and interviews of the people who lived those stories. Join Centropa and the Neuberger for an hour of learning with primary sources that you can bring back directly to your students. 
 
What is Centropa? Centropa, a Jewish historical institute based in Vienna, interviewed 1,200 elderly Jews living in 15 European countries. We did not use video but rather asked our respondents to tell us their entire life stories spanning the 20th c. as they showed us their old family photographs.
Centropa offers teachers a database of thousands of annotated photos, hundreds of interviews, and scores of award-winning, short multimedia films (none longer than 30 minutes)—ideal for creating virtual or in-class projects that teach digital literacy, promote critical thinking, increase global awareness—all free of charge. 
Register

TEACHING THE HOLOCAUST: SPECIALIZED WORKSHOP FOR DAY SCHOOL EDUCATORS
 

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2021 // 7:00 PM

Save the Date: Monday, February 22 at 7:00 pm for a special Yom Hashoah workshop where Jewish educators from across the country will come together to learn how to use Holocaust survivor testimony with a unique opportunity to have your students contribute in the cross-country virtual Yom Hashoah program.  

Register

TEACHING THE HOLOCAUST:
A SHOP TALK

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9 // 7:30 PM


“Teaching and learning about the Holocaust is an essential opportunity to inspire critical thinking, societal awareness, and personal growth. Yet this massive topic can also pose challenges to educators due to its traumatic nature, broad expanse, and intersection with challenging human dynamics including racism and antisemitism.” 
– International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)
 

Since the late 1990s, IHRA has been working trans-nationally with panels of experts to create standards for teaching the Holocaust. Toronto’s leading Holocaust educators come together for the first time to discuss how rooting their work in the  IHRA recommendations provides meaningful learning opportunities for all students. Join Jody Spiegel from the Azrieli’s Holocaust Survivor Memoir Program and incoming Chair of IHRA’s Education Working Group, Facing History and Ourselves’ Leora Schaefer, and Neuberger’s Dr. Carson Phillips for a special behind-the-scenes “shop-talk”. With an introduction from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Jennifer Ciardelli who chaired the IHRA committee that developed the IHRA recommendations. Moderated by Dara Solomon from the Neuberger.

Access Program

Be sure to register for a free account on the Virtual J in order to view this program.

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Join us for our online learning series for educators!

Teaching about the Holocaust is challenging under any circumstances. But now, we recognize it’s even harder for you to rethink how to connect with students remotely. 

The Neuberger is hard at work developing online specialized programs for teachers and students to further their knowledge about the Holocaust. These offerings include Educator PD, and online specialized student programming. 
Your support of online Holocaust education teaching and learning will empower students of today to view this important history through the lens of critical thinking and emphasize how the lessons of the past can encourage a better future. 

Brady Resource Kit Online - Professional Development Opportunities 
 

Join our education team as we launch the digital version of the Brady Resource Kit. By examining and analyzing archival documents, photographs, and recorded survivor testimony, students learn about the Holocaust through one family’s experiences. Based on the principles of inquiry-based learning, students will discover important historical facts and learn to independently contextualize history.

 

Special guests taking part in the presentation will include the website developers who will guide us through the process of using the site. We encourage you to preview the site at www.bradyresourcekit.ca and come with questions that you’d like to discuss.

Travel Study Tour: POSTPONED

Important Update from the Neuberger: In light of the spread of COVID-19 (Coronavirus) in our community and abroad, UJA is consulting with Toronto Public Health and taking reasonable precautions to protect the health of our community, public, volunteers and staff. This extends to all those involved in our programming and travel tours.

As a result, we have unfortunately made the difficult decision to postpone the Holocaust Educators’ Study Tour, out of concern for the wellbeing of the participants.Thank you for your understanding and we look forward to running this program in the future. 

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The Neuberger's signature Study Tour is a unique educational program that brings teachers, teacher candidates and faculty to sites of Jewish memory in Austria and Poland. It is an intense, rigorous program that combines academic with reflective and experiential modes of learning.

The program is limited to 24 teacher participants and is led by professional Holocaust educators and, where possible, a Holocaust survivor. Past study tours have taken place in 2005, 2008, 2010, 2013 and 2016. 

By visiting historic sites of destruction (Auschwitz-Birkenau, Majdanek and Mauthausen), of Jewish culture (Lublin Yeshiva) and of rescue participants actively encounter living history. These encounters are supplemented with pedagogical methods and expertise to enable participants to teach about the Holocaust in new and meaningful ways when they return to their classrooms.


SUBSIDIZED COST: $2000 CAD
The subsidized price is made possible with the generous support of the Bill Glied Memorial Fund and private donors, allowing the Neuberger  to offer scholarships to teachers accepted into this program.

FULL COST: $5000 CAD

 

Price includes: 

  • Return airfare from Toronto
  • Lodging based on double occupancy
  • All fees associated with ground costs and program fees

This program is supported in loving memory of Bill Glied, z”l, a Holocaust survivor speaker at the Neuberger dedicated to engaging teachers in Holocaust education.

Wednesday, October 30 / 9:00am – 3:30pm
Lipa Green Centre - Tamari Hall / 4600 Bathurst Street 
Program Cost: FREE ; lunch included, Kashruth observed  
**Spaces reserved for active educators 

The Neuberger's Annual Professional Development Seminar for Educators 
 

The Neuberger is excited to announce our new educational offerings at our annual PD seminar. For the 2019-2020 school year, the Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre introduces new interactive educational resources, in addition to the Brady Resource Kit, which has been nominated for the Public History Award presented annually by Heritage Toronto.
 

These programs exemplify the Neuberger’s student-centered approach to learning about the Holocaust using a multilayered approach. The Neuberger approach challenges students to become history detectives, discovering for themselves the significance and meaning found in primary source materials such as archival photographs and documents, oral history recordings, and replica artefacts.


In this (full day, seminar, the Neuberger Education Team will take participants on a learning journey to discover for themselves how Holocaust education is preparing for the future.
 

Also featuring special guest presenter, Dr. Pia Schoelnberger (Federal Chancellery of Austria, Ministry of Arts and Culture), an international expert on Holocaust-era art restitution and memorialization.