An international seminar for teachers and educators on human rights violations and the Holocaust took place in Vilnius from 17 to 21 June.
The five-day seminar took place in the conference hall of the Lithuanian Jewish Community. The seminar was opened by Ambassador Hadas Wittenberg Silverstein of the State of Israel, German Ambassador to Lithuania Cornelius Zimmermann, US Deputy Ambassador Tamir Waser, Chair of the International Commission Emanuelis Zingeris, Chair of the Jewish Community of Lithuania Faina Kukliansky, and the organisers of the seminar, Oana Bajka, Head of the International Programmes of the TOLI Institute, and Ingrida Vilkiene, Coordinator of the Education Programmes at the International Commission Secretariat.
The seminar’s opening started with the Ambassadors’ presentations on how they relate to the history of the Holocaust and education. The Israeli Ambassador told the story of her grandparents, who survived the Holocaust. The US Deputy Ambassador spoke about his grandparents from Ukraine and his experience as a former teacher. The German Ambassador shared his thoughts about his grandparents, who were teachers.
The international seminar featured a lot of discussion on the role of teachers in fostering empathy, tolerance, and efforts to combat indifference. The five-day event included lectures by historians and lecturers Prof. Saulius Sužiedėlis (USA), Dr. Vadim Altskan (USA), Dr. Lara Lempertienė (Lithuania), Kataržyna Laziuk (Poland), and a guest speaker from the USA – Silvia Foti.
Participants of the event learned about the history of Vilnius Jews, visited the former Vilnius Ghetto, took a guided tour of the Holocaust exposition of the Vilnius Gaon Museum of Jewish History, the Paneriai Memorial, and had a unique opportunity to hear the family story of the Chair of the Jewish Community of Lithuania, Faina Kukliansky, about her mother and father’s survival in the Holocaust.
The seminar included several methodological sessions on stereotypes, violations of human rights, human behaviour in particular historical circumstances and possible choices – dilemmas. The seminar programme also included an introduction to Jewish food and Shabbat traditions, presented to the teachers by Faina Kukliansky, Chair of the Lithuanian Jewish Community. Music performed by violinist Boris Kirzner accompanied the evening of learning about Jewish festivals.
The international seminar “Learning from the Past – Acting for the Future” was organized by the TOLI Institute (USA) in cooperation with the Secretariat of the International Commission, in partnership with the Lithuanian Jewish Community, and the support of the Goodwill Foundation, and the European Commission.
This is the sixth time an international seminar initiated by the TOLI Institute has been held in Lithuania. This year, 32 teachers and educators participated in the seminar: 29 from Lithuania and 3 from Poland.
The seminar took place in the framework of the project Combating Holocaust Denial and Distortion through Active Citizenship, Remembrance and Education, implemented by a consortium of organisations coordinated by the Intercultural Institute Timisoara, with The International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania, in partnership with TOLI – The Olga Lengyel Institute for Holocaust Studies and Human Rights (TOLI) and co-funded by the European Union and by TOLI. #EUfunding #CERV
