No Place for Hate Educators Explore Echoes and Reflections Holocaust Education Resource

  • January 14, 2014

 

 

No Place for Hate® uses the Pyramid of Hate to show that extreme expressions of hate are built upon a foundation of smaller biases and stereotypes. This month, No Place for Hate educators in the region had the opportunity to study the consequences of leaving hate unchecked through the award-winning multimedia Holocaust Education resource, Echoes and Reflections. During a full-day professional development workshop, educators from Pennsylvania and New Jersey explored the moving visual history testimony and other unique primary sources at the heart of Echoes and Reflections, which was developed by three world leaders in the field―the Anti-Defamation League, USC Shoah Foundation, and Yad Vashem.

The participants, who taught diverse age groups and subjects, also had the opportunity to hear the powerful testimony of Holocaust survivor Annelise Nossbaum, who spoke on behalf of the Holocaust Awareness Museum and Education Center. Ms. Nossbaum who was born in Germany, shared her experiences of living through Kristallnacht, when the Nazis destroyed her synagogue, and in surviving the Terezin ghetto and Auschwitz and Mauthausen death camps.

One educator remarked afterwards, “It has been a long time since I have been exposed to material that has stuck with me the way the training that you offered has.  I only use primary documents to teach, and I have never walked out of a workshop more set up for success.  Also, I was shocked to realize that with all the books I have read, the stories I have told, and sources I have cited, I have never actually met a Holocaust survivor.  It suddenly made everything a bit more real.  I have been inspired to try and have someone come and speak to my students, so they too can hopefully they can better understand the history.  I thank you for exposing me to every resource that I have walked away with, both written, and oral. The workshop was an amazing experience.”

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world’s leading organization fighting anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and discrimination.  Click to learn more about No Place for Hate and ADL’s Holocaust Education programs. Please contact us to arrange for ADL programming to come to your school.