Holocaust Resource Center: Past Events
2024
Live Sobibór Site and Museum Tour
Monday, December 9, 2024 at 9:00-11:00am EST via Zoom
In recognition of Genocide Awareness Day, we invite students' grades 9-12 to join us for a private virtual tour of the former Sobibór camp site and the Sobibór Museum and Memorial. This program is designed to cultivate the memory of those murdered in the Sobibór death camp.
The experience will also feature a conversation with Marvin Raab, child of a Holocaust survivor.
Murray Pantirer Memorial Scholar Lecture
Tuesday, December 3, 2024 at 7:00pm
Drawing on the manuscript of Dr. Josephine Janina Mehlberg’s own unpublished memoir, supplemented with prodigious research, Elizabeth White and Kean University alumna Joanna Sliwa, professional historians and Holocaust experts, have uncovered the full story of this remarkable woman. They interweave Mehlberg’s sometimes harrowing personal testimony with broader historical narrative. Like The Light of Days, Schindler’s List, and Irena’s Children, The Counterfeit Countess is an unforgettable account of inspiring courage in the face of unspeakable cruelty.
Interfaith Voting Event: Reflecting on Post-Election Results
Monday, November 18, 2024 at 1:00pm in Townsend 112, Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Join the Voting Squad and Interfaith Advisory Council for a post-election discussion on the significance of voting through an interfaith lens. This event will bring together voices from various faith backgrounds to reflect on the election results and explore how civil engagement, community, and social responsibility are embraced across different religious traditions.
Also, come see the newly opened prayer room and have pizza!
Co-curricular and professional development available.
Human Rights Week at a Glance
Please join us in welcoming our Senior Human Rights Fellow, Ndaba Mandela, to Kean University from November 11-15, 2024, as part of Human Rights Week.
To learn more about Human Rights Week, read this article about Ndaba Mendela.
Town Hall with Ndaba Mandela and Student Leaders
Friday, November 15, 2024 at 3:15pm in the Little Theatre.
Please join the Human Rights Institute for a conversation with the grandson of Nelslon Mandela and one of the most influential activists of the 21st century, Ndaba Mandela, on the future of human rights and social justice advocacy
High School Leadership Conference: Empowering Change through Education
Friday, November 15, 2024 at 9am-1:30pm
Please join us for this year's High School Leadership Conference featuring Ndaba Mandela, Senior Human Rights Fellow and grandson of Nelson Mandela!
Distinguished Lecture Series
Thursday, November 14, 2024 at 4:30pm in the NAAB Auditorium
Join the Human Rights Institute at Kean University for the Distinguished Lecture Series featuring Ndaba Mandela. Mandela is a passionate advocate for reconciliation, healing, and justice. He is carrying forward his grandfather’s legacy of hope and empowerment, and is the co-founder and chairman of the Africa Rising Foundation and the Mandela Institute for Humanity. Mandela is dedicated to uplifting the next generation of leaders and fighting for social justice.
During this special lecture, Mandela will share his insights and experiences. His recent book, Going to the Mountain: Life Lessons from My Grandfather, Nelson Mandela, will be available for purchase.
Day of Service - Food Drive and Food Security Discussion
Contribute to our day of service by donating non-perishable food and personal hygiene items for Cougar Pantry. Donations accepted now through November 11 in the Human Rights Institute.
Please join us for a conversation with student leaders from the Human Rights Institute, Diversity Council on Global Education and Citizenship, Center for Leadership and Service, and President's Advisory Council discussing food security with Ndaba Mandela.
November 11, 2024 at 3:15pm in the HRI Gallery
Catching a Fire: Film Screening and Discussion
Monday, November 11, 2024 at 6-8pm
Please join us at the Human Rights Institute Gallery. Opening remarks will be made by Kean University's Senior Human Rights Fellow, Ndaba Mandela.
Online Educator Training: Foundations of Resistance -- via Zoom
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Teach students how to counter antisemitism with the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation’s new Foundations of Resistance: A Curriculum to Counter Antisemitism for Grades 6-12. Participants will learn how to bring JPEF’s Foundations of Resistance lessons to your classroom. Teach your students why they should and how they can resist antisemitism and hate. Featuring four 50-minute lesson plans with cutting-edge webquests.
Diversity Council on Global Education & Citizenship: General Assembly Meeting: Conversation with Loung Ung, author and activist -- via Zoom
Wednesday, October 15 at 4:30pm
Please join us for a conversation with Loung Ung, bestselling author, activist, and co-screenwriter of the 2017 critically acclaimed Netflix Original Movie, First They Killed My Father.
This powerful film, based on her memoir, First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers was produced and directed by Angelina Jolie and is currently available for streaming worldwide on Netflix.
Human Rights in Actions: Pre-College Program
Date: July 11-18, 2024
Price: $300 per week
Grades: 9-12
Historically, young people have been the agents of change. Do you want to create a more just and inclusive world? Join Kean University’s Human Rights Institute and the Diversity Council on Global Education and Citizenship this summer for Human Rights in Action, a summer program designed specifically for high school students looking to elevate their voices and build the tools needed to become a more effective advocate and ally. This program will be run at the Human Rights Institute, located on our main campus in Union, New Jersey.
Short Hair Detention: Channy Chhi Laux, survival of the Cambodian Genocide
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
When the Khmer Rouge seized Cambodia in 1975, Channy Chhi Laux was thirteen years old. For the next four years she endured starvation, forced labor, disease, and tremendous lost. In June 1979, she arrived in Lincoln, Nebraska as a Cambodian refugee and enrolled at Lincoln High School. Despite speaking no English and having not attended school for four years, she managed to achieve academic success, thanks in part to the kindness and support of her teachers. She went on to earn a Master of Science in Applied Mathematics from Santa Clara University and undergraduate degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She then spent 30 years working in Silicon Valley as an engineer in the Aerospace and Biotech industries. She is now an award-winning author and chef. Join us for an intimate talk with Channy to learn more about surviving genocide and the importance of compassion.
Click here to watch on YouTube
Teaching the Cambodian Genocide Through Testimony
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
Short Hair Detention: A Memoir of a Thirteen-Year-Old-Girl Surviving the Cambodian Genocide offers an intimate view of the Cambodian Genocide (1975-1979) as experienced by survivor Channy Chhi Laux. Channy originally wrote her memoir to help communicate her experiences of genocide and survival to her children. Having completed her manuscript, however, she saw the value in sharing it more widely. Please join us for an intimate workshop with Dr.Alexis Herr, a comparative genocide scholar, to learn how to use survivor testimony to educate about genocide and human rights.
Click here to watch on YouTube
From Generation to Generation: Author Michelle Weinfeld Shares Her Grandfather's Holocaust Survival Story
Tuesday, April 9, 2024
Michelle Weinfeld, author of From Generation to Generation: A Memoir of Food, Family, and Identity in the Aftermath of the Shoah, will share her grandfather's story of surviving the Holocaust, the life lessons he taught her, and how being the grandchild of a survivor has influenced her life.
Click here to watch on YouTube
The Vel d’Hiv Round-Up: The Largest Mass Arrest in Wartime French History
Thursday, April 4, 2024
On July 16-17, 1942 in Occupied Paris, more than 13,000 French Jews were arrested by French Police. The victims were held in deplorable conditions at the Vélodrome d'Hiver or Vel d'Hiv, an indoor cycling stadium until they were sent to detainment camps outside of Paris where they either died or were deported to concentration camps. Dr. Eileen Angelini’s presentation will discuss how the Vichy Government planned this round-up and how the French government and people have since dealt with the pain and shame of this traumatic event.
Click here to watch on YouTube
Strangers in Their Own Land: Jewish Self-Awareness in Holocaust Memoirs
Wednesday, April 3, 2024
In this interactive session, participants will discuss short excerpts describing the painful realization of what it means to be oppressed. Professor Dorian Stuber will consider texts by Sarah Kofman and Nechama Tec. Despite their differences in national origin and living situations, each writer grappled with what it meant to be a stranger in her own land. Using Michael Rothberg’s idea of “multidirectional memory,” the session will conclude by using the African American sociologist W. E. B. DuBois’s articulation of “double consciousness” as an accessible conceptual language for understanding the self-awareness of persecuted minorities and placing the Holocaust in relation to other histories of oppression.
Click here to watch on YouTube
Journeys of Inclusion: Charting Compassion, Courage, and Community
Friday, March 15, 2024
Engage in vital dialogues, interactive workshops, and insightful panels as we discover lessons from history to inspire today’s inclusive classrooms. Connect with fellow educators, learn alongside Holocaust education experts, and explore ways to cultivate compassion and courage in teaching. Be a part of shaping an educational future filled with hope, heart, and impact — a future where every student is valued. Co-presented by the Holocaust Resource Center of Kean University, NJEA, and the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education.
Carolyn Dorfman Dance The Legacy Project - A Dance of Hope
Performances: Sunday, January 28, 2024 & Monday, January 28, 2024
Through contemporary dance, multimedia presentation and interactive dialogue, choreographer and master teacher Carolyn Dorfman, a child of Holocaust survivors, and her breathtaking comp[any take audiences on a powerful historical and cultural journey in commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27).
The Legacy Project, a celebrated body of work that honors Dorfman’s Eastern European roots, Jewish heritage, and the immigrant experience, helps viewers understand the past, its relationships to the present and out individual and collective choices for the future.
Teaching the Human Story of the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda
Thursday, January 25, 2024
Dr. Sara E. Brown and Dr. Hollie Nyseth Nzitatira have designed curricular resources that draw upon testimonies and social scientific research from Rwanda to teach the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi. It also empowers educators to explore and answer core questions about genocide, such as: What are the causes of genocide? Why do civilians perpetrate genocide? Why do some people rescue instead? How does a country recover after genocide? They will share insights from their experience (collectively, they have been working in Rwanda since 2004) and the more than 500 testimonies they’ve gathered from Rwandans about their experiences before, during, and after the 1994 genocide.
A World Erased: A Grandson’s Search for His Family’s Holocaust Secrets
Tuesday, January 23, 2024
Noah Lederman, grandson of Holocaust survivors and author of the memoir, A World Erased: A Grandson’s Search for His Family’s Holocaust Secrets, shares a personal journey from his grandparents' Brooklyn kitchen to World War II Poland. Raised on toned-down Holocaust stories, Noah's quest for the uncensored truth intensifies after his Poppy's death. Despite avoiding Poland after college, Noah ends up there, subsequently unlocking buried memories with his grandmother. Surprisingly, revisiting the Holocaust narrative revitalizes her, ending years of mourning. This revelation transformed the grandmother he once playfully mocked into his hero.
2023
Josiah DuBois and the American Responses to the Holocaust
Monday, December 11, 2023
In January 1944, with World War II still raging, President Franklin Roosevelt created the War Refugee Board, a new government agency tasked with saving the lives of Jews being murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators. At the center of it all was Josiah DuBois, a young lawyer from Camden, NJ, who argued and lobbied--before January 1944 and after--for the United States to do more to aid the Nazis' victims. As a result, he and his colleagues saved tens of thousands of lives. In this talk, Erbelding will introduce DuBois and his world, and discuss how his example reminds us of the power of an individual to change the world.
Click Here to Watch on YouTube
When Civil Society Stands Up: Sephardic Jews, the Holocaust, and the Bosnian War
Wednesday, December 6, 2023
Sephardic Jews came to the Ottoman Empire (including today’s Balkan region) in 1492, when expelled by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. Eighty percent of the Jews of Yugoslavia were murdered during the Holocaust, and the same in Greece.
Click Here to Watch on YouTube
Interfaith Thanksgiving
Thursday, November 20, 2023
All students, faculty, and staff are welcome! RSVP with the QR Code below or on Cougar Link!
Educator and Professional Staff Forum: Tools and Techniques to Address Interpersonal and Intercultural Conflict Management
Tuesday, November 14, 2024
This session is designed specifically for educators, professional staff, and guidance counselors and will focus on enhancing a respectful and inclusive environment with the goals of helping these individuals:
- Avoid Crises
- Promote Greater Productivity
- Strive to Increase Teacher, Parent, and Student Satisfaction
This program will include discussions of key social themes in present-day education. Topics include dispute resolution, cultural sensitivity in the school environment, bullying and cyber bullying, restorative justice, and more!
This program is co-presented by the Diversity Council on Global Education and Citizenship and the New Jersey Association of Professional Mediators (NJAPM), Committee on Diversity, Inclusion and Cultural Competency. The NJAPM is an association of professionals engaged in and dedicated to the practice of dispute resolution.
Click here to watch on YouTube
Kristallnacht: The Mischlinge Exposé
Thursday, November 2, 2023
The Mischlinge Exposé weaves a multimedia tapestry around a little-known aspect of the Holocaust: the Mischlinge (a derogatory Nazi term for those neither fully Jewish nor fully Aryan). Interweaving video and audio testimony from Carolyn's godmother and her father (both labeled Mischling, Grade A by the Nazis), with the music of composers from the salon period, the program vividly illustrates what it was like to be between worlds in Germany in the early 20th century. The Mischlinge Exposé directly addresses universally significant issues of identity and inclusion, encouraging empathy, respect, and engagement.
- Co-presented by the NJ Commission on Holocaust Education
- PD Hours and Co-Curricular Credits will be provided!
We Declare: Human Rights, Civic Engagement, and Election Day
Monday, October 30, 2023
“We Declare” is a mural commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by Artist-in-Residence Ricardo Roig. Join us and discover the remarkable legacy of New Jersey's human rights advocates and engage in a meaningful conversation about approaches to civic engagement and the significance of election day in the United States.
- Professional Development Hours and Co-Curricular Credit Available!
Repairing the World: Stories From The Tree of Life
Tuesday, October 18, 2023
A documentary film on Pittsburgh’s powerful community response to hate in the aftermath of the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history, showing what it means to be “stronger than hate.”
Disability Justice Library Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
Tuesday, October 10t, 2023
Join us to celebrate the opening of a Disability Justice Library in the Holocaust Resource Center. Funded by the College of Liberal Arts, our new collection offers twenty-four titles integral to disability history, Disability Studies, and disability justice. Highlighting disabled poets, philosophers, activists, artists, and scholars, the collection offers a deep dive into disability centering those with embodied experience.
There will be a brief ribbon cutting ceremony alongside remarks from Dr. Abriana Jetté and poetry readings from three Kean students. Afterwards, feel free to browse the collection and connect with others over a shared passion for Disability Studies.
Warnings from Rwanda: Social Responsibility and Genocide
Wednesday, September 27, 2023
The fact that genocide is never inevitable should inspire hope. But if genocide isn’t inventible and therefore preventable, why does it keep happening? Join us for a discussion with comparative genocide historian Dr. Alexis Herr on Rwanda’s path to genocide, social responsibility, and genocide prevention.
- PD hours and Co-Curricular Credits will be provided!
Click here to watch on YouTube
Human Rights in Action: Pre-College Programs (Grades: 10-12)
Combating Misinformation - August 7-10, 2023
Becoming Change Makers - August 14-17, 2023
Historically, young people have been the agents of change. Do you want to create a more just and inclusive world? Join Kean University’s Human Rights Institute and the Diversity Council on Global Education and Citizenship this summer for Human Rights in Action, a summer program designed specifically for high school students looking to elevate their voices and build the tools needed to become a more effective advocate and ally.
Week one, Combating Misinformation, will help participants navigate the vast amount of information available to them, and demonstrate how to use social media as a tool to promote human rights.
Week two, Becoming Changemakers, will lead participants through the sometimes daunting task of “where to start” when fighting injustices and ensuring human rights are being honored in our local communities and beyond. Students are welcome to join one or both sessions.
Action Through The Arts: Creative Strategies to Implement Civics in the Classroom
Thursday, May 4, 2023
This session is created and facilitated by Carl Brister, an artist, activist, educator, and instructional coach of 10 years who has been featured on NJ12NEWS, WABC, NBC, and more for highly effective creative classroom practices and for leveraging the power of music and the arts to impact the community for social change.
This program will include a reflective dialogue around the NJDOE Standards for Middle School Civics instruction, fun activities and exercises, and ideas on how to transform the classroom into a dynamic Civics learning space through the arts.
The Armenian Genocide and Its Denial: Causes and Consequences
Wednesday, April 26, 2023
An Armenian Genocide Commemorative Event
With featured guest speaker Dr. Taner Akçam (bottom left) Inaugural Director, Armenian Genocide Research Director, UCLA and moderator Dr. Paul Boghossian (bottom right) Silver Professor of Philosophy, New York University.
Third Generation Voices of the Holocaust
Wednesday, April 26, 2023
In honor of Holocaust and Genocide Awareness Month, join
Elyse Wolff and Jessica Wang, grandchildren of survivors, to hear their family members’ stories of wartime survival and rebuilding after the Holocaust.
- Program for Students Grades 5-8
Weidergutmachung - Making Right Again: A Discussion on National and Individual Perceptions of Personal Compensation Programs of the Federal Republic of Germany
Tuesday, April 25, 2023
In December 1951, the Federal Chancellor of Germany spoke of unthinkable crimes committed in the name of the German People. The German Nation was morally responsible for the rehabilitation of the Survivors and safeguarding of the memory of what had happened. This talk shall focus on the two main subjects of these endeavors: the Federal German State and the Holocaust Survivors. Dr. iui Weber will discuss policy towards the needs of Survivors, towards the State of Israel, and toward the future.
Click Here to Watch on YouTube
The Ethics of Rescue: True Stories Behind Bergen-Belsen's Liberation
Thursday, April 20, 2023
Shocked by what he discovered upon entering Bergen-Belsen with the British Second Army in April 1945, Deputy Director of Medical Services Glyn Hughes did not initially know how he would go about stemming typhus, burying thousands of dead, and arranging medical treatment for 25,000 of 60,000 “displaced persons” in dire need of hospitalization. In this talk, Bernice Lerner will describe how a small group of rescuers went about trying to save lives. She will share astonishing stories about the unprecedented liberation--from the perspectives of both liberators and survivors, including her mother, then fifteen-year-old Rachel Genuth.
Click Here to Watch on YouTube
Compliance, Culture, and Celebration: How to Practice LGBTQ+ Inclusivity With Less Fear and More Joy
Wednesday, March 29, 2023
This three-part presentation will help educators better understand the NJDOE’s Transgender Student Guidance and related cultural competencies, as well as their role and responsibilities as they pertain to inclusive curriculum mandates around LGBTQ+ topics (such as Chapter 32, the Comprehensive Health and Physical Education standards, LGBT and Disability Inclusive Mandate, etc.).
Click Here to Watch on YouTube
Framing Identity: The Rohingya Genocide in Myanmar/Burma
Tuesday, March 26, 2023
Dr. Alexis Herr has dedicated her life to combating genocide and atrocity. This passion has motivated her educational and professional pursuits and translates into a strong desire to prevent human rights violations.
Shwe Maung is a former Member of Parliament in Myanmar (Burma), Founder and President of AiPAD, Board Member of APHR and Founding Member of IPPFoRB.
Word Smugglers: A Story of Resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto
Thursday, March 23, 2023
Amy McDonald's book, Word Smugglers: A Story of Resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto, recounts the story of a courageous group of men, women, and young people who chose to resist and fight back against cruelty and fear. This group did not fight back with guns and weapons. They fought back with words, stories, and truth.
Click Here to Watch on YouTube
"Refuge Denied: Exploring The Refugee Experience In The United States From The Holocaust To The Present" Educators' Conference
Sunday, March 19, 2023
Kate English is the Executive Director of the Educators' Institute for Human Rights (EIHR). Kate taught for 18 years in Connecticut and Virginia public schools and has been recognized as District-wide Teacher of the Year, received the Joseph Zola Holocaust Educator, and serves as a Museum Teacher Fellow for the USHMM. Kate attended Summer University Srebrenica in 2011 and the Genocide Studies Institute at Keene State College in 2022, served as a Fulbright Teaching Excellence and Achievement (TEA) Fellow in Ukraine, as well as a Positive Peace Ambassador with the Institute for Economics and Peace.
Karen Hikes Levine taught middle school social studies and was a lead teacher in Parsippany before retiring. She was selected as distinguished faculty for the district and is a two-time winner of the Honev and Maurice Axelrod award for excellence in Holocaust education. Karen was a Museum Teacher Fellow for the USHMM in 2006. Since that time she has been involved in a number or workshops tor the USHMM and has also mentored new teacher fellows. Karen is on the board of the Council of Holocaust Educators.
Joe Nappi is in his 18th year of teaching at Monmouth Regional High School where he currently teaches Holocaust, Genocide and Modern Humanity (ID 1800), US History and Psychology. He is a Museum Teacher Fellow with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, an Alfred Lerner Fellow and worked on the team of educators who developed lesson plans for the Ken Burns Documentary: The US and the Holocaust. He has received numerous awards and accolades for his teaching including being named twice as Monmouth Regional School District's Teacher of the Year, The Ida & Jeff Margolis Medallion for Excellence in Multi Cultural Education (Rowan University), US Navy Distinguished Educator Award, and the Dr. Frank Kaplowitz Outstanding Human Rights Educator of the Year (Kean University.)
Interfaith Panel Discussion
Wednesday, March 15, 2023
The Interfaith Council works to create programing and raise awareness about different faiths at Kean, we believe that religious difference serves as a bridge of cooperation between people, rather than a barrier of division. This is part of a 2022-23 Interfaith America Grant.
Click Here to Watch on YouTube
In Conversations with Adam Langer and Shana Stein: "Playing Anne Frank"
Monday, March 13, 2023
The Diary of Anne Frank, which debuted on Broadway in 1955 and then later toured the country, was one of the most influential plays of the 20th century. The play introduced millions of Americans to the Holocaust and its victims. But what did reenacting Anne’s story mean to the people who created and acted in the play or the 1959 film? How did dramatizing her life affect their lives and careers? Who were they?
In "Playing Anne Frank," a new podcast series from the Forward, presents the backstory, and how this iconic work shapes those involved in performing it.
Click Here to Watch on YouTube
Elementary and Middle School Student Leadership Conference
Friday, March 3, 2023
Attendees will:
- Hear from a keynote speaker
- Network with students from other districts
- Receive a leadership training tool kit...and more!
Never Again in Practice: Auschwitz Jewish Center’s Response to the War in Ukraine
Tuesday, February 28, 2023
Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation (AJCF) has been working to provide aid, primarily to women and children who have been forced to flee their homes and seek refuge in neighboring Poland. In this session, Polish and Ukrainian AJCF staff will discuss their humanitarian efforts and answer questions from the audience.
Black History Month and Civics Education -- John Lewis: Good Trouble
Thursday, February 23, 2023
"The film explores the Georgia representative's 60-plus years of social activism and legislative action on civil rights, voting rights, gun control, health care reform, and immigration." - IMDb
Central Office Administrators Forum: Tools and Techniques To Address Interpersonal and Intercultural Conflict Management
Thursday, February 23, 2023
This session will provide a top-down approach to enhancing a respectful and inclusive learning environment:
Avoid crises, Promote greater productivity, Increase employee, parent and student satisfaction
This program is co-presented by the Diversity Council on Global Education and Citizenship and the New Jersey Association of Professional Mediators (NJAPM), Committee on Diversity, Inclusion and Cultural Competency. The NJAPM is an association of professionals engaged in and dedicated to the practice of dispute resolution.
Click Here to Watch on YouTube
Who Will Write Our History? Early Career Educator Conference
Thursday, February 2, 2023
The documentary Who Will Write Our History tells the extraordinary story of the Oyneg Shabes, a clandestine organization composed of sixty Jewish leaders, artists, and intellectuals living in the Warsaw ghetto during the Nazi German occupation of Poland. Creating an archive that was discovered only after the war, the Oyneg Shabes collected diaries, essays, jokes, poems, and songs—anything that would counter Nazi propaganda and help the world understand life in the Ghetto from the perspective of its Jewish inhabitants. As the war progressed, the Oyneg Shabes’ role changed from preserving culture to documenting atrocity.
This conference will explore Who Will Write Our History and Facing History and Ourselves' resources designed to support using the film in classrooms. We will provide teachers with tools to tell the story of the profound courage and resistance of a group of people who seized control of their own narrative even as they faced certain death. While acknowledging the singularity of this story, students will consider key questions about their own experiences: What story about my community should I preserve for future generations? Whose story do I tell, and how do I tell it?
- Co-sponsored by Holocaust Resource Center of Kean University & the Holocaust Council of Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ.
International Holocaust Remembrance Day: Three Minutes a Lengthening
January 24 - 26, 2023
Please join the Holocaust Resource Center for an International Holocaust Remembrance Day screening of the film, "Three Minutes: A Lengthening".
2022
Murray Pantirer Memorial Scholar Lecture and 40th Anniversary Commemoration
Tuesday, November 29, 2022
Join us in commemorating the 40th Anniversary of the Holocaust Resource Foundation and the Holocaust Resource Center!
Click here to watch its introductory video on YouTube
The Auschwitz Album
Thursday, November 17, 2022
Join the Holocaust Resource Center, Liberty Hall Academic Center & Exhibition Hall, Special Collections Research Library and Archive, and Galleries of Kean University, in partnership with the American Society for Yad Vashem for a virtual exhibit and conversation led by Marlene W. Yahalom, PhD, Director of Education.
How Jews Lived: Life Before the Holocaust - A Program for Teachers
Tuesday, November 15, 2022
It is not enough to teach students how Jews were murdered. We must also teach how Jews lived.
Teachers will return to their classes with:
- ready-to-use activities for teaching your students about pre-war Jewish life, including stories of what it was like to grow up in different Jewish communities;
- access to a database with all of the resources you will need to teach about pre-war Jewish life;
- primary source photographs and interviews, and short multimedia films that you can use to create the lessons you need for the students you teach;
- information about Milton Wolf Prize in Student Advocacy, Centropa’s student civics competition with cash prizes for grades 6-12;
- further professional development opportunities from the Holocaust Council of Greater MetroWest NJ, Holocaust Resource Center, Saint Elizabeth University Center for Holocaust and Genocide Education, and Centropa.
Co-sponsored by Holocaust Council of Greater MetroWest NJ, Saint Elizabeth University Center for Holocaust and Genocide Education, and Centropa.
Click Here to Watch on YouTube
Healing Centered Engagement with Carl Brister
Monday, November 14, 2022
An interactive discussion on effective strategies to help teachers and administrators transform the classroom into a healing-centered place of learning. This session is created and facilitated by Carl Brister, an artist, educator, and instructional coach of 10 years who has been featured on NJ12NEWS, WABC, NBC and more for highly effective creative classroom practices and for his music that has helped individuals and communities heal from traumatic experiences.
Based on Healing Centered Engagement principles developed by Dr. Shawn Ginwright, this 60 minute virtual professional development will include a reflective dialogue around the key elements of this groundbreaking approach and highlight practical healing centered methods that can be used with success by educators in the classroom today.
Co-sponsored by Restorative Justice in Education Grant.
Footsteps of My Father: A story of Courage, Resilience and Honor in Commemoration of Kristallnacht and Veterans Day
Wednesday, November 9, 2022
Stanlee Stahl, Executive Vice President of The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, will introduce a special screening of the award-winning film about Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds who risked his life by not turning over hundreds of Jewish soldiers in the POW camp where they were being held prisoner by the Germans in the aftermath of the Battle of the Bulge. The documentary film will be followed with remarks and Q&A by Roddie Edmonds son, Pastor Chris Edmonds.
- Co-sponsored by the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous.
In Conversations with Arielle Silverman, Author of Just Humans: The Quest for Disability Wisdom, Respect, and Inclusion
Thursday, October 20, 2022
Being blind never bothered Arielle much but, as she grew, she discovered others saw her blindness very differently. Many people saw her as either helpless or inspirational, but rarely did they see her as just human, with the same capacities and desires as her peers. Arielle has spent a lifetime exploring ways to foster respect and inclusion, not only for blind people like her, but for all of us whose bodies or minds differ from the norm. Arielle is a disabled activist and a social scientist who is passionate about improving public understandings of life with disabilities.
- Co-sponsored by the Holocaust Resource Center and the Human Rights Institutes at Kean University.
Diversity Council General Assembly Meeting
Wednesday, October 19, 2022
Please join the Diversity Council for their first General Assembly of the 2022-2023 academic year featuring the Council on Foreign Relations. These resources, which include World101, Model Diplomacy, and Convene the Council, equip young people with the essential knowledge, skills and perspective that comprise global literacy and form the basis of a global civics education, empowering them to be informed citizens. Whether your classroom is exploring the foundations of the liberal world order, trying to understand the impacts of climate change, or making sense of a current event, CFR Education has resources for you.
Teaching about Americans and the Holocaust Using Historical Newspapers
Wednesday, October 12, 2022
"While participating in the project, students will be engaged in critical thinking and primary source research. They will be riveted by readings—newspapers from the 1930s and 1940s—so different from their usual assignments. Just ask Lisa Henry, an English teacher in Lexington, Kentucky, who told us “history came alive” for her students as they searched for articles about the Holocaust in their local newspaper archives." - History Unfolded
- Co-sponsored by History Unfolded, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, School of Communication, Media, and Journalism at Kean University.
Racial Healing Circle
Thursday, September 29, 2022
A Racial Healing Circle is an opportunity for people of diverse backgrounds to reflect and share human experiences that show we can work together and we have more in common than different... it's not what you think.
Educators in Conversation: Strategies for Settler Allyship, Un-learning and Building Community with Indigenous peoples
Thursday, May 12, 2022
The British Columbia public education system's response to The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action (62-64) in K-12 education called on the British Columbia public education system to build a curriculum in collaboration with - and in support of - Indigenous peoples. Using the British Columbia case study as a starting point, this workshop asks whether the implemented content functions as a performative add-in or important theories of change. Educators will explore strategies to engage with anti-oppressive teaching and decolonize curriculum and teaching practices in their local communities.
Injustice at Home: Looking Like the Enemy
Thursday, April 21, 2022
During World War II, almost the entire population of Japanese Americans on the West Coast were forcibly removed from their homes and incarcerated. Their only crime was looking like the enemy. Featuring the inspiring stories of people in our community, the 1-hour PBS documentary focuses on Japanese Americans during WWII, both inside and outside the evacuation zone; chronicling their struggles and perseverance.
Jewish Childhood in Kraków: A Microhistory of the Holocaust -- Book talk with Dr. Joanna Sliwa
Wednesday, April 20, 2022
Dr. Joanna Sliwa’s Jewish Childhood in Kraków is the first book to tell the history of Kraków in the second World War through the lens of Jewish children’s experiences. Here, children assume center stage as historical actors whose recollections and experiences deserve to be told, analyzed, and treated seriously. Sliwa scours archives to tell their story, gleaning evidence from the records of the German authorities, Polish neighbors, Jewish community and family, and the children themselves to explore the Holocaust in German-occupied Poland and in Kraków in particular.
Click Here to Watch on YouTube
Where We Fear to Tread? Working with the Testimony of A Genocide Survivor
Wednesday, April 13, 2022
In this interactive two-part workshop, participants will hear from genocide survivor, Beatha Uwazaninka, and work with Dr. Mitschke to look at the ‘questioning’ process, and consider how questions can help or hinder audiences from coming closer to a genocide survivor’s testimony. Participants will consider: What questions should be asked, and aren’t – or shouldn’t be asked, and are? Where can questions take us next? And where do we fear to tread?
Refugee and Humanitarian Crisis during the Great War and the Armenian Genocide
Tuesday, April 12th, 2022
Dr. Darbinyan’s talk focuses on the humanitarian emergency and refugee crisis at the Caucasus front during the First World War, caused by population movements as a result of war and the Armenian Genocide. Reflecting on the experiences of the Armenian refugees in various parts of the Caucasus and in eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire occupied by Russian troops, her research aims to uncover the perspectives of refugees and to show the role refugees themselves played in the struggle for survival.
Diversity Council LGBTQ+ Educators' Discussion
Wednesday, April 26, 2022
In 2020, Governor Phil Murphy passed a law requiring NJ schools to educate their students on LGBTQ history. Kate Okeson, Allison Connolly, and Damien Lopez will examine the mandate through a lens of intersectionality, and discuss data and initiatives that dovetail with the mandate, such as colleague accountability, relevant policy, curriculum and lesson development, and opposition.
Teaching Banned Material: How Including Challenging Topics Enhances Student Learning
Thursday, March 31, 2022
In response to the recent banning of the graphic novel Maus in a Tennessee school district, this workshop is designed for K-12 educators interested in sources that have been the subject of recent controversies within the education system. This program will focus on LGBTQ+ characters, Holocaust literature, feminist plotlines, questions of police brutality, and America's history with race as attendees seek to discover how these narratives may continue to be representative stories in the classroom. Participants will receive a toolkit of language, content, and strategies to use when using challenged or banned sources in their lessons.
Click Here to Watch on YouTube
Holocaust by Bullets in the Occupied Soviet Territories
Thursday, March 17, 2022
Co-presented by the Holocaust Resource Center of Kean University, the Holocaust Council of Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ, and the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Education at Saint Elizabeth University.
Diversity Council On Global Education And Citizenship
Friday, March 4, 2022
OUR MISSION
- Hear from Zenerations' founders and members
- Network with students from other districts
- Receive a leadership training tool kit
- ...and more!
Sami Speaks: Conversation with a Holocaust survivor
Thursday, March 1, 2022
Sami Steigmann is a Holocaust Survivor who lives to tell his story. Through speaking at schools, organizations, media outlets, and more, he is passionate about his role of sharing a fresh perspective on hope, life, and faith.
Black History Month Virtual Book Club -- "My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me: A Black Woman Discovers Her Family's Nazi Past"
Thursday, February 24, 2022
At age 38, Jennifer Teege discovered a horrifying fact: Her grandfather was Amon Goeth, the vicious Nazi commandant depicted in Schindler’s List. Reviled as the “butcher of Płaszów,” Goeth was executed in 1946. The more Teege learned about him, the more certain she became: If her grandfather had met her—a black woman—he would have killed her. Teege’s discovery fills her with questions: Why did her birth mother withhold this chilling secret? How could her grandmother have loved a mass murderer? Can evil be inherited?
- Co-presented by the Holocaust Resource Center, Human Rights Institute, Nancy Thompson Learning Commons, Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, and Women and Gender Studies of Kean University.
Holocaust Educators Conference Series
January 24, 2022 - Art
In this session with teacher and museum professional Amanda Coven, participants will be introduced to and examine three educational resources where people have used art to cope with crisis or trauma as well as document and educate about an injustice.
Click Here to Watch on YouTube
February 7, 2022 - Music
In this session with musician Amanda Greenbacher-Mitchell, attendees will engage in activities designed to demonstrate how musical resistance by victims of the Holocaust connects to modern iterations of musical defiance and exhibit similar themes across history.
Click Here to Watch on YouTube
February 22, 2022 - Memoirs
In this session, Michelle Sadowski from the Azrieli Foundation will demonstrate Re: Collection, an innovative digital resource that combines video interviews, memoir excerpts, photos, and artifacts with interactive timelines and maps.
Click Here to Watch on YouTube
Diversity Council on Global Education and Citizenship - General Assembly Meeting
Tuesday, February 8, 2022
Dr. Schroeder is a disability rights activist and the founder of the DAC (Disabled Academic Collective).
Immediately following Dr. Schroeder's talk, Timothy Rohrer, an activist, and young adult with autism will conduct a workshop on best practices for classroom inclusivity. Educators will also receive professional development hours and practical resources for the 2020 mandate to teach disability history.
Through the Eyes of a Friend: A Living Voices Production
Friday, January 28, 2022
What does it mean to survive? Sarah is a historically accurate composite character, based on the testimonies of those who knew Anne Frank, as well as other victims, resisters, and survivors of the Holocaust and World War II. Through the Eyes of a Friend will come to you as a professionally recorded live performance, with a live post-show discussion and Q&A session with a teaching artist.
2021
Should Access to Adequate Food & Housing be Constitutional Rights?
Thursday, December 16, 2021
Co-hosted by: Holocaust Resource Center, Human Rights Institute, and the School of Communication, Media and Journalism.
Human Rights in the 21st Century
Friday, December 10, 2021
A Program for student grade 7-12
Keynote Speaker: John Prendergast, Strategic Director, Clooney Foundation for Justice
Global Humanitarian Issues presented by: Tausi Suedi, Childbirth Survival International, & Jimoh Oluwatobi Segun, Media for Community Change
Co-hosts: Kean University Human Rights Institute, NJ Council for the Social Studies, Go Green Initiative, and HighschoolNGOconnect.org.
Some Great and Terrible Calamity: Ireland's Great Hunger
Wednesday, December 8, 2021
The Great Irish Famine was one of the most devastating humanitarian disasters of the nineteenth century. In a period of only five years, Ireland lost approximately 25% of its population through a combination of death and emigration. How could such a tragedy have occurred at the heart of the vast, and resource-rich, British Empire? Join us and our invited keynote speaker Dr Christine Kinealy from Drew University to learn more!
Saints and Liars: American Relief and Rescue Workers during the Nazi-Era - A Murray Pantirer Memorial Scholar Lecture
Wednesday, December 1, 2021
A number of Americans — Quakers, Unitarians, secular people, Jews — traveled to points around the globe to offer relief, and to rescue victims of Nazi Germany. Exploring the derring-do and the daily grind of these intrepid souls, Debórah Dwork opens a window on the role of the unpredictable and irrational.
Debórah Dwork is renowned for her scholarship on Holocaust history and is a leading authority in this field. Her award-winning books include Children With A Star; Flight from the Reich; Auschwitz; and Holocaust. In 2020, Dwork received the International Network of Genocide Scholars Lifetime Achievement Award.
Human Rights Institute Book Club: "Caste" By Isabel Wilkerson
Wednesday, November 17, 2021
A discussion about Wilkerson's analysis of the unspoken caste system that has shaped America shows how our lives today are still defined by a hierarchy of human divisions.
This discussion will be moderated by Erin Lester, Multicultural Affairs Coordinator from Kean University's Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Co-Hosted by Kean University's Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion & the Holocaust Resource Center of Kean University.
Kristallnacht Commemorative Program
Tuesday, November 9, 2021
An afternoon of poetry and conversation with the Polish poet and musician, Grzegorz Kwiatkowski, and historian, Dr. Joanna Sliwa.
Grzegorz Kwiatkowski is a Polish poet and musician, who has authored several books of poetry about history, remembrance, and ethics. He is a member of the psychedelic rock band Trupa Trupa. Kwiatkowski's music and literary works have featured in international outlets including The Guardian (UK), CBC (Canada), Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, Billboard, and NPR.
Dr. Joanna Sliwa is Historian at the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference). Her own research focuses on the Holocaust in Poland and Polish Jewish history. She has worked as an educator, researcher, translator, and consultant. Dr. Sliwa’s first book, Jewish Childhood in Kraków: A Microhistory of the Holocaust (Rutgers University Press, 2021), received the 2020 Ernst Fraenkel Prize from the Wiener Holocaust Library.
Click Here to Watch on YouTube
Americans: National Museum of the American Indian
Monday, November 8, 2021
American Indian images, names, and stories infuse American history and contemporary life. Pervasive, powerful, at times demeaning, the images, names, and stories reveal how Indians have been embedded in unexpected ways in the history, pop culture, and identity of the United States.
Co-presented by the Holocaust Resource Center, Human Rights Institute, and the School of Communication, Media and Journalism at Kean University, and the Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Raritan Valley Community College.
'Indecent', 'Forbidden', 'Taboo': Representing Lesbians in Fiction about the Holocaust/Nazi-Era
Thursday, November 4, 2021
Drawing on her own creative practice and research, fiction writer and academic Dr. Emma Venables will guide participants through aspects to consider when representing lesbian characters and relationships in fiction set during the Holocaust/Nazi era. Participants will gain an understanding of the social and political context, the moral and ethical issues of such representation; and have a chance to reflect on their own experiences of representations of lesbian characters/relationships set during this era.
Co-presented by the Holocaust Resource Center, Theatre Conservatory, Kean University Prism, and the Women’s and Gender Studies Program of Kean University.
Click Here to Watch on YouTube
Diversity Council on Global Education and Citizenship - General Assembly Meeting
Friday, October 22, 2021
Clyde W. Ford is an award-winning author of 12 works of fiction and non-fiction. Clyde’s the recipient of the 2006 Zora Neale Hurston-Richard Wright Award in African American Literature and the winner of the 2021 Washington Center for the Book Award.
Human Rights Institute Book Club: "Becoming Eve" By Abby Stein
Thursday, October 21, 2021
A powerful coming-of-age story of an ultra-Orthodox child who was born to become a rabbinic leader and instead became a woman.
This discussion will be moderated by Dr. Adara Goldberg, Director of the Holocaust Resource Center of Kean University. Co-Hosted by Kean University's Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion & the Holocaust Resource Center of Kean University.
Click here to watch on YouTube
Alumni Homecoming Brunch with the Human Rights Institute, Holocaust Resource Center, and Diversity Council of Kean University
Sunday, October 17, 2021
Inaugural Alumni Homecoming Brunch. In addition to brunch, there will be a tour of the current gallery exhibit, a visit to the Holocaust Resource Center, and more.
Pre-Service Teacher & Early Career Educator Conference
Friday, October 15, 2021
What does it mean to go back to school after a year of remote/hybrid learning; ongoing social, economic, and political unrest; and in the midst of a pandemic? During this workshop, we will explore teaching strategies and share resources to help you create an open, supportive, and reflective classroom community. Presented with Facing History & Ourselves.
Global Response to the Holocaust from Europe to Asia: Norway, Sweden, China, and India
Thursday, October 14, 2021
Join Irene Shaland, Jewish historian and writer, for a fascinating workshop that focuses on how and why various countries around the world respond to Holocaust remembrance. The workshop examines factors that determined the Holocaust victims’ destiny in all four countries: What was the history of the Jews in the area? What degree of control was exercised by the Nazis? And, very importantly, how and why did the locals behave toward the Jews? These issues are extensively discussed within the historic content of each area.
Click Here to Watch on YouTube
With Me Here are Six Million Accusers: The Eichmann Trial in Jerusalem
Wednesday, October 13, 2021
Join the Holocaust Resource Center of Kean University in partnership with the American Society for Yad Vashem for a virtual exhibit and conversation led by Marlene Warshawski Yahalom, Ph.D., Director of Education for the American Society for Yad Vashem.
Teaching Holocaust Herstories: Mothers, Daughters, Fighters, and Survivors
Tuesday, October 12, 2021
Two girls who fought with the partisans in Croatia; a teenager who survived the Holocaust because she was
sentenced to ten years hard labor in the Gulag—for joining a youth group; a girl who survived, unlike her parents, because they courageously sent her to England on the Kindertransport. The experiences of women in the Holocaust are varied and Centropa’s interviews and photographs of women from different countries of diverse ages and socio-economic backgrounds help you explore human themes through real-life stories.
In this 90-minute webinar, Centropa will share user-friendly materials about women in the Holocaust, usable in online or in-class teaching. Participating teachers will return to class with specific activities for teaching these stories and NJ teachers have the option to earn 1.5 credit hours of PD credit.
- Event co-hosted in partnership with Centropa and the Holocaust Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ.
Click Here to Watch on YouTube
The Latin American Response to the Holocaust: Examples of the Dominican Republic and Mexico
Thursday, September 30, 2021
In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month 2021, Christina Chavarría will present materials from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's archives to reveal how various countries in Latin America responded to the events in Europe in the 1930s and 1940s. Chavarría's interests lie in Holocaust literature, engaging new audiences and partners, and studying and disseminating information on the impact and history of the Holocaust in Spain, Latin America, and the US Latino population.
Asian American & Pacific Islander Voices Panel Discussion
Thursday, May 6, 2021
Presented with Kean University's Asian Studies and the Hoboken Public School District.
Click Here to Watch on YouTube
France Divided: Understanding the WWII Occupation of France
Wednesday, April 28, 2021
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Eileen M. Angelini
Producer and Director of the film La France Divisée
The Destruction of Memory
Monday, April 26, 2021
The Destruction of Memory Film Screening and live Q&A with the director, Tim Slade.
Co-Hosted with the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies and the Human Rights Institute of Kean Univerity.
Third Generation Voices of the Holocaust
Friday, April 23, 2021
Our guest speakers, Rachel Fishman, and Jessica Wang are third-generation descendants of Holocaust survivors and will tell their family members stories of wartime survival and rebuilding after the Holocaust.
Click Here to Watch on YouTube
"World Outside my Shoes": Sharing Stories from Rwanda
Tuesday, April 20, 2021
Carl Wilkens, the last American to remain in Rwanda during the Genocide against the Tutsis and founder of "World Outside My Shoes".
Click Here to Watch on YouTube
BLACK POWER IN HISTORY: What the Early Modern French Empire Can Teach Us About Race and Empowerment
Tuesday, April 20, 2021
In our time of racial reckoning following the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor as well as the disproportionate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Black and other minoritized communities, it is a key moment for us the think about histories of racial discrimination and empowerment in order to understand the present.
Dr. Christy Pichichero is an Associate Professor of French and History and Director
of Faculty Diversity at George Mason University.
Sponsored by the Center for Peace, Justice, and Reconciliation,
the Office of Multicultural Affairs, and the Holocaust Resource Center of Kean University.
Confronting the Challenging Landscape of Holocaust Research in Poland
Monday, April 19, 2021
The Polish government's ongoing efforts towards revisionism of Holocaust memory, and the legal silencing of scholars, have propelled historians into the public light. Join Dr. Monika Rice (Gratz College) and Dr. Joanna Sliwa (Claims Conference) for a virtual discussion on the charges facing historians of the Holocaust in Poland, the ramifications of these attacks on their own research, and public understanding of this history moving forward.
The Challenge of Teaching About the Holocaust in Public Schools
Sunday, April 18, 2021
This program will be led by Kol Rina member and Holocaust educator, Marianne Sender. Panelists are Concetta Donvito, Ed. D., Jaclyn Fae Jones, and Rosemarie Wilkinson.
The Mitzvah Project
Friday, April 16, 2021
"The Mitzvah Project" is a combination theatre performance, history lesson, and conversation in which actor and child of a survivor, Roger Grunwald, explores one of the most shocking aspects of the Jewish experience during WWII.
Presented by the Holocaust Resource Center. Generously supported by a grant from the Mark Schonwetter Holocaust Education Foundation.
Preventing Genocide Through Personal Narratives: Lessons Learned from the Armenian Genocide
Thursday, April 15, 2021
April is Holocaust and Genocide Awareness Month. Harry Milian, a 3G descendant of Armenian Genocide survivors, will share his family's story of survival.
Co-presented by the Holocaust Resource Center and Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion of Kean University, Meaningful World, and Facing History and Ourselves NJ.
Click Here to Watch on YouTube
Diversity Council General Assembly Meeting: LGBTQ+ Voices and Inclusion
Wednesday, April 14, 2021
Abby Chava Stein, Rabbi, Educator & Activist. In 2016, Stein was named by The Jewish Week as one of the “36 Under 36” young Jews who are inspiring change in the world. In 2020, Stein was named by Prospect Magazine as one of "The World's top 50 Thinkers in the COVID-19 Age". Stein's first book, Becoming Eve: My Journey from Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi to Transgender Woman, was published in November 2019.
David Schwartz, Creative Options for Progressive Educators. Following a 30-year career in public education and 10 years working for Facing History and Ourselves, Schwartz founded Creative Options for Progressive Educators. Schwartz will provide guidance and model lessons on incorporating LGBTQ+ history into your curriculum.
Click Here to Watch on YouTube
Recognizing Hate Speech and Symbols
Tuesday, April 13, 2021
Presenter: Dr. Eric English of the School of Communication, Media, and Journalism.
Co-presented by Tiffany Case of the Human Rights Institute
Click Here to Watch on YouTube
Masters of Arts in Holocaust and Genocide Studies Informational Session
Monday, April 12, 2021
Considering your next career move? Learn about the Master of Arts in Holocaust and Genocide Studies program at Kean University - an opportunity of a lifetime. Virtual information session with the program director, Dr. Dennis Klein. dklein@kean.edu
Survivor Transitional Narratives of Nazi-Era Destruction
Monday, April 12, 2021
Dr. Dennis Klein's latest book examines the historical circumstances that inspired Nazi-era survivors to mass a public campaign for remembering Nazi racial crimes. dklein@kean.edu
Click Here to Watch on YouTube
Yom HaShoah Commemoration
Wednesday, April 7, 2021
Each spring, the HRC partners with the Holocaust Council of Greater MetroWest to present the Yom HaShoah memorial program.
Please join us to commemorate all those in our local community who survived, served, rescued, and continue to teach the lessons of the Holocaust today. This virtual program will include a candle-lighting ceremony, Mourners Kaddish, hymns, and so much more.
Click Here to Watch on YouTube
Bilingual Pre-Service Teacher Conference
Friday, March 26, 2021
The Holocaust was a global event that impacted people of all faiths, nationalities, and languages. This Pre-Service Teacher conference, featuring experts from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, will introduce students to resources about the Holocaust in the Spanish-speaking world, and model best practices for teaching this history using bilingual resources.
Click Here to Watch on YouTube
Nazis, Monsters, Fairytales? Holocaust Plays for Younger Audiences
Tuesday, March 23, 2021
Theater can be a powerful tool for introducing the Holocaust to students, but what are "good" plays for younger audiences? What are the benefits or pitfalls of "Holocaust plays"? How can these play texts be used in the classroom? Join Holocaust theatre historian Dr. Samantha Mitschke to discuss these questions and explore age-appropriate texts.
Presented with Premiere Stages at Kean
Click Here to Watch on YouTube
Salvaged Pages: Young Writers' Diaries of the Holocaust Workshop
Thursday, March 11, 2021
Join Alexandra Zapruder, author of Salvaged Pages: Young Writers’ Diaries of the Holocaust, to learn more about these courageous youth and what it meant to be a child under Nazi occupation. Zapruder wrote and co-produced the MTV documentary, I'm Still Here, based on her award-winning book.
Click Here to Watch on YouTube
Diversity Council on Global Education and Citizenship: Coffee & Connect
Saturday, February 27, 2021
Saturday, April 24, 2021, at 10:30 AM
Please join us for an educator discussion on diversity, equity, and inclusion!
Pre-Service Teacher Conference: Holocaust Refugees and Contemporary Perspectives
Friday, February 26, 2021
Using the case of Holocaust refugees in the 1930s-1940s and the current refugee crises, PSTs will gain an understanding of human migration terminology and develop strategies for introducing this complex topic in the classroom.
Students will receive access and guidance on navigating Facing History and Ourselves resources, strategies, and teaching activities.
From Segregation to Liberation: African American Soldiers and the Holocaust
Tuesday, February 23, 2021
In recognition of Black History Month, join us for a conversation about Dr. Leon Bass, an American eyewitness to the Buchenwald
concentration camp, and the history of segregated military units during World War II.
Click Here to Watch on YouTube
Click here for Dr. Bass's testimony
So You Think You Know Anne Frank?
Monday, February 22, 2021
Participants will work with Holocaust theatre Historian and educator, Dr. Samantha Mitschke, to look at four different stage adaptations of The Diary of Anne Frank. Attendees will examine contemporary approaches to the Diary that encourage students to think about Anne and her story in new ways.
Click Here to Watch Part 1 on YouTube
Click Here to Watch Part 2 on YouTube
Analyzing Propaganda and Teaching Media Literacy with Echoes & Reflections
Thursday, February 11, 2021
This program examines the events of the Holocaust through the lens of media by examining propaganda deployed by the Nazis to discriminate against Jews and other minorities.
Restorative Practices with Lockey Maisonneuve
Friday, February 5, 2021
Lockey Maisonneuve's first-hand experience with healing trauma is not a one-and-done event. Lockey incorporates her own accounts with managing flashbacks, triggers, anxiety, and rage as well as her Jersey Girl sarcasm to connect with her participants.
BESA: Courage and Humanity During the Holocaust
Thursday, February 4, 2021
Learn more about the experiences of Albanian Muslims who - at great risk to their own lives - saved Jews during the Holocaust. Professional Development and BESA photo exhibit walk-through presented by Marlene W. Yahalom, Ph.D., Director of Education for the American Society for Yad Vashem.