For many educators, planning for the next school year begins as soon as the last one is over. And several local institutions are coming together to prepare teachers to give lessons on a difficult subject: Holocaust history.
The Baltimore Jewish Council, Towson University’s Baltimore Hebrew Institute and Towson University’s Sandra R. Berman Center for Humanity, Tolerance and Holocaust Education will host the Holocaust Educators’ Institute, set to run from Aug. 5-7. This is an evolution of the former Summer Teachers’ Institute program. The Summer Teachers Institute was held by the Baltimore Jewish Council and the Jewish Museum of Maryland, but the museum bowed out due to its ongoing renovations. Baltimore Hebrew Institute and the Sandra R. Berman Center, which just opened its doors earlier this year, have taken its place and will be providing their own resources for the institute.
“This is the first time we’re doing the Holocaust Educators’ Institute, and we’re very excited about the collaboration with both the Baltimore Jewish Council and the Baltimore Hebrew [Institute],” said Hana Bor, the Sandra R. Berman Center’s director and a professor in Towson University’s Department of Family Studies & Community Development. “It’s not really new, but the focus has been shifted.”
The institute’s format remains the same as its past iteration, consisting of three days of learning, one of which will be spent at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. This time, though, the other two days will take place at the Sandra R. Berman Center.
This year’s institute focuses on “Teaching the Holocaust Through Literature,” which has become an important topic with the rise of censorship in classrooms. Though it has not been as pressing of an issue in Maryland, sweeping book bans across school districts in Southern states have led Holocaust-related texts, such as a graphic adaptation of Anne Frank’s diary and Elie Wiesel’s “Night,” to be banned for inappropriate content.
Additionally, Holocaust education is not a mandatory part of the Maryland school curriculum. But the institute’s organizers want educators to be prepared for if the subject comes up, or if they would like to integrate it into their own lesson plans.
“Our hope was to choose a theme that would be both interesting and easily applicable for educators,” explained Emily Braverman Goodman, director of Holocaust and countering antisemitism programs at BJC. “We’ll be bringing in different scholars to talk about different classroom resources on Holocaust literature, including USHMM, to talk about some of the most used Holocaust texts in school curriculums … among other examples of
Holocaust testimony.”
The two featured presenters at the institute are both prominent Holocaust educators in their own right. Amy McDonalds is part of the Alabama Holocaust Center and has written two books on the subject: “Determined to Survive,” the story of survivor Max Steinmetz, and “Word Smugglers,” which details an underground archive in the Warsaw Ghetto. Her presentation will be focused on integrating Holocaust-related literature and primary sources into the classroom.
The other featured presenter, Christina Chavarria, is the national outreach coordinator at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, where participants will be traveling on Aug. 6. Her session will discuss the wealth of resources that the USHMM offers to teachers, as well as using Anne Frank’s diary and “Night” as teaching aids.
Several teachers and librarians from Towson University will also be facilitating discussion at the institute. Additionally, participants will receive Maryland State Department of Education credits for their work.
Many of the resources being used at the institute are from the Baltimore Hebrew Institute’s Cook Library, which has a sizable collection of Holocaust education materials and even includes some rare primary sources.
“We’re doing what we call a white glove session with a collection of books that survived the Holocaust. We call it a white glove session because we physically give participants white gloves so they can touch and read the books,” Bor added.
The institute’s main goal is to make educators aware of the resources at their disposal, from the books in the Cook Library to the archives of the USHMM.
“Whether it’s resources from Towson’s Cook Library, the new Sandra R. Berman Center or the ability to take a field trip to USHMM which Maryland teachers are fortunate enough to have within driving distance for school trips — we want teachers to know that they can find materials to make their units around the Holocaust robust,” Goodman said.
