International Educators Participate in Global Holocaust Education Program

WASHINGTON – Thirty seven education stakeholders – from Brazil, Cambodia, Colombia, Ecuador, Greece, India, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Serbia and the United Arab Emirates – will gather on 13-17 February 2023 for the International Program on Holocaust and Genocide Education, the third such workshop jointly organized by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The program aims to formalize Holocaust and genocide education in countries worldwide. Country teams are comprised of educators, civil society leaders, academics and education ministry officials. During the Conference, participants will design projects that help strengthen Holocaust education in ways relevant to their national contexts and subsequently implement them. 

Participants will work together with international Holocaust education experts to devise strategies for Holocaust and genocide education. Project activities will consider curriculum development and revision, creation of educational materials, capacity-building initiatives, cultural projects and more. The Museum and UNESCO will continue to support these country teams after the conference as they bring their projects to fruition.  

Developing Holocaust education curricula

The first two conferences, hosted by UNESCO and the Museum in 2015 and 2017, resulted in 19 educational initiatives in 17 countries that reached almost 19,000 individuals. Past participating countries include: Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Lithuania, Mexico, Morocco, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, South Korea, Tunisia, Turkey, and Ukraine. Teams from these countries successfully developed Holocaust education curricula, hosted international conferences for educators, arranged for exhibitions on the Holocaust and genocide to be hosted in their countries, and more. 

“The Holocaust was a watershed event in human history with global implications, and its lessons are important for a global audience,” said Tad Stahnke, William and Sheila Konar Director of International Educational Outreach at the Museum.  “The Museum is working to support educators throughout the world who are trying to reach young people and key segments of society with critical lessons from the Holocaust in order to build a better future.” 

“Through this conference, UNESCO wishes to advance Holocaust education and support in a broad sense the objectives of Education for Global Citizenship, a priority in regard to the Sustainable Development Goal on Education,” said Karel Fracapane, UNESCO coordinator for the initiative. “Our objective is to make sure that education systems encourage critical thinking, and help learners become proactive citizens who value human dignity and reject racism, antisemitism and other forms of prejudice that can lead to group-targeted violence,” he added. 

A nonpartisan, federal educational institution, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is America’s national memorial to the victims of the Holocaust dedicated to ensuring the permanence of Holocaust memory, understanding, and relevance. Through the power of Holocaust history, the Museum challenges leaders and individuals worldwide to think critically about their role in society and to confront antisemitism and other forms of hate, prevent genocide, and promote human dignity. For more information, visit ushmm.org.

UNESCO’s programme on education about the Holocaust and genocide is part of the Organization’s efforts to empower learners to become critical thinkers, responsible and active global citizens who value human dignity and respect for all, reject antisemitism, racism and other forms of prejudice that can lead to violence and genocide. For more information: https://en.unesco.org/themes/holocaust-genocide-education.

The IPHGE  is supported by the Government of Canada and by Susan and William S. Levine and Family.

For more information about the 2023 IPHGE, please visit: https://www.unesco.org/en/education/holocaust-genocide/iphge