Office of the Spokesperson
Professionals, diplomats, and teachers from 23 countries gathered virtually November 19 for the U.S. Department of State’s first in a series of international webinars on Holocaust education. The session, “Policy and Practice: Trans-Atlantic Avenues for Holocaust Education,” was hosted by U.S. Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues Cherrie Daniels and featured experts from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).
The recorded webinar with closed captioning is now available for on-demand viewing by the public at: https://www.state.gov/u-s-department-of-state-hosts-trans-atlantic-webinar-on-holocaust-education
The Policy and Practice webinar focused on practical ways to implement the IHRA Recommendations for Teaching and Learning About the Holocaust and their relationship to combatting rising anti-Semitism, as well as Holocaust distortion and denial, in today’s world. Panelists examined how policy makers and practitioners – international diplomats, teachers, museum curators, educators, administrators and others – can work together to help future generations develop the critical thinking skills needed to apply the lessons of the Holocaust.
Panelists included Ambassador Michaela Küchler, President of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance and Special Representative for Relations with Jewish Organizations at the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany; Jennifer Ciardelli, Director, Initiative on the Holocaust and Professional Leadership at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum; Dr. Zuzana Pavlovská, IHRA Education Working Group Chair and Head of the Department for Education and Culture at the Jewish Museum in Prague; and Cherrie Daniels, Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues at the United States Department of State. Dr. Edna Friedberg, Senior Program Curator at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, moderated.
The recommendations were adopted by IHRA’s 34 member countries at the Luxembourg Plenary in December 2019 and are available here: https://www.ushmm.org/teach/fundamentals/guidelines-for-teaching-the-holocaust.
Additional resource materials are available at: https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/educational-materials and https://www.state.gov/resource-documents-office-of-the-special-envoy-for-holocaust-issues.