Seminar ”How to Teach about the Holocaust“
The unfavorable epidemiological situation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic also adversely affected the holding of the educational seminar “How to Teach about the Holocaust“, regularly staged in the spring. It had to be postponed in 2021 to a date in September, specifically between September 17 and 19, 2021. Since 2000 the seminar has been co-organized by the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, the Jewish Museum in Prague and the Museum of Roma Culture in Brno.
The educational program started on Friday in Prague´s Jewish Museum, featuring a lecture on the Jewish settlement of the Czech lands and its contribution to the local culture, on anti-Semitism and the psychological aspects of genocide; the attendees also viewed the exhibitions on display in the Jewish Museum. The lectures and guided tours were held by the lecturers: Martina Kutková and Jitka Janáková, Zbyněk Tarant and Věra Kostlánová Roubalová. In the evening, all the 36 participants moved to the Terezín Memorial to hear Jan Špringl´ s presentation on the principles of teaching methods on the Holocaust.
The seminar offered three different hands-on workshops. Attendees were free to choose one of them and then, in its framework, try out the new teaching methods on the Holocaust. Workshop How to Teach about the Roma Holocaust was introduced by Mrs. Veronika Kolaříková, lecturer of the Museum of Roma Culture. The Department of Education of the Terezín Memorial prepared a workshop, led by its lecturer Pavel Straka and entitled From a Number to a Name, tracing the fates of several Terezín inmates. Focused on the story of Esther, an Old Testament heroine, the art-cum-drama workshop was chaired by Dr. Jana Jebavá.
The Sunday morning was devoted to the topic of the Roma genocide. Lecture on the Roma genocide on the territory of the former Czechoslovakia during the World War II hold Petr Lhotka. Margita Michaelova had a discussion on the Roma history, culture and traditions. The final part of the seminar was a visit to the former Police Prison in the Small Fortress in Terezín.
Lenka Doležalová, Naděžda Seifertová
Seminar for Czech Teachers in the Ravensbrück Memorial
An educational seminar for 27 Czech schoolteachers took place in the Ravensbrück Memorial between October 21 and 24, 2021. This was a third-level seminar, part of a multi-tier structure of educational events staged by the Terezín Memorial in association with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport of the Czech Republic and foreign partners.
The program itself comprised a sightseeing tour of the Ravensbrück Memorial, followed by a lecture on the postwar reflections of Germany´s National-Socialist past. The participants then had a chance to join a photographic workshop and try out in practice the methods applied by this Memorial in its educational seminars.
The event came complete with presentations of projects prepared by the attending Czech schoolteachers. This particular exchange of hands-on experience and skills figures, besides other benefits, among the highly valued components of such seminars for teachers.
Naděžda Seifertová
