Over the last few months, IHE has had the honor to do work ranging from coordinating our annual Week of Understanding, to hosting the Awards Ceremony for our annual Tribute to the Rescuers Essay Contest. | |
Our goal is to ensure that the tragedy and history of the Holocaust are remembered, that appropriate, fact-based instruction and materials are available to students, educators, and the public to enable them to learn the lessons of the Holocaust and that, as a result, we inspire our community to create a more just and equitable society. | |
Happenings in Holocaust Education | |
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In order to build knowledge of the Holocaust and the role of art during that period of history, participating teachers taught a Holocaust lesson provided by the IHE with their students during at least one full class period before commencing with the visual art portion of the project. Students' artwork from this programing was exhibited by IHE at the Jewish Community Center. View our 2024 student artwork pieces by clicking here.
Art and the Holocaust is made possible by the support of the Jetton Charitable Fund.
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Week of Understanding is an annual educational initiative created by the IHE and the Omaha Public Schools. The week is designed to deliver Holocaust survivor testimony to a maximum number of students in one school week. This year, the Week of Understanding reached 7,000 students and teachers to hear Holocaust testimony from both local and out of state Holocaust survivors and their descendants. | |
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During the week of March 18-22, 2024, IHE had one survivor, five second generation (2G), and one third generation (3G) speakers go to schools across Nebraska.
For more information about Week of Understanding, and our speakers please visit here.
This program was made possible through the support of the Shirley & Leonard Goldstein Foundation, Omaha Public Schools Foundations and the Jewish Federation of Omaha.
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Willesden READS
One performance can change the world. On March 28th, 2,000 students participated and attended the theatrical performance at the Holland Center in which they experienced the inspirational story of Holocaust survivor Lisa Jura, brought to life by her daughter, Mona Golabek.
In addition to the live theatrical performance, participating educators received professional development, corresponding curriculum, and personal copy of the book for each of their students.
A partnership between Hold On To Your Music Foundation, USC Shoah Foundation, Echoes and Reflections, the Institute for Holocaust Education, the Jewish Community Relations Council, and the Jewish Federation of Omaha.
This program is generously sponsored by the Henry Davis Family Foundation, Rich & Fran Juro, and the Lozier Foundation.
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For 2024, the IHE hosted a local Holocaust Commemoration Event in Omaha on May 8, 2024 to participate in tribute to the six million Jewish men, women and children who perished as a result of the Holocaust.
We also hosted a viewing of the movie “How Saba Kept Singing” which seeks to understand how Polish Jewish teenager David Wisnia survived nearly three years in Auschwitz on May 9, 2024.
Yellow candles were available in the lobby, and IHE invited all community members to attend. For more information please visit our website, here.
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This year’s Yom HaShoah commemoration was supported by Beth El Synagogue, Beth Israel Synagogue, Temple Israel, Anything Grant, The CHESED Fund, The Jewish Federation of Omaha. | |
Tribute to the Rescuers Essay Contest 2024 | |
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The annual Tribute to the Rescuers Essay Contest for Nebraska and Iowa high school students is now in its 22nd year. IHE was excited to receive nearly 400 essay submissions this year. Essay Contest's objective is for students to understand the importance of moral courage in connection to the Holocaust and how they can apply this to their own lives, communities, and even conflicts a world away. Each student can work to make a positive change in the world.
The Award Ceremony will be hosted on May 13th to recognize both student and teacher winners. More information about the contest can be found here.
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The Tribute to the Rescuers Essay Contest is made possible by a generous gift from the Carl Frohm Memorial Foundation.
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Upcoming Third Thursday Lunch and Learn Series | |
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Thursday, June 20 - Co- editors and authors of the book: The Ones Who Remember; Second-Generation Voices of the Holocaust will be our speakers. The Ones Who Remember: Second-Generation Voices of the Holocaust provides a window into the lived experience of sixteen different families grappling with the legacy of genocide. Each author reveals the many ways their parents’ Holocaust traumas and survival seeped into their souls and then affected their subsequent family lives – whether they knew the bulk of their parents’ stories or nothing at all.
Several of the contributors’ children share interpretations of the continuing effects of this legacy with their own poems and creative prose. Despite the diversity of each family's history and journey of discovery, the intimacy of the collective narratives reveals a common arc from suffering to resilience, across the three generations. This Lunch and Learn offers a vision of a shared humanity against the background of inherited trauma that is relatable to anyone who grew up in the shadow of their parents’ pain.
Thursday, July 10 – Sharon Brodkey, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council, (JCRC). The Jewish Community Relations Council is dedicated to working in common cause to enhance cooperation with other religious, racial, ethnic, and civic groups to foster a just, democratic and pluralistic society as well as promote the security of Israel and Jews everywhere. Guided by Jewish values, the JCRC is a nonpartisan agency that advocates, educates, collaborates, and mobilizes action on issues important to the Jewish Community and the greater community. Ms. Brodkey will speak about the work the JCRC is doing in Nebraska to combat antisemitism.
Thursday, August 15 – Cyd Gotlieb, 3rd Generation Survivor, will share the story of her Holocaust survivor grandparents and her search to learn and gain a deeper understanding of their story even though she was never able to personally meet them.
To RSVP and gain access to the Zoom information for any of these IHE Third Thursday lunch and Learn programs, please reach out to Scott Littky, Executive Director of IHE, at slittky@ihene.org
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Holocaust Education Inservice | |
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Through a partnership initiated by the Harris Center for Judaic Studies at UNL, the Institute for Holocaust Education and Blixt Arts Lab, a unique professional development Inservice will be offered to Nebraska and Iowa educators on June 3, 2024. Joining the partnership is the Nebraska Department of Education, History Nebraska, the Samuel Bak Museum: The Learning Center at UNO, and the College of Saint Mary.
This Inservice will introduce educators to supplementary Holocaust education materials and programming offered in Nebraska through the partners. Resources presented will help educators build their students’ content knowledge, empathy, and critical thinking skills. Educators will become knowledgeable about opportunities that can be easily integrated into their curriculum and address the state’s Holocaust and genocide teaching mandate. Learning about primary sources related to the Holocaust will be a focus of this training. The program is open to all content areas that incorporate Holocaust and genocide education in their curriculum or those who seek to include these topics in their teaching in the future.
For more information about the Holocaust Education Inservice, and to register please visit here.
The Holocaust Education Inservice is sponsored by the partner organizations, a You Can Count on Me Community Club from the Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation and by a generous grant awarded to the UNL Harris Center for Judaic Studies by the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Midwest Region Program, located at Illinois State University. Content created and featured in partnership with the TPS Midwest Region does not indicate an endorsement by the Library of Congress. TPS grants, support the Library’s mission to engage, inspire, and inform Congress and the American people with a universal and enduring source of knowledge and creativity. A second Inservice will host facilitators from the Teaching with Primary Sources Teachers Network and will be held at UNL in the Fall of 2024 (TBD).
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The Institute for Holocaust Education would like to thank their many supporters for assisting us in our mission to teach empathy, understanding, and to act as an upstander when the opportunity arises. IHE is also honored to be a part of the Jewish Federation of Omaha. We thank everyone for their continued support. | |
The Institute for Holocaust Education provides educational resources, workshops, survivor testimony, and integrated arts programming to students, educators, and the public. The IHE also provides support to Holocaust survivors in our community. | |
We are grateful for your generosity and care of Holocaust Education. | | | | |
