Countering Holocaust Distortion in Education (CHDE)
After months of voluntary work and dedication of our partners, we are delighted to officially announce the start of our new project Countering Holocaust Distortion in Education (CHDE). Terezín Initiative Institute (ITI) in partnership with Human Rights Institute (HRI), KiGA, and Centropa is a successful applicant for project support from the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) programme of European Union.
Holocaust denial has largely been relegated to the fringes of extremist groups. However, Holocaust distortion remains rampant and is on the rise. Young people are particularly vulnerable as these harmful narratives spread unchecked on social media platforms. Preventative measures during individuals‘ formative years can significantly reduce their susceptibility to adopting, fostering, and spreading false narratives. The education system offers valuable opportunities to counter distortion and promote remembrance. However, in formal education it depends heavily on the capacity of teachers, especially in lower secondary and secondary schools. Research indicates that many teachers lack the ability to challenge Holocaust distortion effectively. Despite this, there is a high willingness among educators to improve their capacity in this area.
The CHDE project aims to address this gap through online capacity-building measures based on a needs analysis of teachers in Slovakia and Czechia. The consortium members involved in this project have a proven track record in teacher training, combating Holocaust denial and distortion, and promoting Holocaust remembrance. The educational workshops will be collaboratively designed by all partners, with the lead applicant coordinating implementation in Slovakia and Czechia. Impact will be measured through pre and posttest, and the results will be actively disseminated across the EU as part of the project.
29. 5. 2025 the first webinar for teachers, Holocaust Denial and Distortion; Differences and History, took place. Thank you to all the attendees for your attention and thoughtful discussion.
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Our Volunteer Laurenz was in Austria last week to promote the GEDENKDIENST program at his former school, the HAK 1 in Salzburg. Speaking to about 60 people from the 4th grade he talked about his experiences and encouraged the students to also use the opportunity to do a Gap-Year with a positive impact. Besides the remembrance work and the work and history of our institute, Laurenz told the students about the challenges and the many wonderful things that come with moving abroad and starting a new job fresh out of school.
We want to thank the HAK 1 business school in Salzburg for giving Laurenz the opportunity to promote the program and the students for their keen interest.
Thanks to the generous support of various donors, we have been able to add new books to our library collection. Among them is a wide range of specialist literature in German, English and Czech that complements our existing collection.
We would like to present a few highlights to our readers here. The complete list of new additions can be found in the PDF document.
On the occasion of the meeting of the International Auschwitz Museum Council, its members paid tribute to the Jewish and Roma victims of the Treblinka labor camp at the site of their mass graves. Pictured are T. Kraus, Colette Avital and Roman Kwiatkowski.
This Sunday 11th May 2025 we attended a commemorative act in Lety u Písku to honor the Roma and Sinti victims from Bohemia and Moravia. 1300 people passed through the camp. Of those 335, mainly children, have died due to the inhumane conditions. After the mass transport in 1943 to the extermination camp in Auschwitz - Birkenau, the buildings of the Lety camp were torn down and burnt.
Thanks to Spielberg's film Schindler's List, the whole world knows the story of the rescue of 1,200 Jewish prisoners at the end of the Second World War. The whole world knows who Oskar Schindler was and why he became a symbol of good in a time of evil. But that same world has no idea where this heartbreaking story actually took place. That could change now.
Yesterday, together with the participants of the seminar and excursion Bergen-Belsen on the Threshold of Freedom, we attended a reception at the British Embassy in Prague on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp by the British Army on 15 April 1945.
Anne Frank and thousands of others. We visited the place where the fate of one of the world's most famous stories came to an end, as well as that of countless of others. The Bergen-Belsen camp was burned down after the war, but one can still hear echoes of the past. How can we learn about the horrors that have gone to ashes?