‘Never Again’ Starts With Education

Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah). The Holocaust is not just a singular event of the past; every generation must make the commitment to “never again,” and that begins with education. A truly meaningful commitment to learning from and preventing atrocities like the Holocaust requires us to come together in the urgency of now—in combating censorship about our country’s history, in teaching about racism and the systems of anti-Black oppression, and in countering the patterns of hate in our nation and world today.

This new article from Learning for Justice seeks to honor the legacy of the Holocaust by questioning why so many U.S. public schools mandate Holocaust education while simultaneously banning or censoring other “hard histories” from the classroom. “Teaching the Holocaust in schools as a singular event without understanding the context nor acknowledging the United States’ role and influence falsely removes the Shoah from a larger narrative of the intersection of racism, nativism, policy and society.”

Read more here.

‘One Survivor Remembers’

“I was the only one from my family who survived. The only one of my dearest friends.” Those are the first words we hear from Gerda Weissman in One Survivor Remembers, a documentary that recounts Weissman’s experience as a teenager in Poland during the Holocaust. Stream this Oscar-winning film for free on LFJ’s website, along with accompanying resources for educators.

Watch here.

‘Hope, Despair and Memory’

When the writer Elie Wiesel was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on December 11, 1986, he gave this sobering address to mark the occasion. “Of course we could try to forget the past. Why not? Is it not natural for a human being to repress what causes him pain, what causes him shame? Like the body, memory protects its wounds.” (The full text of Wiesel’s remarks is available on LFJ’s website.)

Read more here.

Webinar: ‘Against Hate: Media Literacy and Other Tools for Combating Extremism’

On April 25 at 3:30 p.m. CDT, join LFJ, the SPLC’s Intelligence Project and Retro Report for this webinar on responding to hate and antisemitism and developing media literacy in students. You'll become familiar with best practices for creating brave and safe classroom spaces. Learn more and register here.

Professional Learning Workshops: Just Four Spring Workshops Left!

LFJ offers virtual open-enrollment professional learning workshops for current K-12 classroom teachers, administrators and counselors, and for anyone who coaches classroom teachers and administrators. Spring workshops are now open. Check out our list of available workshops and register today!