Holocaust Museum Houston

EDUCATION

Dr. Mary Lee Webeck, Director of Education

WARRENFELLOWSHIPENTERS11THYEAR

With more than 300 alumni, The Warren Fellowship for Future Teachers is a week-long program that introduces university students preparing for a career in teaching to the history and to the lessons of theHolocaust and other genocides. This year’sFellowship isscheduled forMay19 throughMay23. Yearly, up to 25 pre-service teacher educators and up to two faculty fellows are selected by a faculty and Museum panel and are designated as Warren Fellows. Participants attend a six-day, expense-paid institute designed to immerse the Fellows in historical and pedagogical issues related to the Holocaust. Eminent Holocaust and genocide scholars provide historical and academic content and university faculty and Museum staff provide pedagogical context. The Fellows enjoy the opportunity to get to know survivors from the Houston community, and as they begin their teachingcareers. Formore information, visitwww.hmh.org. The Max M. Kaplan Summer Institute for Educators at Holocaust Museum Houston is a four-day program that moves beyond the general history of the Holocaust to explore the various dimensions and implications of the Holocaust and other genocides. The institute, scheduled for July 29 through Aug. 1, provides substantivecontent and theopportunity tonetworkwith internationally known scholars of the Holocaust and genocide and teachers from around the world. Working in the Museum’s exhibit spaces and classrooms, teachers grow in their understanding of the Holocaust and refine their skills to teach about the history and lessons of the Holocaust and other genocides. he schedule includes one or two evening lectures. For more information about the Max. M. Kaplan Summer Institute and an application, visit www.hmh.org. Do you need to be able to discuss bullying and social cruelty with young people in your programs? You can help people understand moreabouthow to respondpositivelywhenconfrontedwithmeanness in this half-day workshop focusing on the Museum’s anti-bullying curriculum, “All Behaviors Count.” Scheduled for Monday, May 12, 2014, this programwill show community leaders and others how to implement theMuseum’s freeprogram that examines thefive formsof social cruelty: taunting, rumoring, exclusion, ganging up andbullying. To register or formore information, visit www.hmh.org. INACOMMUNITY, “ALLBEHAVIORSCOUNT” KAPLAN INSTITUTEBEGINS JULY29

Learning andUsingYour Voice My hero and role model, Holocaust survivor NaomiWarren says, “... big changes, the kind that transformhowhumanbeings handlebeinghuman, start with small changes.” I’ve been thinking a lot lately, as I have had a chance to study and to visit other Holocaust museums, about what makes learning experiencesmost meaningful. Scholars and leaders are now suggesting new insights that shapeunderstandingof theHolocaust and humanbehavior. I have considered new ideas, asking if and why those ideas should become a part of my practice. Which, if any, will be most productive andmeaningful? After attending the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous Advanced Seminar, I came away with deeper understandingof thecomplex relationships and motivations that formed between the Nazis and organized religion and was encouraged to consider how the economy of plunder affected the experiences of individuals differently inEastern and Western Europe during the years of the Holocaust. Lastly, historian Peter Black suggested different terms for descriptions that have been used for years in Holocaust studies. As Black discussed nomenclature of the Nazi camp system and our long-term use of the term “death camp” he stated, “EveryNazi settingwas ultimately about death, hence, “killing center” is a more accurate description than ‘death camp’ for the places where humansweremurdered.” Death is a natural process, killing is not. While at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, I visited the exhibit “Some Were Neighbors: Collaboration and Complicity During the Holocaust.” This powerful exhibition draws attention to the fact that millions of ordinary people witnessed the crimes of the Holocaust. It stimulates us to think “whatmotives andpressures led so many individuals to abandon their fellow human beings?Why did others make the choice to help?” It remindsus thatwecanuseour voices toprovide support for others. I hope you will choose to use your voice as an upstander to share themission of ourMuseum.

9 / Spring2014 / www.hmh.org