Intensity and Integrity: The 2016
Max M. Kaplan Summer Institute
WWW.HMH.ORGWINTER 2016 5
NEWS
Holocaust 101 with Dr. Mary Johnson, Facing History and Ourselves.
The Max M. Kaplan Summer Institute was a success in 2016,
including our second “Holocaust Education 101” session on the
first day of the week. The intent of this additional programming,
extending the typical four-day institute, is to introduce those new
to Holocaust education to the framework for teaching the subject.
Forty educators participated this year, including three teachers from
Romania. The Gerald S. Kaplan Endowment Lecture was presented
by Professor Lawrence R. Douglas, James J. Grosfeld Professor
of Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought at Amherst College. He
spoke about justice as it is understood after the Holocaust. The
following reflections from participants illuminate their experiences:
For returning participants, what led you to attend the
program this year?
There are always amazing speakers who challenge me intellectually;
I also appreciate the resources, connections, and networking
opportunities provided.
For new participants, what motivated you to apply to this
program?
Being a family with other educators. I heard this would happen, and
it did.
The moving and transformative experience I was provided during
the Warren Fellowship. I am glad to have attended this amazing
program.
How did the Max M. Kaplan Summer Institute affect your
thinking?
How did it not? I found myself continually circling back to stories,
people, cultures and experiences that are different than me.
This was the closest experience I have had to graduate school.
Learning is addictive and this is high quality. I am encouraged to
spend more time on context and theory before introducing specific
facts.
Thank you for this opportunity. I am a better person and educator
because of it. I have learned a host of new ways to explain and
explore the Holocaust, genocide and current conflicts. This was an
amazing week.
I’m even more focused on teaching the importance of the individual
to history. Thank you for making me a better teacher.
This was an intellectually and pedagogically enriching experience.
My knowledge has deepened. It is always a moving, inspiring, and
motivating learning experience. I will be back next year!
This being my first Summer Institute, I was welcomed with open
arms and directions.
HMH always presents the best seminars! They are very thoughtful
and welcoming; the heart beat of this fine institution. Thanks to all
involved in planning, teaching and funding.
The Education Depart and HMH thank our loyal donors: the
Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany; the
Max M. Kaplan Teacher Education Endowment Fund; the Gerald
S. Kaplan Endowment Fund; and the Anna & Emil Steinberger
Scholarship for Teacher Education Endowment Fund.
Curatorial
Department
From interactive learning to preservation of oral history artifacts and
extending the Museum’s reach across the world, the HMH Curatorial
Department achieved several milestones in 2016.
The digitization of HMH’s Oral Testimonies at the Shoah Foundation
reached a major goal in 2016 with the completion of the digitization
of the tapes in the collection. We are now undergoing the next phase
– indexing. To date, 225 digital video files have been indexed. We
anticipate completion of indexing by the end of 2016. We expect our
testimonies to be “live” on Shoah’s Visual History Archive (VHA) by
February, 2017!
Several items from HMH’s
Permanent Collection will be
on exhibit at the Bullock Texas
State History Museum in Austin.
The Bullock Museum is hosting
the United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum’s traveling
exhibition, “State of Deception:
The Power of Nazi Propaganda”
through January 9, 2017.
Museum officials approached
HMH requesting materials that
could enhance the Bullock’s
interpretation of the exhibition.
Our contributions will challenge
visitors to actively question,
analyze and explore the long-
term effects of propaganda.
The Destroyed Communities
interactive learning center reached
a milestone on September 23, 2016.
The database now offers access
to 40 communities, 101 survivors
and more than 460 photographs.
Utilizing the touchscreen on
display in the Boniuk Library, visitors may now learn about the history
of each community displayed on the HMH Memorial Slope, view
photos of life before the Holocaust, and read Survivor stories.
Members and guests will recall HMH’s medical ethics exhibition
“How Healing Becomes Killing” on display in the Mincberg Gallery
in 2007. We are excited to announce that a portion of the exhibition
will be on permanent display at The Central Museum of Medicine of
Ukraine in Kiev. The project could not have been realized without
the contribution of Dr. Sheldon Rubenfeld, founder of the Center for
Medicine after The Holocaust (CMATH) in Houston. Please contact
Carol Manley, HMH Curator for more information.
Max M. Kaplan Summer Institute, Group 2016.
Excited conversation,
Chaz Z.
Elie Wiesel reading, Day 1.
At work.
Rosine Chappell with Romanian educators.
Alexandra Zapruder.
From the Permanent
Collection of Holocaust
Museum Houston; 2011.3.28,
“If International Finance Jewry
should succeed once more in
plunging the peoples into a
world war, the result will not be
the victory of Jewry, but rather
the destruction of the Jewish
race in Europe. Adolf Hitler.”