THE MEMORIAL GREETS 25 MAGISTRATES AND ARGENTINE OFFICERS FOR TRAINING IN PARIS AND POLAND

In carrying out an agreement made in 2009 between The Mémorial de la Shoah and The Argentine Ministry of Justice, a delegation with 25 judges and the heads of the Secretary of State for Human Rights present, all in charge of judging and investigating the crimes of this military dictatorship, went to the seminar at the Memorial de la Shoah and also to Auschwitz, under the theme of “The Holocaust and genocides of the 20th Century, and what are the lessons they have taught our jurists?”
 The Assistant of State for Human Rights, Mr. Luis Allen, as well as the Director of Legal Affairs of the Ministry of Justice, Ms. Andrea Gualde, attended this seminar.

Argentina spent this historical moment trying to develop in parallel to their judicial processes, methods to teach these political memories and education. 

The Memorial de la Shoah, who works as a consultant to the government, has thereby developed a program in cooperation with Argentina, based on the exchange of expertise about memorial policy and educational programs, all while remaining focused on its domain of expertise, the memory of the Holocaust.

 Argentina's officials in charge of such policy were able to put their own practices in perspective and speak with French and European experts about the concepts and the way international criminal law was constructed following World War II.

 Many other questions were asked about the comparison of genocides and mass crimes, and issues with memorial policies and judicial processes after the Holocaust in France, in Europe, and other areas of the world such as Rwanda were addressed.

THE SHOAH MEMORIAL’S INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS

Since 2008, the Shoah Memorial has initiated international education programs about the Holocaust, and has recently inaugurated a number of these programs designed for teachers from a variety of European countries.

The purpose of these activities is to support similar programs launched by governments and associations in foreign countries, and to make the Shoah Memorial’s expertise available to a larger public outside of France. The training seminars taking place in both France and other participating European countries will vary in duration.

The intensity and themes of the training seminars will coincide with the level of teachers’ previous knowledge and familiarity with the subject matter, in addition to the needs expressed by their colleagues.

TRAINING INITIATIVES FOR SPANISH PROFESSORS IN PARIS

In cooperation with the ‘Casa Sefarad Israel’ in Madrid, and the Spanish Minister of Education, the Shoah Memorial welcomed a group of 25 Spanish secondary school teachers to participate in a training seminar from May 19 – 22, 2009.

A number of these teachers had already received initial training in Spain by the Shoah Memorial, or in Israel in conjunction with the Yad Vashem Holocaust Institute.
This marks the third Spanish seminar organized by the Shoah Memorial since 2008, and the first of its kind that has taken place in Paris.

As of this year, this type of educational training initiative will be systematized and formalized by a convention signed between the Shoah Memorial and the ‘Casa Sefarad’, under the auspices of both the French and Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs.

SHOAH MEMORIAL CO-ORGANIZES UNESCO MEETING OF EXPERTS

On May 28th, 2009, the Shoah Memorial and the UNESCO Forum on Higher Education co-organized a meeting of international experts in order to promote Holocaust educational training initiatives in African countries.

Since the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution to establish a Holocaust Memorial Day in 2005, international organizations have faced an important demand for expertise regarding the Shoah, as well as clear and structured educational material about the Shoah from African governments and teachers.

The purpose of this meeting of international experts, whose conclusions will be published by UNESCO, was to determine a strategy for Africa to analyze which historical lessons from the Holocaust would be pertinent to the crises affecting Africa today.

The majority of chief executives from the Shoah Memorial participated in this meeting; they were joined by experts from the Netherlands, the United States, South Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as representatives from the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and the International Holocaust Task Force.

EDUCATIONAL TRAINING INITIATIVE IN SWEDEN

The exposition entitled ‘The Shoah by Bullets: The Mass Shooting of Jews in Ukraine’, was inaugurated in Stockholm, Sweden, on January 27th 2009 by Eric de Rothschild, President of the Shoah Memorial, and Patrick Desbois. Following the debut of this exhibition, the Shoah Memorial joined in a partnership with the Forum of Living History, as well as the French Embassy in Stockholm, in order to propose a short educational training program for Francophone teachers in Sweden.

The objective of this proposal was to raise awareness of the Shoah among French-speaking teachers with little knowledge of the subject, in particular regarding the different stages of killing of European Jewry.

Experts from the Shoah Memorial traveled to Stockholm in order to conduct conferences, and present specific educational material organized by the Memorial.

Given the success of this initiative, it will, without a doubt, be renewed on a larger-scale in 2010.

CONFERENCE IN TORONTO “REMEMBER THE PAST, LOOK TO THE FUTURE”

As a prelude to Canada’s upcoming membership as part of the ‘Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research,’ the Canadian government organized an important international conference in Toronto on June 1st and 2nd 2009. The main themes of the conference included discussions about the Saint Louis refugees, and the state of Holocaust education in Canada.

France and the United States were the official sponsors of Canada’s formal entry into the Task Force. The Shoah Memorial was invited to participate in the international conference in Toronto in order to share its expertise on the subject of Holocaust education. The Shoah Memorial was represented by: Iannis Roder, coordinator of education initiatives, Tal Brutmann, associate researcher, and Karel Fracapane, head of International Relations.