2009 Echoes and Reflections Professors’ Study Tour
Agenda
Sunday, January 4, 2009 Arrival in Israel and transportation to the Prima Royale Hotel Monday, January 5, 2009 |
|
08:30-09:00 |
Introduction to the seminar program and the Yad Vashem team Dorit Novak Director, International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem (ISHS) |
09:00-11:00 |
Guided Tour of the New Holocaust History Museum of Yad Vashem—An Educational and Methodological Approach What are the educational concepts and objectives that were imbedded into the new historical museum? How does the architectural design of the museum influence the way that the story is told? How do the chronological and thematic aspects of the museum affect the personalization of the story of the Holocaust? Ephraim Kaye, Yad Vashem |
11:00-11:30 |
Break |
11:30-12:30 |
Debriefing after visiting the New Holocaust History Museum |
12:30-13:30 |
Lunch break in the Yad Vashem cafeteria |
11:00-11:30 |
Break |
11:30-12:30 |
Debriefing after visiting the New Holocaust History Museum |
12:30-13:30 |
Lunch break in the Yad Vashem cafeteria |
13:30-15:00 |
An Introduction to Holocaust Pedagogy Many pedagogical questions arise when addressing the Holocaust. For example, how do we teach and incorporate the stories of the victims, perpetrators, and bystanders? Where do we begin? Who were the perpetrators? What was their ideology and motivation? How was it humanly possible? How do we define the “bystanders”? How do some become indifferent while others become Righteous Among the Nations? How does an interdisciplinary approach in an age-appropriate manner when teaching the Holocaust allow educators and students to gain a broader understanding about this complex subject, while raising a number of universal educational messages as outlined in Echoes and Reflections? Shulamit Imber, Pedagogical Director ISHS |
15:00-15:30 |
Echoes and Reflections – an educational philosophy The ADL, the Shoah Foundation, and Yad Vashem developed this educational program as a collaborative project. It is geared for the US public high school system and has reached over 7000 teachers in the last 3 years. Deborah Batiste, ADL |
15:30-18:00 |
Bus Tour of Jerusalem with Barak Zemer, Yad Ben-Zvi We will introduce the participants to the geographical/political aspects of the city of Jerusalem and will tour Gilo, (an overview of Beit Jalla and Bethlehem), Armon Hanatziv, (an overview of the eastern and southern part of the city with a beautiful view of the Old City), and Mt. Scopus, (with a view of the western and northern parts of the new city and the Old City). |
18:00 |
Return to the hotel and dinner |
Evening |
FREE |
Tuesday, January 6, 2009 |
|
08:30–10:00 |
Jewish Life in Pre-War Europe- The Jews of Poland: 1919-1939 (Zionists, the Orthodox, and the Bund) Who were the Jews of Poland? What were the major issues that the different political parties faced in inter-war Poland? What were the possible solutions that each political party put forward to improve their situation? This presentation, using film excerpts from Image Before My Eyes, will explore these questions in an attempt to understand the Jewish community of Poland during the inter-war period on the eve of their destruction. Ephraim Kaye, Yad Vashem |
10:00-10:30 |
Break |
10:30-12:00 |
The Rise of Modern Antisemitism in Europe – 19th and 20th Centuries Wagner, Chamberlain, Wilhelm Marr, and Gobineau—these are names that gave rise to modern antisemitism in France and Germany. Were social, economic, political, and racial antisemitism a replacement for anti-Judaism in the Middle Ages? What was the Jewish response to modern antisemitism? Prof. Robert Wistrich, Hebrew University of Jerusalem |
12:00-13:00 |
Lunch break in the Yad Vashem cafeteria |
13:00-14:30 |
Reflection on the Phenomenon of Antisemitism in the Modern World (focus on Europe) Topics that will be addressed: Prof. Robert Wistrich, Hebrew University of Jerusalem |
14:30-15:00 |
Break |
15:00-16:00 |
A Visit to the Visual Center The new Visual Center houses all of the relevant entertainment and documentary films and survivor testimony, in a digitized format, from both Yad Vashem and the Shoah Foundation. Over 50 computers provide participants with the opportunity to individually view the films. As part of our visit, we will screen a short film in the viewing room. Ephraim Kaye, Yad Vashem |
16:00-16:30 |
Break |
16:30-17:30 |
Debriefing with the participants—reflections on the topics of the day vis a vis Echoes and Reflections Deborah Batiste and the Yad Vashem staff |
17:30 |
Return to the Hotel |
18:00 |
Dinner at the hotel |
19:15–21:00 |
Optional guided tour of the Israel Museum with Barak Zemer, Yad Ben-Zvi |
Wednesday, January 7, 2009 |
|
08:30-10:00 |
The Dilemmas of Jewish Leadership during the Holocaust—The Judenrate—a Comparison between Eastern and Western Europe Why did the Germans create Jewish councils in both Eastern and Western Europe? What functions did they fulfill for the Germans? How did the Jewish community feel towards these councils? How did the Jewish leadership of these councils respond to the Nazi demands for forced labor/deportations? What were the different responses of the various Judenrate in eastern and western Europe to the Nazi demands? What were the parallels? Dr. Rob Rozett, Yad Vashem |
10:00-10:30 |
Break |
10:30-12:00 |
Jewish Armed Resistance During the Holocaust Jewish youth movements in the ghettos and their involvement in organizing armed resistance in the ghettos. What were their dilemmas? To stay in the ghetto or to join the partisans in the forests? How and when was the decision taken to revolt against the Nazi oppressor? What was the outcome in different ghettos? Examples of Jewish fighting units in the forests. Simcha Stein, Ghetto Fighters’ House |
12:00-13:00 |
Lunch break in the Yad Vashem cafeteria |
13:00-14:30 |
The Decision to Kill the Jews—The Final Solution and Its Implementation Who gave the order to murder the Jews? Was it Hitler? Himmler? Goring or Heydrich? Was it one person or a group of people? Did the order come from “above”—the highest echelon of power—or from “below”—junior officials? When was this order given? The intententionalists and the functionalists—what are their positions? Was it one order or a series of orders over time? What is the importance of the Wannsse Conference in this sequence of events? Who was involved in perpetrating the murders, the SS, the ORPO, and the Wehrmacht? Who collaborated with the Nazis in order to murder their Jewish neighbors—ordinary men vs. ordinary Germans? Ephraim Kaye, Yad Vashem |
14:30-14:45 |
Break |
14:45-16:00 |
Echoes and Reflections The ADL, the Shoah Foundation, and Yad Vashem developed this educational program as a collaborative project. An interdisciplinary unit, it contains 10 lessons that cover various aspects of the history of the Holocaust using survivor testimony, source materials, literature, and art in an effort to combat prejudice and discrimination in society today. Literature in its various forms—fiction, poetry, testimony as a form of literature, and diary excerpts from different lessons in the unit—will be examined. Stephanie McMahon-Kaye, Yad Vashem |
16:15-17:00 |
Challenges in Teaching the Holocaust What are the challenges that face educators today? How is Yad Vashem responding to these challenges? Avner Shalev, Chairman of the Yad Vashem Directorate |
17:15-17:45 |
Debriefing with the participants- reflections on the topics of the day vis a vis Echoes and Reflections and possible participant presentations Deborah Batiste and the Yad Vashem staff |
17:45 |
Return to the Hotel |
18:00 |
Dinner at the Hotel |
19:30-22:00 |
Optional Guided Tour of the Western Wall Tunnels This will be a unique, exciting, and eye-opening guided tour of the entire length of the Western Wall to where it meets the northern wall of the Temple Mount. The tour will take you underground and allow you to see over 3000 years of history in the Old City of Jerusalem. |
Thursday, January 8, 2009 |
|
08:30-10:00 |
The Representation of the Holocaust in Literature What is literature? How does literary response differ from other approaches to the Holocaust? What have been the various kinds of literary responses? How have literary responses to the Holocaust changed from the time of the war to the present day? How do the different languages of this literature shape the response to the Holocaust? Dr. Alan Rosen |
10:00-10:30 |
Break |
10:30-12:00 |
The Holocaust and Art – a Teaching Tool in the Classroom- a visit to the new Holocaust Art museum at Yad Vashem This presentation will introduce the participant to artists who created works of art during and after the Holocaust including Felix Nussbaum, Bedrich Fritta, and Charlotte Salomon. How do we engage our students by using this type of visual media? Orit will focus on works of art that are part of the Echoes and Reflections unit. Orit Margaliot, Yad Vashem |
12:00-13:00 |
Introduction to the Reflection Center in the New Holocaust History Museum Complex of Yad Vashem This new Reflection Center presents 17 major questions asked in the wake of the Holocaust; questions such as: Where was God during the Holocaust? What were the dilemmas facing the Jewish leadership? How did Christians respond to the Holocaust? Are there limitations to the artistic representation of the Holocaust? These and other questions are addressed in interviews with Jewish and non-Jewish scholars from Israel and abroad. Richelle Budd-Caplan, Yad Vashem |
13:00-14:00 |
Lunch break in the Yad Vashem cafeteria |
14:00-15:30 |
The Problems Facing Israel Today What was the hope of the Oslo Accords in 1994 and why have they failed to produce a peace agreement between the PA and Israel? What transpired after Sept. 2000 and how has this affected Israel—both politically and militarily? Where is the Israeli public today? Is there still hope that there can be peace between Israel and the Palestinians? David Horovitz, Editor in Chief of the Jerusalem Post |
15:30-16:00 |
Break |
16:00-17:30 |
Testimony of a Survivor from Auschwitz-Birkenau Ruth Brand |
17:30-18:00 |
Debriefing with the participants- reflections on the topics of the day vis a vis Echoes and Reflections Deborah Batiste and the Yad Vashem staff |
18:00 |
Return to the Hotel |
19:30 |
Farewell dinner at a restaurant in Jerusalem |
Friday, January 9, 2009 |
|
08:30-10:00 |
Current Issues in Holocaust Education and Research: The Unprecedentedness of the Holocaust in an Age of Genocide What are the parameters that make the Holocaust an unprecedented historical event? What are the parallels between the Holocaust and other genocides of the 20th century—Armenia, Cambodia, Rwanda? How can we incorporate the study of genocide into our curricula in order to make the study of the Holocaust more relevant? Prof. Rafi Vago, Tel Aviv University |
10:15-11:15 |
Evaluation of the program- Where do we go from here? |
11:30-14:00 |
Tour of the Christian and Jewish Quarters of the Old City with Barak Zemer, Yad Ben-Zvi This tour will take the participants through the Christian quarter of the Old City—to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, to Mount Zion, and to the traditional site of the Last Supper. Participants will also see the Western Wall (the Kotel) and from there they will walk up to the Jewish Quarter to visit the Cardo and other sites in the Jewish quarter. |
14:30 |
Return to the Hotel |
16:30 |
Friday Night Shabbat Evening Service at the Great Synagogue (optional) We invite all of the participants to take part in an Orthodox Jewish service celebrating the Shabbat. The participants will be provided with selected materials in English so that they can follow the service and enjoy the choir. At the conclusion of the service, we invite you to be our guests at the hotel for a communal Shabbat meal with Yad Vashem staff members. After the meal, there will be an optional discussion about elements of the Torah portion for that week and its connection to current events. |
Saturday, January 10, 2009 |
|
8:30-17:00 |
Free day—Optional Guided Tour of Massada and the Dead Sea with Nadav Kersh This optional guided tour will take the participants to the 2nd Temple fortress of Massada built by King Herod in the Judean Desert in the 1st cent. BCE. The participants will hear the story of the final battle with the Roman Legions as told by Josephus in the years 70-74 CE. After this, there will be time to swim/float in the Dead Sea and enjoy all the medicinal treatments connected with this unique place. For those participants who are staying at the hotel, we will have a communal Shabbat meal at 12:30 |
20:30 |
Leave the Hotel for the airport |
00:05 |
Flight back to NYC |
