The Olga Lengyel Institute for Holocaust Studies and Human Rights (TOLI) Empowering teachers to engage today’s students in Holocaust and human rights education.
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Best Practices in Holocaust Education
TOLI is recognized for its transformative professional development programs in Holocaust studies and human rights education, offering in-person seminars at no charge to educators. Participants learn how to teach the complex subject of the Holocaust through inquiry and writing and become a part of TOLI’s international network of Holocaust educators.
TOLI Holds Inaugural Seminar in Mexico
With the goal of strengthening Holocaust education and the fight against antisemitism in Mexico, TOLI, in collaboration with the Museum of Memory and Tolerance and the Central Committee of the Jewish Community of Mexico, held its first seminar for teachers in the country.
Over the course of five days, 36 teachers from different regions of Mexico participated in an intensive training program that combined the historical study of the Holocaust with innovative pedagogical tools to address antisemitism, Holocaust distortion, and human rights in the classroom. The seminar included lectures by national and international specialists, history of the Mexican Jewish community, as well as guided visits to the Museum of Memory and Tolerance and the Bet-El synagogue.
The Mexico seminar received widespread media coverage in Mexico and throughout Latin America.
Why I Became a TOLI Teacher
It was always a dream to bring Holocaust studies, the TOLI way, into Latin America. I have no doubt that thousands of students will be impacted in Mexico by the work TOLI has started in Mexico. After Oct. 7, the world has witnessed an unprecedented rise in antisemitism. The TOLI seminar serves as a bridge to bring teachers and the Jewish community together here in Mexico City, and to create a more just and peaceful world.
Irvin Moreno-Rodriguez
Leadership Institute Participant and Mexico Seminar Leader
Galloway, New Jersey
TOLI in Action
Teachers Throughout Europe Welcome Holocaust Education
Our International Seminars have been taking place across Europe. Coming this Fall, we will be holding seminars in Italy, Ukraine, and Moldova. Read More.
US Summer Seminars Conclude in Virginia and Minnesota
Our 2025 summer programs concluded in August with Virginia and Minnesota rounding out a successful summer seminar season of programs in Louisiana, New Mexico, Michigan, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Long Island, and New York City . A seminar in Spokane, Washington will take place in November. Read More.
Transnational Seminar Took Place in Dachau, Germany
30 dedicated educators from 13 European countries came together for this year’s transnational European Leadership Seminar, “Teaching the Holocaust and Human Rights at Historical Sites,” which took place at Dachau in Germany on May 22-26. Read More.
TOLI Catholic Educators Seminar Featured in National Catholic Reporter
TOLI’s seminar for Catholic School teachers was featured in this National Catholic Reporter article, titled “Holocaust survivor’s NYC home becomes place of transformation for Catholic teachers.” Read More.
A Glimpse of TOLI Around the World
Click here to view additional photos from around the US, Mexico, and Europe!
Welcoming New Board Members to TOLI
This year, we welcomed two new influential members to our Board of Directors.
Alex Bruner
Alex Bruner is an expert in Jewish History, Israel, and the Middle East. He is a child of Holocaust survivors from Yugoslavia who remained in Europe after World War II. Alex lectures on various topics relating to Israel, the Middle East, and antisemitism. Previously, he served as the North American director for an agency that assisted early-stage Israeli companies. Alex was also instrumental in publishing the English version of his uncle’s memoir, “Cold Crematorium” (National Jewish Book Award finalist and one of New York Times Book Review’s “10 Best Books of 2024”), originally written in Hungarian in 1950.
Kathrin Meyer
Kathrin Meyer served as the Secretary General of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) for seventeen years. During her tenure, IHRA grew to thirty-five members and seven observer countries, and is now the world’s leading inter-governmental organization in Holocaust education, remembrance, research, and fighting antisemitism. As a result of her leadership, governments now recognize antisemitism and Holocaust distortion as security issues — influencing how these concerns are understood in policy and in practice.
Recorded Programs
TOLI presents live and virtual programs, featuring scholars, writers, journalists, and other professionals on topics relating to our mission of Holocaust education, human rights education, countering antisemitism and racism, and strengthening democracy and pluralism. They’re free and open to the public. View all Recorded Programs here.
Impact Grants put TOLI seminar graduates’ new learning into action by funding innovative projects with their students Impact Grants
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Holocaust-themed artworks submitted by students across the globe 2025 Art Exhibition
View Art Exhibition
Your Donation Makes A Difference
Donations to TOLI allow teachers to attend our seminars at no cost and provide them with impact grants to support their classroom projects. To date, these grants have reached over 47,000 students, with nearly 10,000 in eight countries last year.
Grants support research, field trips, and multimedia projects that help students learn about the Holocaust and human rights.
In Memoriam
In Memory of Assia Raberman, Holocaust Survivor and Beloved TOLI Mentor
Assia Raberman – who lost almost her entire family in the Holocaust, survived as a “hidden child” in Poland and, in recent years, was a beloved speaker and mentor at TOLI seminars – died in March in Haifa, Israel. She was 96 years old.
“Assia was an inspirational figure, not only for my family, but for the many teachers she touched in the TOLI network,” said Mark Berez, President of TOLI and Assia’s nephew. “She believed in the power of education, to never forget but not to lose hope.”
Remembering Toshimi
We are so saddened by the sudden and tragic loss of Holocaust educator, Toshimi Abe-Janiga of Palm Beach, Florida.
It was an honor to have Toshimi participate at TOLI’s first seminar in Vilnius, Lithuania, in Oct. 2019, where she spoke about the life and legacy of Japanese diplomat, Chiune Sugihara, who saved thousands of Jews from the Holocaust by providing them with transit visas. Toshimi created the Holocaust Legacy Project to teach the lessons of Sugihara’s courageous actions to students in the US, Japan, and Lithuania.
Like Sugihara, Toshimi was an inspiration to people she touched – students, teachers, parents, and so many in the TOLI network. May her memory be blessed.