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Educators Gather in Albuquerque for Holocaust Education Program as Hate Crimes Surge, July 19-23

On July 19-23, educators from across New Mexico will gather in Albuquerque to participate in a week-long seminar focused on teaching the Holocaust, the danger of intolerance, and the impact on the diverse peoples of New Mexico. 

The seminar takes place as hate-fueled extremism and attacks on minorities have reached alarming levels in the US. 

Teaching the Holocaust for Social Justice: The New Mexico Summer Satellite for Educators focuses on meaningful ways to teach the Holocaust and other events that reflect intolerance and persecution. Toward the end of the seminar, the focus will turn to the diverse peoples of New Mexico, and teachers will explore ways to build a curriculum that incorporates major historical themes; develops student agency; ensures divergence within a cultural script; empowers students to take pride in their identity; and advances student critical thinking when considering historic context to mend, heal, and transform.

Sponsored annually by The Olga Lengyel Institute for Holocaust Studies and Human Rights, the program enables teachers to present the Holocaust as a watershed event in history, to examine its causes and consequences, and apply its lessons to today’s world and issues of local concern.

The program will include a focus on the Echoes and Reflections curriculum, lessons from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust survivor testimony, and visits to Temple Albert, a local synagogue, and to the New Mexico Holocaust Museum. The seminar is led by educators Leslie Lawner, Susan Quintana, Barbara Lazar, and Michelle Thompson-Loyd.