Blog Archives

Discover the Cultural Traditions of Jews Who Lived in Your Town

The aim of this project was to develop students’ knowledge about the large Jewish community that lived in the town of Balbieriškis before WWII, where all Jews were killed during the Holocaust. Students learned about Jewish traditions and the community’s contribution to the town’s economic and cultural life.

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Public Screening of Who Will Write Our History

On November 17, 2019 The Greenville Jewish Federation held a screening of the documentary film Who Will Write Our History at the Campus of Furman University, McAlister auditorium. Filmwriter and director Roberta Grossman and producer Nancy Spielberg along with Dr. Melinda Menzer were in attendance and offered a Q&A following the screening. This film tells […continue]

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Broken Glass, Broken Lives: Putting the Pieces Back Together

The West Bend High Schools created and hosted an interdisciplinary unit with a concert and art gallery on themes of brokenness and wholeness specifically relating to the Nuremburg Laws, Kristallnacht, and the Rwandan Genocide. Nearly 850 students participated in the event, which was attended by 390 guests. Music performed during the concert focused on The […continue]

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Social Justice Through the Lens of the Holocaust

Pam Bodnar and Gail Desler attended the California League of Schools (CLS) Conference, where they co-presented a 1-hour workshop: Social Justice Through the Lens of the Holocaust. The conference celebrates the best in California education and showcases breakthrough presentations on best practices and programs in the classroom. Pam and Gali’s workshop focused on ways to […continue]

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“This Is Home Now: Kentucky’s Holocaust Survivors Speak,” Photography Exhibit

A dozen years after its first showing, Jacqueline Kohl helped to revive a unique historical Holocaust exhibit for one month at the Giles Galleries on the campus of Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, KY, thanks to a grant from TOLI. The exhibit featured dramatic black and white photos of nine Holocaust survivors, their biography panels, and […continue]

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“Beyond the Holocaust” Reading Series

This project, the second installment of the Holocaust Reading Series, began with the literature of the Holocaust and journeyed through contemporary genocide, continuing dialogues that began in 2011 in the rural community of London, Kentucky. Serving teachers, students, and community members from three counties, the reading series drew a monthly audience that included high school […continue]

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Hear My Story, Be My Voice

After reading Night by Elie Wiesel, Rosie Sansalone’s students put justice into action, taking to heart Wiesel’s message that “every name has a story.” This idea becomes the premise for a class project that gives restorative justice to those who have a story to tell, allowing them to heal their souls. Students gather stories through […continue]

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Understanding the Multigenerational Impact of the Holocaust through Personal Testimony

In the culmination of a month-long unit on the history of the Holocaust and genocide, Andrea Kirkpatrick invited Holocaust survivor Ben Fainer to address 8th graders at her middle school, thanks to a mini-grant she received from the Memorial Library. Students also had the opportunity to hear Vera Emmons, the daughter of survivor Gerda Nothman […continue]

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River Valley Remembers

River Valley Remembers was a month-long, multi-community event in the Fort Smith, AR, River Valley area designed to create Holocaust awareness and to provide educational opportunities for local students and community members. The event was created as a collaborative effort between two school districts, three communities, and three religious institutions. Over the course of the […continue]

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Teaching Tolerance Trunks

Karen Klaich’s foremost project for her Literature of the Holocaust class is the creation of Teaching Tolerance Trunks in observation of the annual Tolerance Week program. The project came out of a realization she had while she was writing grants to expand her classroom resources; her district had approved the class, but she had only […continue]

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Contact

For more information about The Olga Lengyel Institute for Holocaust Studies and Human Rights (TOLI), please contact info@tolinstitute.org

TOLI is located at 58 East 79th Street in Manhattan. (get directions)