At a time of rising extremism, Wisconsin educators are convening through an international human rights and Holocaust education program

On July 10-15, educators from across Wisconsin, Illinois and Texas are gathering for a seminar on teaching the Holocaust and the danger of intolerance. The seminar takes place as hate crimes in Wisconsin have increased dramatically each year, according to the Department of Justice. In the seminar, teachers will learn to create pedagogically sound lessons for Holocaust and Civil Rights education that can be applied to Wisconsin’s social trajectory. Held in Fox Point, the seminar is designed for teachers who seek to deepen their content knowledge and explore best practices in Holocaust education and the civil rights movement in Wisconsin. Participants will hear survivor testimony, learn about antisemitism and Jewish culture, and explore how the civil rights movement impacted Wisconsin’s history.

This seminar will include visits to the Illinois Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee. It is hosted by The Olga Lengyel Institute, TOLI.us, which was established to provide professional development for teachers on Holocaust education and, through that lens, address issues of human rights and social justice.

The seminar is hosted by Scott Lone, a US Holocaust Memorial Museum Fellow who taught high school social studies for 25 years and spent the last 23 years at West Bend High School. Lone has traveled to Austria, Germany, Poland and Israel as a student of the Holocaust. It is also hosted by Amber Tilley, who has taught ELA for 25 years, the majority of which have been at Northland Pines High School in Eagle River, Wisconsin. Her study of the Holocaust has taken her to Europe to visit Holocaust sites and to Israel to study at Yad Vashem.

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For further information contact:

Amber Tilley and Scott Lone: toliwisconsin@gmail.com

Stephanie Stark: sgstark@tolinstitute.org

The Olga Lengyel Institute was established to educate teachers in the United States, Europe, and other parts of the world about human rights and social justice through the lens of the Holocaust and other genocides so that such atrocities may never again take place.