Honoring Resilience: Learning from the Holocaust and Dakota Exile
Date: July 24-29, 2023
Location: St. Cloud, Minnesota
Photo: Oheyawahi, a sacred Dakota site, attempts to balance the colonizing narrative with a greater indigenous perspective.
Applications for the 2023 seminar are now open!
Sponsored by The Olga Lengyel Institute (TOLI), Honoring Resilience: Learning from the Holocaust and Dakota Exile explores both what can happen when people are dehumanized by a dominating group and the power of resilience and resistance. In the week-long seminar, educators learn about the treatment of the Jewish people during the Holocaust and of the Dakota people as a result of Federal Indian Policy. Our community of educators will use survivor testimonies, experiential learning, primary source materials, teaching tools, speakers, reflective writing, and discussion to examine antisemitism, anti-Indian sentiment, and negative attitudes and stereotypes that continue to impact American Indians and Jewish people today. We will also examine how both the Dakota and Jewish people have demonstrated resilience as they confront trauma, heal, and move forward with hope. Our two field trips feature site visits to Mt. Zion Temple, St. Paul including Holocaust survivor testimony and participation in a Shabbat service and the Dakota sites of Bdote, Oheyawahe (Pilot Knob), and Hoċokata Ti. Participants will gain confidence and learn best practices for teaching difficult topics. Educators leave with numerous resources and a viable action plan for implementing study of the Holocaust, genocide, the Dakota, and human rights in their classrooms—areas of study included in Minnesota’s revised social studies and English/language arts standards.
Further details:
- Books and materials provided
- Meals: Breakfasts, lunches, and some dinners provided (including a meal from the Sioux Chef!)
- Professional development credit: 63 PD hours at no cost
- Out-of-town participants: Low-cost on-campus housing available
Thank you to the following sponsors and local partners:
- Jewish Community Relations Council, Minnesota & The Dakotas
- Minnesota Writing Project
- Mount Zion Temple, Saint Paul
- St. Cloud State University Multicultural Resource Center
Leaders
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Kathy Robinson
Kathy has been an educator at both St Cloud Technical and Community College and St Cloud State University since 2012. She teaches Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Sociology and classes in the Human Relations and Multicultural Departments. In recognition of her excellence, Kathy was awarded the Outstanding Impact Award at St. Cloud Technical and Community College in 2022. Kathy received her Master’s Degree in Social Responsibility from St Cloud State University. Before becoming an educator, she worked with homeless teens in Minneapolis and juvenile felons in a corrections/treatment facility. Kathy attended TOLI’s Minnesota Regional Seminar in 2017, the 2018 TOLI Summer Seminar in New York City, and TOLI’s Leadership Institute in 2019.
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Anne McCarney
Anne McCarney has over 15 years of experience as a high school teacher. Anne began teaching through the PLACE Corps teacher service program in Los Angeles where she taught at Verbum Dei, a Cristo Rey Network school, and earned her Masters in Secondary Education at Loyola Marymount University. She then taught English for grades 10-12 in Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and St. Cloud with a focus on social justice issues and educational equity. To support her work as a Holocaust and social justice educator, Anne completed the TOLI Summer Seminar in 2018 and TOLI leadership institute in 2019 as well as the Bearing Witness teacher education programs in Washington DC in 2014 and Israel in 2016. Anne is currently a Learning Specialist with the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe’s Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures.