Featured Teachers

The Olga Lengyel Institute and the Memorial Library are proud to announce that Dr. Sondra Perl, founder and director of the Holocaust Educators Network (HEN), received the Exemplar Award from the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) in 2016. The CCCC is the world’s largest professional organization for researchers and… [continue reading]

“To expect the unexpected shows a thoroughly modern intellect,” wrote Oscar Wilde. Today, Wilde’s words resonate as the mission statement of the Bundesrealgymnasium (BRG) in der Au, the middle school and high school in Innsbruck, Austria where Nadine Ulsess-Schurda incorporates Holocaust education into her teaching of English and German. “I’ve… [continue reading]

Florin Petrescu has been intrigued by history ever since he was child, often visiting ancient places and listening to the older generation share its memories. Later, he decided to become a teacher because it offered him a venue to share these interests and stories with others. He began teaching history… [continue reading]

“I live with the feeling that speaking about the Holocaust has the effect of lighting a candle for the wrongdoings of the past,” says Geanina Turcanu, a history teacher from Slobozia Conachi, a village in Eastern Romania that is home to about 4,500 residents. But in 2014, she decided that… [continue reading]

When he began teaching four years ago, Dragomir Dachev had only a rudimentary grasp of Holocaust history. He had studied it on a basic level in secondary school and then again in university, and had also read about it on his own and watched several films that touched on related… [continue reading]

Sonya Krancheva always knew that she would one day become a teacher. Inspired at a young age by her own history teacher, she envisioned herself in the classroom, not just sharing knowledge, but also mentoring, guiding, and kindling a love of learning in her students. For seventeen years and counting,… [continue reading]

Since Boise’s designation as a refugee hub almost ten years ago, Idaho’s capital has seen its refugee population grow exponentially. The new arrivals struggle to rebuild their lives in America, but for teenage refugees, the challenges of navigating adolescence in an unknown culture can be particularly daunting. “These students need… [continue reading]

Margo Wixsom, an art teacher at Palo Alto High School in California, was a participant in the Memorial Library’s 2011 Summer Seminar. The first art teacher accepted into the program, she brought a refreshing new perspective to the seminar’s collaborative study of the Holocaust. The experience continues to influence her… [continue reading]

Sue Fletcher is a professor at Hocking College, who participated in the 2009 Memorial Library Summer Seminar. Since her introduction to Memorial Library Holocaust Education, Sue has received Mini Grants, has led a successful Satellite Seminar for four years, and has developed her own Holocaust and war memorial research and… [continue reading]

Brenda Johnston, teacher at Browning High School in Montana, participant in the 2009 Memorial Library Summer Seminar, teacher-leader in the Montana Writing Project (MWP), and a leader of the… [continue reading]