Featured Teachers

When news broke in February that a shooting took place at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, we quickly became aware that a 2017 New York TOLI Seminar alumna was in the school during the tragedy. Donna Amelkin, a teacher of 25 years with a Masters degree in Social… [continue reading]

Corey Harbaugh recently served as local co-host of TOLI’s Leadership Conference for Holocaust Educators held in Detroit in October 2017. Corey is accustomed to serving in leadership roles. In the fall of 2016, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder appointed him to the Governor’s Council on Genocide and Holocaust Education, which guides… [continue reading]

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]