Established in 1993, Yad Vashem’s International School for Holocaust Studies focuses upon – and excels at – providing quality Holocaust education to diverse audiences from Israel and across the world. In order to achieve this, the International School trains educators to teach the Holocaust, develops pedagogic and didactic tools to be utilized by teachers, and conducts educational workshops for youth and soldiers from Israel and abroad. The International School has developed a unique educational philosophy, which is multi-disciplinary and bases itself on teaching the Holocaust in an age-appropriate manner. Educators are trained to bring their students safely in and safely out of the learning environment, and students are provided age and level appropriate materials to aid in the learning process.
Today, the International School is the largest department in Yad Vashem, employing some 300 people and providing Holocaust education to hundreds of thousands of educators, students, clergy, journalists, and policy makers annually from Israel and the world over. Working with over 60 countries, the International School has fine-tuned the leading international model of outreach in Holocaust Education.
The Overseas Education and Training Department
Since the 1980s, Yad Vashem has been developing models of outreach on Holocaust Education, first within Israeli schools and then, as per the organic increasing demand, slowly and steadily across the globe. Today, together with partners across six continents, the International School is at the forefront of professional development training on the Holocaust in over 20 languages.
The history of the Holocaust, and of the individual people and communities who are part of its narrative, contain universal lessons for people around the world. Understanding this, Yad Vashem's International School for Holocaust Studies prioritizes programming on Holocaust Education training, imparting skills to educators from dozens of countries in their native languages. The Overseas Education and Training Department works with teachers’ organizations, Holocaust memorial centers, and Ministries of Education in partner countries throughout the world in order to enlist quality educators to take part in Holocaust education programs conducted both at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and at different locations across European cities.
Activities of the department include:
- Implementing some 80 training seminars each year, creating dedicated cadres of educators empowered to teach the Holocaust in over 20 languages
- Maintaining multiple graduate networks, enrichment programs
- Online webinars, seminars, conferences and lectures and social media
- International Conferences focusing on Holocaust Education
- Dedicated programming for educators in Jewish frameworks
- Developing educational materials for different international audiences
Creating formal partnerships between Yad Vashem and international Ministries of Education to ensure continuity and development of educational strategies.
Following the unparalleled impact of The Adelson Family Foundation Educational Program on the work of the International School for Holocaust Studies, teaching and learning about the Holocaust across six continents over two decades, in 2022 Yad Vashem decided to establish The Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Educational Leadership Academy in order to cement Yad Vashem’s place as the global leader in Holocaust education, now and in the future.
