"In times of growing Holocaust distortion, antisemitism and general uncertainty in the world, Yad Vashem’s commitment to the moral and ethical values necessary to maintaining a civil society has never been more critical." Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson
Holocaust education around the world has been transformed over the last two decades thanks to the Adelson Family Foundation Educational Program, which has directly influenced millions of learners by professionally training students, teachers, principals, government officials, policymakers, journalists, clergy, artists, military leaders and a myriad of interested parties. Tens of thousands of Yad Vashem graduates from six continents have become "multipliers," placing learning and teaching about the Holocaust at the center of their respective educational agendas. The program has enabled close collaborative relationships to be created with ministries of education, state institutions and municipal legislatures, universities and education authorities, historical sites and civil society organizations.
Despite this incredible achievement, today Yad Vashem graduates navigate an educational system wherein surveys indicate serious deficiencies of the basic awareness and knowledge of the Holocaust among individuals and groups around the globe; and when antisemitism as well as Holocaust distortion and trivialization have gained shocking traction in the public sphere in both the physical and digital realms. As humanity recedes further from the events of the Shoah and its survivor witnesses sadly dwindle, there is a clear and urgent need for intensive Holocaust education and remembrance activities worldwide. Moreover, indications highlight the positive effects of meaningful Holocaust education on individuals in today's fractured world.
In light of all of these facts, on 5 January 2022 Yad Vashem inaugurated the new Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Educational Leadership Academy on the Mount of Remembrance in Jerusalem, in the presence of Dr. Miriam Adelson, former Chairman of the Jewish Agency Natan Sharansky, Yad Vashem Chairman Dani Dayan, Holocaust survivors and other esteemed guests.
Patrons of the Mount of Remembrance, Dr. Miriam Adelson and her beloved late husband Sheldon G. Adelson z"l are shining examples of true dedication to Holocaust education for the sake of a better future. Two years ago, on the occasion of the Fifth World Holocaust Forum, Sheldon Adelson remarked: "My wife Miriam and I, a Sabra and a Diaspora Jew, are completely united in our commitment to supporting this Yad Vashem… at some point, the Holocaust will no longer be a living memory. Its stories of horror and heroism will be relegated to books, files and video testimonials. Miriam and I trust Yad Vashem to find ways to preserve Holocaust education as a priority… we feel a measure of satisfaction that some justice is being done."
The Adelson Academy will spearhead efforts to enhance effective, accurate and meaningful global Holocaust education programs. Given the continuing relevance of the Holocaust to current societal divides, the Academy will further concentrate on creating more in-depth initiatives, in the classroom, lecture halls and online sphere. It will also reach out to official visitors to the Mount of Remembrance, in order to foster new international partnerships and cooperative agreements.
"The Yad Vashem seminar made me question my role as an educator, the challenges and limitations of our curriculum, and above all, the whole meaning and purpose of education." Suman Kumar, India
Two years of working under unprecedented conditions due to the COVID-19 pandemic has provided Yad Vashem with an unprecedented opportunity to delve into how best to empower its graduates based around the world who are seeking mentorship and direction. During the pandemic, staff at the International School for Holocaust Studies heard from hundreds of them regularly, all keen to organize programming, online and in-person, to amplify their activism and reach on Holocaust education. The Adelson Academy seeks to provide a platform for this, too.
"Due to the seminar for Chinese Educators, very generously supported by the Adelson Family Foundation, a whole generation of students from China, Macau, Malaysia and other places in East Asia are becoming familiar with the Holocaust." Glenn Timmermans, Macau
The Academy will focus much of its activities and programs, both at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and online, on widening the scope of Yad Vashem seminar graduates – "ambassadors" of Holocaust education around the world – and forging closer and more productive networking between the most effective amongst them. Yad Vashem's "ambassadors" are diverse in both scope and range. They include a teacher from India, who following participation in a Yad Vashem seminar, returned home and facilitated agreements between Yad Vashem and the Indian Ministry of Education to ensure comprehensive curricular Holocaust education. A school principal from France who, having participated in a tailored program, sent all her educators to Yad Vashem and completely redesigned the Holocaust education curriculum in the school, invoking the interdisciplinary models of the International School for Holocaust Studies and also encouraging the students to reach out to local survivors. A lecturer from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who, having completed one of Yad Vashem's online courses, reached out to Yad Vashem to arrange a series of Holocaust Education seminars at his university.
"My visit to Yad Vashem extended my network, my ideas. It changed the way I interact with the topic." Tali Nates, South Africa
There are thousands of such stories, testament to the proven models of Adelson Educational Program activities and the desire of Yad Vashem graduates to continue to impact their communities with what they have learned, in order to reach not only the youth of today, but also the next generations.
"For me, Yad Vashem has always represented connection – a connection with the half of my family who perished in the Holocaust, and a place where I can find answers for the pieces missing in the narrative puzzle that I heard over the years," said Dr. Miriam Adleson at the opening event. "Sheldon and I saw manifold value to the International School for Holocaust Studies. This School teaches foreign educators about the Holocaust, so that they might teach it in turn when they return home."
"At a time of spiraling antisemitism globally, these teachers are equipped to spot and call out this unique evil before it spreads. Their training helps makes the Jewish catastrophe a firm fact in the international consciousness, a fact beyond denial – in the hope that the world which turned a blind eye during WWII will not do so again, and will ensure that such events never recur."
This article originally appeared in the "Yad Vashem Jerusalem Magazine," volume 97.
