Interactive Comprehensive Tool for Holocaust Education Erasmus Project

Project Title

Interactive Comprehensive Tool for Holocaust Education

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation; ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Pedagogy and didactics

Project Summary

The Holocaust is part of our common European heritage and has significantly affected the history and politics of our continent. The persecution and genocide were perpetuated by the Nazi regime, but it could not have happened without the active involvement, support and indifference of a large number of individuals. In today’s society, human rights, freedom and democracy are again threatened by a wave of extremist, antidemocratic and populist movements and parties, and there is a need for a more informed and engaged citizenry. Before the start of this project, the lead organisation made a need analysis and found a lack of comprehensive and accurate materials on the Holocaust that featured survivor testimonies presented in a historical context.
The objectives of the project were to learn from each other and share best practices in order to develop a transnational pedagogical approach to Holocaust education, using evaluated methods and didactics of all partners in order to provide teachers with a comprehensive, ready to use, accessible and free educational tool in the local languages. The tool should work in different school milieus; have practical and easy-to-use exercises and assessment tools; be user-friendly and utilize digital features. It should reinforce teachers’ expertise about the Holocaust, the Romani genocide and other groups persecuted by the Nazi regime. It should enhance teachers’ knowledge about and ability to use digital materials.

The intellectual output of the project, the digital tool Eternal Echoes, is the result of a collaborative effort between seven partner organisations from Sweden, Poland, Hungary, Austria, Romania and Lithuania. The Swedish Committee Against Antisemitism works to discourage and disseminate knowledge about antisemitism and other forms of racism through education and advocacy, providing information, expert lecturers and teaching resources for use by teachers, students, the media, political organisations and other interested parties. POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw is a modern cultural institution – a narrative museum that presents the 1000-year history of Polish Jews. It is also a place for meetings and conversations to face the perils of today’s world, such as xenophobia and nationalistic prejudices. Institute of Tolerance is an NGO in Poland whose statuary goal to promote tolerance is realized by educational projects, debates, contests and events. The Zachor Foundation for Social Remembrance is an educational NGO in Hungary, whose mission is to draw attention to dangerous phenomena like racism, antisemitism and prejudice through formal and non-formal educational programs, offering teacher training and educational materials for educators. The department of Science Communication and Higher Education Research at Klagenfurt University in Austria focuses on the social constitution of science in the broader German sense of Wissenschaft. Among the central themes is the media-based communication of scientific knowledge. Asociația Memorială Hebraica is an NGO in Romania that promotes education based on knowledge about the historical past. The museum is also a memorial for the victims of the Holocaust. The Vilnius Yiddish Institute is an international research and teaching center based at Vilnius University and dedicated to documentation, preservation and education in the field of East European Jewish languages, literature, culture and history.

The project has resulted in a broader and tightened network of the participating organisations and among the individuals involved in the project. The participants have become much more aware of different national historical narratives, as well as the variety of school curricula, and how this affects the teachers’ ability to teach about the Second World War and the Holocaust. Participants have continuously shared best practices concerning evaluated methods and didactics.
Together we have created a unique transnational educational tool, Eternal Echoes. A digital tool that works in many different school milieus and languages. Each partner has been responsible for creating content, as well as testing and evaluating the material and function together with pedagogues and students.

The tangible result is a ready to use, digital, open, transnational educational resource on the Holocaust in the local languages of all partners: eternalechoes.org. It is a comprehensive educational tool on this aspect of our common European history, human rights and democratic values. Each partner has disseminated the tool through seminars, social media, exhibitions, presentations and news announcements, and the tool has become an integrated part of the partners’ ordinary activities. In addition to the disseminations made in each country, the results were presented to a broader audience at an International Conference at POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 331784,5 Eur

Project Coordinator

Svenska kommittén mot antisemitism & Country: SE

Project Partners

• Vilnius Yiddish Institute
• UNIVERSITAET KLAGENFURT
• MUZEUM HISTORII ZYDOW POLSKICH POLIN
• Instytut Tolerancji
• ASOCIATIA MEMORIALA HEBRAICA
• Zachor Alapítvány a Társadalmi Emlékezetért