Always Remember – Holocaust education workshop

Earlier this month the inaugural Always Remember Institute was held on UNLV’s campus. Three of our project advisers were the leads of this thoughtful and informative event: Dr. Elizabeth Spalding, professor of English Education in UNLV’s College of Education; Myra Berkovits, currently the Education Specialist for Sperling Kronberg Mack Holocaust Resource Center; and Susan Dubin, a librarian and consultant to the Holocaust Resource Center. This illustrious trio and their support team deserve nothing but high praise for the success of the two-and-a-half day event.

Then there were the brilliant guest speakers who instilled inspiration for student reading and writing activities. Speakers included: Alan Rosen, scholar of Holocaust literature who studied under Elie Wiesel and lives in Jerusalem; Karen Shawn of Yeshiva University and editor of PRISM: An Interdisciplinary Journal for Holocaust Educators;  Sonia Levitin, author, educator, dramatist of books for young adults and children; Susan Goldman Rubin, illustrator and author of more than 55 books.

I met as many of the thirty-some educators in attendance as possible to learn about their approaches to the topic. On one day local Holocaust survivors joined the participants for lunch. At that time I spoke about the Jewish Heritage Project and how our future plan to incorporate oral histories and Holocaust education in the coming web portal.

UNLV Libraries’ Special Collections was a co-sponsor and looks forward to an annual gathering that increases the capacity for empathy and ultimately develops meaningful tools for educators who instruct about this history.