Holocaust and Human Rights Education through Oral History (STAND UP)
Educational Program for Teachers & Educators

Background

As we approach the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, the lessons of that era remain as important as ever. In a time marked by rising intolerance and historical distortion, education plays a critical role in preserving the memory of the Holocaust and fostering democratic values. The “STAND UP” project invites educators to engage with authentic testimonies and bring these powerful stories into their classrooms. “STAND UP” is the result of cooperation between Croatian Education and Development Network for the Evolution of Communication – HERMES (Croatia), CENTROPA (Germany), GENESIS (Bosnia-Herzegovina), Holocaust Center Šabac (Serbia), National Museum of Contemporary History (Slovenia), Subjective Values Foundation (Hungary) and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), realized through the generous support of the European Union’s Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) programme.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive is one of the largest and most diverse collections of Holocaust testimonies in the world. The collection contains testimonies from liberators, collaborators, witnesses, and rescuers. The documented oral testimonies of Holocaust survivors from Central and Eastern Europe are currently not widely used in the current teaching about the Holocaust. Therefore, this project aims to create educational materials centred around the oral testimonies gathered by the USHMM from World War II witnesses and Holocaust survivors from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Serbia and Slovenia.

About the educational program
Over the course of the educational program, the selected professors, teachers, educators from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Serbia and Slovenia will get familiarised with the USHMM Oral History archives. They will select the individual testimonies and/or topics from the Oral History archive, around which they will then develop classroom-based activities and lesson plans. In the end, the participants will be expected to organise educational activities, using the newly developed content based on the testimonies from the USHMM Oral Archives.

Invitation
We hereby invite history teachers, educators, and non-formal education specialists in historical and/or human rights education, as well as interested teachers from other disciplines (civic education, sociology, psychology, literature, etc.) to apply for this educational programme which will last from late May 2025 until spring 2026, which consists of the following three distinct phases:

1. Attending a 2-hour-long online seminar, on either May 27 or May 28, 2025, between 17:00 – 19:00 CET

2. Attending one in-person training seminar (arrivals on Friday morning, departures on Sunday afternoon) which will take place in 4 countries – Germany, Hungary, Serbia and Slovenia. (September ’25 -January ’26 – you will be able to signal preference for dates/locations)

3. Classroom-based dissemination of the activity plans you will develop during the in-
person training seminars (spring 2026)

Teachers and educators are at the forefront of shaping how future generations understand and act upon the lessons of the past. By participating in “STAND UP,” you will help ensure that the voices of World War II remembrance continue to educate, inspire, and stand as a warning against hatred and indifference.

How to apply
Fill out this application form (deadline: May 20, 2025 at 14:00):

Selected participants will be notified by May 21, 2025. All the expenses relating to the participation in the Teacher Seminar will be covered by the organisers, including public transport (up to 150 EUR), meals and accommodation during the in-person seminar. For additional questions that you might have regarding the educational program, feel free to turn to Tvrtko Noa Pater (HERMES), either via email: pater@hermes.hr or by phone +385 91 250 6151.