The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center (HHREC) of White Plains has been selected by the New York State Education Department to revise and update all curricular resources to teach the Holocaust and other genocides in order to meet the 1994 mandate. Steven A. Goldberg, the HHREC Director of Education, serves as the project manager. The Archives Trust under the leadership of Janet Braga is designing a unique platform to house the project.
HHREC will work with 29 active and retired educators from New York State to research and write materials for elementary, middle, and high school social studies and ELA teachers. One of the guiding principles is the notion of unique people rather than anonymity, reflecting the importance of case studies of individuals as lenses into a better comprehension of the enormity and complexity of these historical events. In addition to chronological segments on the Holocaust, the Resource Guide will also include sections on the Nature of Human Behavior, Literature and Art, The United States and the Holocaust, and “other genocides,” such as Armenia (1915-17), Holodomor (1932-33), Rwanda (1994), and Rohingya (2016). A special template for the analysis of genocides will be included. The guide will contain glossaries of terminology, lessons, activities, primary and secondary source readings, with questions, visual documents (i.e. photographs, maps, political cartoons, graphs, and charts), and hyperlinks to both personal testimonies and films.
“We are very excited to share the news that HHREC has been selected by the New York State Education Department to work on this important initiative.” said Millie Jasper, HHREC Executive Director. “As we have seen a significant rise in antisemitism and a growing number of people questioning the history of the Holocaust and other genocides, it is important now more than ever to educate students about these historic events, and their relevance today in our schools and communities, here in New York State and across the country.”
