International Programs
Over 2,000 teachers have completed TOLI training since the programs began in Europe in 2012. These programs are designed to fit within the context of each country’s Holocaust history and contemporary issues of human rights and social justice. National seminars have been conducted in Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain and Ukraine. In most of these countries the seminars are organized on a yearly basis, in partnership with local organizations and institutions. Since 2021 yearly international seminars are organized as well, bringing together teachers from several countries.
Seminar graduates have the opportunity to apply for impact grants to put in practice what they learn by organizing local projects with their students. Over 800 impact grant projects were carried out in Europe. Since 2021, European teachers have been encouraged to engage in collaborative projects with other TOLI teachers from their home country or other European countries. These projects give students from different towns and countries the opportunity to interact and learn about the Holocaust and human rights through a peer learning approach, as well as to expand their horizons and learn about the history of Jewish communities throughout Europe. A booklet with examples of local and international projects will be published in2024, describing TOLI’s interdisciplinary approach to teaching about the Holocaust, human rights, and the methodology for collaborative projects.
TOLI Handbook Learning from the Past, Acting for the Future – An Interdisciplinary Approach to Holocaust, Human Rights and Intercultural Education, inspired by the work with thousands of teachers in over 10 European countries is distributed to seminar participants and it is freely available here.
Please note that while we encourage teachers from all countries to apply for our European seminars, TOLI will be unable to cover travel expenses for those living outside of the country in which the seminar is held. Please contact Oana Nestian-Sandu with questions at onestian@tolinstitute.org.
INTERNATIONAL SEMINARS
Building on the national seminars organized in various European countries, in 2021 TOLI started organizing international conferences, bringing together teachers from 10+ European countries with the aim of creating a platform for learning and for sharing experiences, teaching practices, challenges faced, and ways to overcome them. The International Seminars offer teachers opportunities to gain a broader and more accurate understanding of the Holocaust, to learn about Jewish communities in different countries before and after the war, to challenge nationalistic discourses and teaching practices, as well as to counter Holocaust distortion. The seminars offer teachers a platform to exchange experiences and to work creatively and collaboratively to develop meaningful learning processes for their students, as well as to contribute to the ever increasing European Network of Holocaust and Human Rights Educators.
So far, international seminars have been organized in Poland, Romania and Spain. The 2024 international seminar takes place in Zagreb, Croatia, on April 26-28.
UPCOMING SEMINARS
Greece
The seminars in Greece are developed by TOLI in partnership with the Jewish Museum of Greece and held under the auspices of the Ministry of Education in Greece. The seminars aim to contribute to increasing the quality of education regarding the Holocaust and human rights in Greece and provide educators with the opportunity to consider a range of national and international approaches to these topics.
Participating teachers gain appreciation for innovative, student-centered teaching methods, including extra-curricular activities and partnerships between school and other institutions and organizations.
TOLI’s fifth seminar in Greece will take place April 7-10, 2024. Read more.
Lithuania
The seminars in Lithuania are organized in partnership with the International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania, the Vilna Gaon Museum and the Jewish Community in Lithuania. The program includes a visit to Paneriai Forest Memorial, lectures on national and European Holocaust history, about Jewish culture and traditions, workshops on human rights education, teaching with testimonies and becoming upstanders. A dinner with music and cultural presentations at the Jewish community completes the program.
TOLI’s sixth seminar in Lithuania will take place June 17-21, 2024. Read more.
Poland
The seminars in Poland are organized in partnership with POLIN – The Museum of the History of Polish Jews and Big Picture Association. Starting at POLIN in Warsaw, the seminar continues with a visit to Auschwitz and ends with lectures and workshops in Krakow.
TOLI’s seventh seminar in Poland will take place June 23-27, 2024. Read more.
Bulgaria
Our seminars in Bulgaria, entitled Learning about the Past – Acting for the Future: Teaching about the Holocaust and Social Justice, are organized in cooperation with American University in Bulgaria, Shalom Organization and Central Israelite Religious Council of Bulgaria .
The seminar incorporates a methodology designed to ensure the basic principles of active participation and holistic learning throughout the program. The methodology is learner centered, based on the principles of experiential learning and a human rights-based approach in education. Special consideration is given to ensuring a balanced approach between cognitive and emotional elements and reflection time; balance between the information about the horrors of the Holocaust and information about the life of Jewish people before and after the Holocaust, for a more complex narrative; balance between reflection and action (learning is not enough, acting upon what was learned is the key to social change).
TOLI’s ninth annual seminar in Bulgaria will take place July 14-18, 2024. Read more.
Romania
TOLI’s seminars in Romania are organized in partnership with the Elie Wiesel National Institute for the Study of the Holocaust in Romania and the Intercultural Institute of Timisoara.
The seminar agenda includes lectures and workshops exploring an extensive list of topics, among them antisemitism, Romanian Jewish life, the Holocaust in Northern Transylvania, the Roma genocide, the memory of the Holocaust in the post-Communist era.
Educators also meet Holocaust survivors, attend a Holocaust-related theater performance, and tour local sites relevant for Jewish life and history, including the street where Olga and her family lived.
TOLI’s 13th seminar in Romania will take place July 22-26, 2024. Read more.
Italy
TOLI’s seminars in Italy are organized in partnership with CDEC Foundation. The seminar takes place in a different location every year. So far it was held in Asti, Ferrara, Padua, Lecce and Trieste. High school and middle school teachers from across Italy learn about antisemitism in the past and in the present, visit Holocaust-related sites and sites of Jewish heritage, discuss the causes and effects of today’s hate speech in Italy and leave with an array of methods and tools to work with students.
TOLI’s sixth seminar in Italy will take place August 25-29, 2024. Read more.
Serbia
The seminars in Serbia are organized in partnership with Terraforming. Groups of 30-35 teachers from across the country have the opportunity to deepen their knowledge about the Holocaust, Jewish culture and human rights and work together to find meaningful ways to engage their students with these topics. The seminars address local histories, experiences and narratives, as well as Holocaust remembrance and present day human rights violations and discrimination.
TOLI’s fourth seminar in Serbia will take place August 25-29, 2024. Read more.
Croatia
The seminars in Croatia are organized in partnership with Documenta and the Jewish Community.
The seminars promote TOLI’s interdisciplinary methodology combining Holocaust, human rights and intercultural education and employ a variety of methods, in order to stimulate the engagement of the participating teachers, their reflections and a high level of interaction: presentations, analysis, discussions, reflections, group work, videos, visits to Jasenovac and Ustica memorial sites, as well as survivors’ testimonies.
TOLI’s third seminar in Croatia will take place November 15-19, 2024. Read more.
FUTURE SEMINARS
In 2024, TOLI expands its program to four new countries:
Hungary, July 14-18, in partnership with Zachor Foundation for Social Remembrance
Georgia, July 29-August 2, in partnership with the Education and Research Center, the National Center for Teachers Professional Development
Albania, September 2-6, in partnership with the Albanian History Teachers Association
Slovakia – TBD
With Assistance from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany
Supported by the German Federal Ministry of Finance and the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future
PAST SEMINARS
Austria
In Austria, along with the Bundesrealgymnasium in der Au, TOLI offered two seminars for middle and high school teachers focusing on issues of historical-political education and Holocaust education. These seminars brought together teachers from Austria and the United States to explore each others’ narratives about the history of National Socialism and the Holocaust, to exchange approaches and methods derived from their classrooms, and to discuss current challenges in education in both countries.
Participants were encouraged to work in curriculum groups to create teaching units reflecting current issues of Holocaust education collaboratively and to engage in discussions about the question of transnational normative values.
The seminars were held at the Bundesrealgymnasium in der Au in Innsbruck in 2016 and 2018. Read more.
Portugal
TOLI organized three seminars for teachers in Portugal, in cooperation with Memoshoa, the Portuguese Association for Holocaust Remembrance. Two of the seminars were held in Lisbon and one in Porto. A variety of methods were used in order to stimulate the engagement of participants, their reflections and a high level of interaction: presentations, analysis, discussions, reflections, group work, videos, visits, guest speakers, survivors’ testimonies, etc.
The seminars in Portugal were held in 2018, 2019 and 2020. Read more.
Spain
TOLI’s first seminar in Spain took place in Valencia between July 3-6, 2023.
The seminar, organized in partnership with the European Institute of Education for Democratic Culture, brought together 30 teachers from across the country to learn about the Holocaust, the Jewish heritage in Spain and about present day antisemitism, anti-Roma racism and other forms of hatred and discrimination.
Teachers learned from renowned lecturers and discussed pedagogical aspects of teaching the Holocaust, as well as ways to engage in international partnerships to address the Holocaust and human rights. Read more.
Ukraine
TOLI seminars in Ukraine are organized in partnership with Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies. The seminars contribute to increasing the quality of education regarding the Holocaust and human rights in Ukraine. Since the start of the war, the seminars for Ukrainian teachers have been organized online. Read more.
Our Journey to Poland and Israel
In the spring of 2012, the Board of TOLI took the TOLI directors and 18 teachers on a journey to Poland and Israel. They were accompanied by a survivor and an Israeli historian. Listen to their thoughts as they move through this landscape of shadows and light.
Seminar in Bulgaria
Watch a video featuring highlights from TOLI's seminar in Bulgaria.