Working with NYC Teachers

On January 17, the JFR held a seminar for NYC teachers at the Museum of Tolerance-New York. The theme of this year’s seminar was “Holocaust Diaries” and featured scholars Robert Jan van Pelt and Alexandra Zapruder. Our NYC seminars offer an opportunity for educators from New York and New Jersey to be exposed to outstanding scholarship. Professor van Pelt discussed At the Edge of the Abyss: A Concentration Camp Diary, 1943-1944, which he edited and introduced. During the seminar, he placed the writing of the diarist, David Koker, within the context of Holocaust history and historiography. Alexandra Zapruder discussed excerpts from her book, Salvaged Pages, which focuses on children’s diaries during the Holocaust. Alex offered a number of methods with which to use diaries to connect personal stories to larger historical elements. Each of our scholars emphasized the benefits of using individual histories as a way for students to draw connections and correlations to historical events as a whole. Our attending teachers were thrilled with the pedagogical recommendations and strategies for utilizing diaries in social studies, history, and English classes. Our teachers noted that they are greatly looking forward to the next seminar, and we couldn’t agree more!