Third national seminar "Learning from the past-Acting for the Future"

The third national seminar for teachers from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, titled "Learning from the Past, Acting for the Future," took place in Zagreb from October 31 to November 4, 2024. The seminar began with an opening ceremony attended by Zoran Ferber, Secretary-General of the Jewish Community of Zagreb; Arthur Berger, a board member of the Olga Lengyel Institute; Documenta director Vesna Teršelič; and Oana Nestian-Sandu, Director of International Programs at the Olga Lengyel Institute. This was followed by the opening of the exhibition “Who Did We Forget?” presented by project coordinator Nicole Alt and students from Vukovar Gymnasium.

The seminar participants, mostly primary and secondary school teachers from Croatia, around 20 in total, focused on the main themes of the Holocaust and human rights. The primary goal of the seminar was to improve the quality of teaching about the Holocaust and human rights in Croatia.

Over five working days, the teachers learned about the history of the Holocaust in Europe and Croatia, had the opportunity to listen to the testimony of survivor Darko Fischer, and participated in workshops on pedagogical approaches to teaching this important historical topic from human rights perspective. On the third day of the seminar, participants visited the Jasenovac Memorial Site and the Roma Memorial Center in Uštica. They also gained insights into local Jewish tradition and culture during a visit to the Jewish Community of Zagreb.

The seminar was organized by the Olga Lengyel Institute and Documenta – Center for Dealing with the Past. It was held as part of the project “Confronting Denial and Distortion of the Holocaust through Active Citizenship, Remembrance, and Education,” carried out by a consortium of organizations including Documenta and coordinated by the Intercultural Institute from Timișoara in partnership with the Olga Lengyel Institute for Holocaust Studies and Human Rights (TOLI). The seminar was co-financed by the European Union and TOLI.

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