Created under W. Va. Code 5-28-1, the West Virginia Commission on Holocaust Education was created to “survey, design, encourage and promote implementation of Holocaust education and awareness programs in West Virginia".
Genocide Awareness Month corresponds with Holocaust Commemoration Day (or Yom HaShoah) marking the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising which this year falls on April 24th. To observe this important event, the Commission is working with our partners at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Echoes and Reflections to offer teaching events and seminars to West Virginia teachers intending to deepen understanding of Holocaust history and help students understand how it affects our world today. Designed specifically for classroom educators, we invite you to participate in these free, credit-bearing E&R courses on Rescue and Rescuers and Holocaust Legacy and Memory. The USHMCC's Belfer Conference, scheduled for June, will provide real-time interactive sessions with experienced educators who offer practical advice on strategies and tools for your classroom.
The Summers County Huddle will be hosting a Yom HaShoah commemoration event on April 24th, at 4:00pm at the Magnolia Room in Hinton, WV. WVCOHE at-large member Laurent Levy, son of the Commission's founder and first chair, will present the keynote address. Light refreshments will be served. Additional information available from Gayle Rancer.
At this free, virtual conference, discover the latest practices in accurate, meaningful teaching about the Holocaust with leading historians and educators. Bring the Museum's collection into your classroom with instructional strategies and resources. These materials highlight survivor testimonies, artifacts, diaries, and historical documents to support instruction across subject areas and inspire all students to think critically about how and why the Holocaust happened.
Registration detail:
Rescue & Rescuers during the Holocaust
Rescue during the Holocaust is an important topic for students to examine as a way to illuminate the rare bright spots amidst the overwhelming darkness of this historical tragedy. Deepen your understanding of what influenced individuals, groups, and societies to act on behalf of Jewish victims of the Holocaust and the “choiceless choices” faced by Jews when deciding to utilize the rare forms of rescue available to them.
Completers will earn 4 professional development credits.
Course Dates: April 7-20
How We Remember: The Legacy of the Holocaust Today
How did the world respond when the reality of the Holocaust came to light? Examine the pursuit of justice at Nuremberg, the effect the trials had on how we understand the Holocaust, how survivors coped with the trauma to build new lives in the aftermath, and how we remember and memorialize the Holocaust today.
This course will also run over this year's Yom HaShoah (April 23-24), which is an excellent opportunity to reflect on this important commemoration.
Completers will earn 4 professional development credits.
Course Dates: April 14-27
The West Virginia Commission on Holocaust Education strenuously opposes House Joint Resolution 31. Specifically, HJR 31 introduces an amendment to the West Virginia Constitution that seeks to establish the Christian Bible as the official “divinely inspired, inerrant foundational document for our society and government,” an “accurate historical record of human and natural history,” and “the utmost authority for human moral behavior.”
The Commission, founded in 1998, includes as one of its core legislative mandates, the recognition that:
“…education can ensure that citizens are knowledgeable about the events leading up to the Holocaust and about the organizations and facilities that were created and used purposefully for the systematic destruction of human beings and that the lessons of holistic trust and respect for peoples of various cultures are important for the citizens of West Virginia as they enter the global marketplace and economy…” (WV Code 5-28-1) HJR 31 represents precisely the kind of theocratic “organizations and facilities” that serve only to marginalize and segregate a segment of the population.
To be sure, this legislation is more than symbolic – it threatens the intrusion of government into religion. This directly undermines Sec. 15 of the WV Bill of Rights, titled "Religious Freedom Guaranteed," in which a defense of religious freedom was carefully crafted to protect the freedoms of all West Virginians. History is resplendent with examples of the abuses and horrors that result when such theocratic measures are imposed.
Therefore we, the West Virginia Commission on Holocaust Education, strongly urge the sponsoring delegates (Dillon, Coop-Gonzalez, White, Anders, Butler, Mazzochi, Howell, Clark, and Moore) to withdraw HJR 31 immediately.
100 Courtland Ave, Wheeling, WV, 26003 USA