The Charlotte Jewish News- October 2026- Page 28
Ambassadors of Memory: How the Greenspon Center Is Preparing Educators to Carry History Forward
By Mary Eshet
“ Being in the places that I have read about and seen in documentaries was truly life-changing, not only as an educator but as a human being. How do you reconcile what you know with what you feel when confronted with the physical spaces where such immense suffering occurred?”
Those are the words of Kristie M., an educator at North Stanly High School in Stanly County, as she reflected on a trip to Poland with the Stan Greenspon Holocaust Education Center( SGC) in June. The journey is the culminating experience for participants in the Certificate in Holocaust Pedagogy program( CHP), which provides intensive training about how to teach the Holocaust in secondary schools. This journey across Poland was made possible through the generous support from the Claims
SGC CHP participants gathered at the Remuh Synagogue, the only functioning synagogue in Krakow today, dating back to the 1500s.
Conference and the Blumenthal Foundation.
The CHP is unlike any other Holocaust educator program currently offered in the Southeast. Its depth, duration, and sustained support set it apart from the rest. At the start, educators engage in a rigorous, research-based learning experience grounded in sound Holocaust pedagogy and best practices, not simply what to teach, but how to teach it responsibly and effectively.
The support does not end when the program does. CHP graduates receive ongoing mentorship, resources, and opportunities for continued professional learning as they bring their knowledge into their classrooms and across local communities.
Nineteen educators joined Katie Cunningham, SGC director of education, and Judy LaPietra, executive director, for the nineday journey. Experiences included a stop at the Jewish Ghetto in Warsaw, a discovery of Poland’ s Jewish history at the POLIN Museum, a visit to the Treblinka Memorial, a walking tour of Kazimierz with visits to several surviving synagogues as well as the Old Jewish cemetery, and on the final day of the trip, they visited Auschwitz-Birkenau.
While not part of the planned itinerary, the group was especially moved by an unexpected encounter with young Israeli students preparing to begin their military service and visiting the Tykocin Synagogue at the same time.
Logan M., a teacher at Holly Springs High School in Wake County, expressed how impactful the meeting was:“ Standing in Łopuchowo Forest shortly after meeting and singing with young Israeli adults in the Tykocin Synagogue had a profound emotional impact on me. Watching these men and women, many of whom would soon begin their military service to defend the world’ s only Jewish state, walk to visit the site where the Jews of Tykocin were murdered reminded me both why Israel’ s existence remains so significant and why I must continue this work as an educator.”
The CHP and the trip to Poland focus not only on the Holocaust but on Jewish life before and after the period. Additionally, Cunningham and LaPietra emphasize that Holocaust education must go beyond the history of 1933-1945 and should teach the unique components of Jew-hatred in all its forms from the past to today.“ Holocaust education can reduce antisemitism when it is designed to develop historical understanding alongside antisemitism literacy and knowledge of Jewish peoplehood,” said Cunningham.
Brianna M. from East Mecklenburg High School in Charlotte appreciated that approach.“ I was so thankful for the structure of the program in highlighting not just the trauma surrounding the Holocaust, but for also speaking to Jewish life, culture and history before, during, and even after the war.”
“ This experience has fundamentally changed the way I think about Holocaust education,” added Taylor H., an educator at the NC School for the Deaf.“ Facts, dates, and historical accuracy remain essential, but they are not enough. My responsibility as an educator is not simply to teach students how six million Jews died. It is to help them understand how millions of people lived. Our journey through Poland did not begin with death. It began with over one thousand years of Jewish life, culture, and community. By first understanding what existed, I was finally able to understand what had been destroyed.”
Eighty educators have graduated from the CHP since its inception in 2022, and“ Cohort 5” now includes 30 participants. The educators’ journey begins nine months before they ever board a plane. It is a deliberate journey of learning, reflection, and transformation.
An essential part of the CHP program requires each educator to complete a project that reflects their learning and translate it into meaningful educational practice for their communities before they ever travel. The journey abroad then becomes an opportunity to deepen that work and encounter history in an intensely personal way.
Logan M. summed up the impact
CHP has on participants.“ The experience exceeded every expectation I had. Rather than simply reinforcing foundational content knowledge, this program added an entirely new dimension to my understanding of Holocaust education. The greatest lesson I learned was that Holocaust education cannot begin with death; it must begin with life.”
In addition to the CHP, SGC is furthering Holocaust education with other programs this fall. On Oct. 9, SGC and Jewish for Good from Durham will host a day of learning in Chapel Hill led by Brandeis University President’ s Initiative on Antisemitism. This interactive training will equip educators with a deeper understanding of contemporary antisemitism, its historical roots, the ways it may emerge in school communities, and offer practical strategies for responding effectively in educational settings. The professional learning opportunity is open to educators and school leaders from public, private, charter, independent as well as homeschool settings.
On Oct. 13 SGC will host a full-day professional development opportunity for educators who teach or support the teaching of the Holocaust, Jewish identity, or antisemitism at Congregation Emanuel in Statesville, NC. Participants will explore current best practices in Holocaust pedagogy, expand their knowledge of Judaism and Jewish culture, review the historical roots of antisemitism, and track its mutation into contemporary life.
SGC is also joining partners to host a community commemoration of Kristallnacht at Shalom Park on Nov. 8. Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass, was a violent, state-sponsored pogrom against Jewish communities carried out across Nazi-occupied territories on Nov. 9 – 10, 1938.
“ Kristallnacht reminds us that hatred does not begin with genocide, but it begins with words, discrimination, dehumanization, and the silence of those who could have spoken,” said LaPietra.“ The remembrance of Kristallnacht is one of many ways SGC continues its pursuit of Holocaust education with the aim of combating antisemitism, and hate in today’ s world.”