Visit to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam
The second part of the exchange took place from 15-19 March 2017. During the seminar, educators from Poland and the Netherlands visited the Anne Frank House and other Amsterdam institutions, including the National Holocaust Museum, the Jewish Museum, the Portuguese Synagogue and the Resistance Museum. While in Rotterdam, seminar participants visited, among other places, the University of Applied Sciences, where they had the opportunity to discuss with young educators about their prospects for teaching about the Second World War. The participants also had the chance to meet Micha Gelber, a Holocaust survivor, who told his wartime story and discussed the educational role he performed after the war.
Through the study trip, they also learned about Feyenoord football club and the Giovanni Van Bronkhorst Foundation, whose activities involve education against discrimination. In Vught, in turn, the participants went to a memorial site, the former German Nazi Herzogenbusch concentration camp and learned about its educational mission.
Participants were really inspired by the study trips. One participant said that this was a great opportunity to “understand that what matters in Holocaust education is the involvement of young people, encouraging them to act, because this might render some positive results in future”. The lecturer concluded by saying, “I believe that enlarging perspective and building understanding is a warranty that young people could be more open and this could lead to building an open society and more tolerance.”