Education

“Seventy-seven years and three generations have passed since Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated, and most young people know nothing about it. When people forget about the past, they may repeat the crimes like the Holocaust. That’s why our Foundation developed the Auschwitz Legacy Fellowship. It not only provides American high school teachers with a unique opportunity to spend seven days in Poland, including three days at the Auschwitz Museum and Memorial but also gives teachers curricula to use in their classrooms and a specifically developed documentary movie about the Holocaust and Auschwitz. There is no other fellowship like this one in the United States and, for that matter, anywhere in the world”

ABMF's Chairman, Ronald S. Lauder.

AUSCHWITZ LEGACY FELLOWSHIP

On January 26, 2022, the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Foundation (ABMF) and its institutional partner, the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum, launched ABMF’s new educational initiative: the Auschwitz Legacy Fellowship – a year-long program for high school teachers from all over the United States.

2022

In July, after six months of intense online training, almost forty carefully selected educators from seven states finally arrived in Poland. The 2022 cohort included fellows from Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Michigan, and Utah, as well as Holocaust educators from the partner institutions: the United Jewish Federation of Utah, the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education (Kansas/Missouri), the Mizel Museum (Colorado), and the Zekelman Holocaust Center (Michigan).

The first few days of the trips consisted of visiting Warsaw and Krakow and learning about the history of the Eastern European Jews. On the 3rd day of the trip, teachers arrived at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum to participate in a three-day intense educational program co-designed by ABMF and Museum’s International Center for Education about Auschwitz and Holocaust. On the last day of the trip, teachers received an extensive curriculum exclusively designed by ABMF that provides ready-to-teach classes on Auschwitz, Holocaust, antisemitism, etc.

2023

On January 26, 2023, The Auschwitz Birkenau Memorial Foundation announced the 2023 Auschwitz Legacy cohort, which consists of teachers from California, Colorado, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, New York, and Utah, as well as Holocaust educators from the partner institutions: The Holocaust Museum Los Angeles, the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education, the Mizel Museum, and the Zekelman Holocaust Center.