December 13, 2004 http://www.poloniatoday.com
Prepared and Distributed by the Polonia Media Network
SHOAH FOUNDATION LAUNCHES PROGRAM FOR POLISH SCHOOLS
Los Angeles, Calif.--The Shoah Foundation received a generous planning grant from Edward Phillips, Chairman, Millennium Import LLC, to plan the development, and distribution of new educational materials that bring visual history testimonies from the Shoah Foundation's archive directly to students in Poland.
The planning grant will launch Visual History in the Classroom for Polish Schools, a project that allows the Shoah Foundation to identify and begin to work with potential project partners in Poland, to conduct research on the educational system in Poland, to define which types of materials and pedagogic approaches work best for Polish students, what courses are taught in schools, what technological options are available in classrooms, and to identify the most effective mechanism for the dissemination of visual history in the classroom.
Once research is completed, the new organizational partners in Poland will help the Shoah Foundation develop a comprehensive program of visual history materials including lesson plans, teacher training, distribution, student materials, and segments of testimony. The goal is to have a comprehensive plan to implement this program in Poland and assure its ongoing use.
"Our company has a deep commitment to Poland since I first visited in 1993 as a prelude to our launch of Belvedere and Chopin vodka," remarked Edward Phillips. "This relationship to Poland expands well beyond producing and marketing these 'luxury exports,' and seeks ways to give back to our partner country. The opportunity to offer the Shoah Foundation archive to the Polish educational curriculum strikes a special chord with me. My hopes are to see the building of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw on the sight of what was the Warsaw Ghetto and for the Shoah Foundation testimonies to be a permanent part of the exhibit."
According to Douglas Greenberg, Shoah Foundation president and CEO, "The Shoah Foundation's Polish testimonies describe how racism and prejudice stained Poland and the world in the mid-20th century. They capture not only the events of the Holocaust, but the full life stories of survivors and other witnesses, including pre-war and post-war experiences."
The Shoah Foundation conducted approximately 1,500 of its 52,000 interviews in Poland. An additional 12,000 interviews were conducted with survivors and witnesses born in Poland who moved to other countries after World War II. Those who gave their testimonies include Jewish survivors, homosexual survivors, Jehovah's Witness survivors, political prisoners, Sinti and Roma (Gypsy) survivors, war crimes trials participants, and rescuers and aid providers.
Steven Spielberg, Shoah Foundation Founding Chairman, said, "These testimonies share important lessons for new generations, but until they are made public and brought directly to schools, the history that they recount will remain largely forgotten. With guidance from those who came before them, Poland's youth may then help shape a society enlightened by intelligence, understanding, respect, and peace."
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