SEMINARS AND INSTITUTES
The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous (JFR) is pleased to provide high quality, academic opportunities for educators to advance their knowledge of the history of the Holocaust. Through our academic seminars and institutes, middle and high school teachers and Holocaust center staff have the opportunity to learn from world-class scholars in the field of Holocaust studies and to exchange pedagogical strategies with fellow educators.  JFR Seminars and Institutes aim to educate about Holocaust history both comprehensively and in depth.

• Summer Institute for Teachers
  
  
• Advanced Seminar
  
  
• European Study Program in Germany and Poland
  
  
• One-Day Seminar for New York City Teachers
  
  
• Requirements for Attending JFR’s Seminars and Institutes

SUMMER INSTITUTE FOR TEACHERS
The Summer Institute for Teachers examines the Holocaust from the precedents found in the history of antisemitism, to the rise of the Nazi party, the machinery of death, rescue, through to the aftermath of the Holocaust.  The first Summer Institute for Teachers was held at Clark University in June 2000. Since June 2001, the Institute has been held at Columbia University in New York City during the last week in June. The program is a high-level, intensive academic seminar in which participants are exposed to Holocaust survivors such as Roman Kent and to noted Holocaust scholars including, Volker Berghahn, Debórah Dwork, Henry Feingold, Atina Grossman, Peter Hayes, Marion Kaplan, Michael Marrus, Harry Reicher, Nechama Tec, and Robert Jan van Pelt. The Institute is designed to allow participants to meet in small groups following each lecture. These small groups enable the teachers and Holocaust center staff to share teaching concepts and to develop approaches to introducing the subject matter to their students.

All participants selected to attend the JFR Summer Institute for Teachers are known as Alfred Lerner Fellows and must be nominated by one of the centers in our Holocaust Centers of Excellence Program.  In order to participate in other JFR educational programs, a teacher must be an Alfred Lerner Fellow and have remained involved with their local Holocaust center. While there is a participant fee, the JFR provides each Lerner Fellow with a significant scholarship to attend the Summer Institute for Teachers. The program is a residential program – all participants stay on the Columbia University campus.  Participants are expected to complete required readings prior to the start of the program.

The JFR Summer Insitute for Teachers provides the foundation for other JFR education programs, such as the Advanced Seminar and European Study Program in Germany and Poland, which delve deeply into aspects of the Holocaust not covered by other Holocaust education programs.

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ADVANCED SEMINAR
The JFR holds its Advanced Seminar at the Hilton Newark Airport, in northern New Jersey, over the birthday weekend of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This three-day intensive program is open only to Alfred Lerner Fellows. The Advanced Seminar focuses on specific topics within the history of the Holocaust. Participants are expected to complete required readings and writing assignments prior to the start of the program.

At the 2009 Advanced Seminar, we explored Germany, its military, and Germany’s operations in the East. The scholars for the program were: Professors Volker Berghahn, Omar Bartov, Christopher Browning, and Kate Brown. The Advanced Seminar is limited to 24 Lerner Fellows who have been nominated by their local Holocaust center.  The JFR subsidizes most of the costs associated with this program.

The 2010 Advanced Seminar will explore how various professions became Nazified.  Professor Robert Jan van Pelt will look at architecture; William Meinecke, Jr. will explore education, Douglas Morris will focus on law, and Professor Peter Hayes will address finance and banking. 

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EUROPEAN STUDY PROGRAM IN GERMANY AND POLAND
The European Study Program in Germany and Poland offers participants an intensive educational experience. The first European Study Program was held in July 2003 and the second in 2004. The JFR then decided to offer the program every other year.  Our next European Study Program will be held in July 2010.  Participation is open to Alfred Lerner Fellows who have been nominated by their local Holocaust center. The two-week program in Germany and Poland, which is limited to fifteen Lerner Fellows, includes visits to concentration camps, ghetto sites, and documentation centers and meetings with survivors, rescuers, local historians, and teachers. Robert Jan van Pelt is the accompanying scholar for the European Study Program. Participants are expected to complete required readings prior to the start of the program.

The two-week journey ends in Auschwitz, where the group spends four days visiting Auschwitz and Birkenau and examining documents in the archives. Participants have the opportunity to review what they learned during the two weeks. The program allows the group to discuss approaches to teaching the Holocaust and to reflect on their experience before departing for home. While there is a participant fee, the JFR provides a significant subsidy for each participant.

The JFR is appreciative of the generous financial support it receives from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) for the above three programs. 

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ONE-DAY SEMINAR FOR NEW YORK CITY TEACHERS
Our annual program for New York City teachers includes a one-day workshop on specific themes in Holocaust history. Co-sponsored by the NYC Department of Education, the One-Day Seminar for NYC Teachers is free of charge and open to high school Social Studies and English teachers in the New York City area. The program for the spring of 2010 is in the planning stages and should be posted by the end of February. 

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REQUIREMENTS FOR ATTENDING JFR’S SEMINARS AND INSTITUTES *
JFR Seminars and Institutes are open to educators who meet the following eligibility requirements and who have first attended the Summer Institute for Teachers.

To qualify for the Summer Insitute for Teachers, one must:

• be nominated by one of the centers in our Holocaust Centers of Excellence Program.
  
  
• teach English or Social Studies at the middle or high school level, or you must work in an educational capacity at your nominating center.
  
  
• have taught for at least five years.
  
  
• be at least four years from retirement this includes age retirement, leaving the field of education, or no longer teaching the Holocaust in your classroom (changing subjects).
  
  
• currently teach the Holocaust in your classroom.
  
  
• have attended at least one Holocaust-related professional development program.
  
  
• agree to serve as a resource for the JFR and for the center that nominates you.
  
  

To qualify for the Advanced Seminar and/or the European Study Program, one must have completed the JFR Summer Insitute for Teachers and be an Alfred Learner Fellow.

Please see our Holocaust Centers of Excellence page for the participating Centers. If you have any questions about our Seminars and Institutes, please contact us 1.212.727.9955, or send us an e-mail.

* The requirements listed above do not apply for the One-Day Seminar for NYC Teachers.

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