Supporting the Holocaust Educational Trust‘s Ambassador Programme
As part of the Ambassador scheme, the Marks Family Charitable Trust funded the inaugural education programme focused on educating young people about antisemitism.
The Holocaust Educational Trust (HET) designed a bespoke weekend programme, for their Ambassador Community, with the help of the Marks Family Charitable Trust. This offered young people the opportunity to learn about antisemitism, and consider their role in challenging antisemitism today. The project gave Ambassadors the time and space to learn specifically about contemporary antisemitism and to grapple with the complexities associated with the subject. It reflected on where antisemitism exists today and how they can be a part of the efforts to tackle this age-old hatred. Each participant produced a piece of work, see some examples below:
Quotes from Ambassadors, about their Understanding Antisemitism Projects
James, 18 years old (England)
‘…As a photographer I wanted to include some of my own photography in the magazine to add more of a personal touch and make it more engaging…
…The magazine consists of some statistics and history of Jewish life in the UK as well as my own experience with Jewish culture (something I felt was important to do to try and connect more with the people I am writing about) and some facts about antisemitism in the UK and how readers should respond to it and how they too can help the fight against it…
…Putting the project together has been a great experience for me and has given me a chance to really take on some of the information we learnt and to further my knowledge even more”
James’ magazine has been printed as 4 physical copies: 2 to share with friends and family, 1 for his college tutor to share with his classes and 1 for his college as a whole. He has also created a PDF and eBook version of the magazine which he provided to his college with the aim of them sharing it on their website. James has also shared his magazine across his social media accounts.
Cerys, 22 years old (Wales)
‘By writing this blog post I hoped to make people more aware of how series antisemitism is and how exactly it can spread. I hope that making people understand that antisemitism is racism they will think twice before making an antisemitic comment or feel more confident in calling people out…
…I also wrote about the issue of conspiracy theories and just how dangerous they can be. Their snowballing affect makes them extremely hard to stop…’
Cerys’s blog drew inspiration from the entire series of live sessions during the course from understanding what antisemitism is, recognising antisemitism and addressing how to tackle it. This blog post was shared on Cerys’s Facebook and generated conversations with people expressing how informative they found the post and how accessible the post was.
Lucy, 20 years old (Edinburgh)
‘…I found writing up the final project quite emotional, the perspective I had after having completed the course showed me just how important tackling antisemitism is and the real implications for people’s lives. I felt so much gratitude to have been part of this course, but at the same time a parallel disappointment that this kind of education isn’t given to every child in schools…
…It made me worry for the future too, because antisemitic attacks have increased since the pandemic, but mostly, it gave me hope because of the kinds of people that delivered, organised and took the course.’
Lucy openly shared in her piece that taking part in the course enabled her to support a friend who was a victim of antisemitic assault. The course not only provided Lucy with an understanding of antisemitism, but also equipped her with the tools to counter antisemitism when she was faced with it in her personal life. As Lucy said, the experience of the course educated her on what to do in that instance.
For more please visit: Understanding Antisemitism Projects
© the Holocaust Educational Trust, Ambassador Conference
About the work of the Holocaust Educational Trust
The Holocaust Educational Trust was founded in 1988, with a mission to raise awareness and understanding of the Holocaust and its relevance today, both in schools and amongst the wider public. We are the leading authority on Holocaust education in the UK, and educate people from every background, all over the country. It is our belief that the Holocaust must have a permanent place in our nation’s collective memory.
One of the Trust’s earliest achievements was ensuring that the Holocaust formed part of the National Curriculum for History. Since then, we have worked to ensure that teachers across the country have the tools, skills and confidence to teach this most challenging subject. We create free of charge educational resources, ensuring that every classroom everywhere has access to the highest quality learning materials. Our Outreach Programme gives young people from all walks of life the once in a lifetime opportunity to hear the first-hand testimony of a Holocaust survivor, while our flagship Lessons from Auschwitz Project gives post-16 students from every school and college across the UK the chance to see for themselves the most notorious site of the Holocaust. These young people return from their visit committed to carrying the legacy of the past, inspired to learn more and to speak out against antisemitism and hatred today. They become HET Ambassadors.
© the Holocaust Educational Trust, the Ambassador Team meeting survivors
Key highlights over the past 18 months:
Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, we have worked to ensure that all our programmes remain engaging and inspiring whilst being delivered online. Whether it’s survivors delivering their testimony via Zoom to classrooms and businesses, or our Ambassador team delivering their annual conference online, we will make sure the message of where hatred and antisemitism can lead is never forgotten. This has included developing a new, dedicated online platform specifically for the Lessons from Auschwitz Online programme which combines interactive digitised survivor testimony with virtual reality experiences and live seminars delivered by our trained educators. Our strategic priority in the year ahead will be to build on and strengthen our innovative digital offering, to enable every young person in the UK will, as part of their school or college life, have the opportunity to hear from a Holocaust survivor, and ‘visit’ sites of the Holocaust, whether in person or virtually.
Further links:
For more information about Ambassador Projects: https://www.het.org.uk/understanding-antisemitism-projects