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On August 17–20, 2026, an international seminar for teachers and lecturers from Ukraine “Auschwitz – History and Symbolism” was held in Poland, organized by the International Auschwitz and Holocaust Education Center (IACEC) of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum together with “Tkuma” Ukrainian Institute for Holocaust Studies with the assistance and financial support of the Conference on Material Claims of Jews to Germany (Claims Conference). Ukrainian educators from different regions of Ukraine took part in the seminar.

The seminar program combined lectures, practical classes, presentations of educational programs, professional discussions and direct work with memorial sites. Participants visited the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, the former Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau camps, got acquainted with the activities of the International Auschwitz and Holocaust Education Center, visited the museum's restoration laboratory and took part in the presentation of the museum collection “The Function and Meaning of Art in Auschwitz”.

A separate block was dedicated to practical approaches to teaching the history of the Holocaust. Educators discussed how to talk to students about mass violence, human dignity, responsibility, trauma, memory, and survival mechanisms. An important component was also a discussion of how museum objects, documents, art, and personal stories can help students make sense of complex historical topics.

“Working with history directly at Auschwitz-Birkenau is a special and at the same time difficult experience. The museum is not only a place of memory, but also a space where authentic objects, places, and human stories become witnesses to the crimes of the past,” noted seminar participant Daria Olkhovetska.

An important direction of the seminar was to understand the connection between historical memory and modernity. During the sessions, the participants drew parallels between the experience of World War II and the Russian-Ukrainian war, talked about totalitarianism, imperialism, dehumanization, trauma and the value of human life. For Ukrainian teachers, the seminar also became a space for professional communication and exchange of experience. The participants had the opportunity to discuss methods of teaching the Holocaust with colleagues from different regions of Ukraine and to get acquainted directly with the Polish experience of educational work in a place of memory.

“Auschwitz is not just about the past. It is about the present and our future. About why it is important to notice manifestations of hatred, to resist discrimination, to protect human dignity and not to allow history to repeat itself,” emphasized Yulia Nuzha.

During the seminar, participants received not only new professional tools, but also personal experience of being in the space of memory. As one of the participants noted, the shopper donated by the organizers had a quote from Polish historian and former Auschwitz prisoner Władysław Bartoszewski: “Our stories will remain. It would be good if you could draw conclusions from them.”

It is precisely the transfer of such experience to future generations that is one of the key tasks of educational work on the history of the Holocaust. Remembering to research, to draw conclusions and not to be indifferent is a responsibility that remains relevant today.

“Tkuma” Ukrainian Institute for Holocaust Studies expresses its gratitude to the International Educational Center for Auschwitz and the Holocaust of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, as well as to all participants of the seminar for professional dialogue, joint work, and the desire to develop Holocaust education in Ukraine.