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 During October 15-18, the annual European seminar for educators was held in Paris, organized by Yahad-In Unum in cooperation with the EVZ Foundation and “Tkuma” Ukrainian Institute of Holocaust Studies with the assistance and financial support of the Conference on Material Claims of Jews to Germany (Claims Conference). The participants were teachers and trainers from Sweden, Poland, Lithuania, Spain, Italy, Greece, Germany, Romania, Croatia, Serbia and Ukraine.

For over 20 years, the organization Yahad-In Unum has been researching and documenting sites of mass shootings of Jews and Roma in Eastern Europe. Its work encompasses collecting eyewitness testimonies, identifying execution sites, and developing educational initiatives aimed at countering Holocaust denial, antisemitism, and other manifestations of hatred.

Since 2022, the organization’s team has also been documenting testimonies and evidence of Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine. This area of work brings particular urgency to issues surrounding the documentation of crimes, the preservation of evidence, and accountability for mass violence.

The seminar focused on modern approaches to teaching the history of the Holocaust—specifically the mass shootings of Jews in Nazi-occupied territories of Eastern Europe—as well as on understanding mass violence and its consequences. Why is violence against women during conflicts so poorly documented? What do educators from the EU know about the Holocaust in Kharkiv? What are the greatest challenges facing Holocaust education today? These and other questions were discussed during the seminar, which was officially opened by Father Patrick Desbois, founder and president of Yahad-In Unum, and Stefan Delfs, Cultural Attaché at the German Embassy in Paris.

After meeting the organization’s team and the participants, Michał Chojak delivered a lecture on the history of the “Holocaust by Bullets.” The practical component of the training day featured a workshop by Oksana Miroshnyk and Albert Khitri titled “How to Investigate a Crime 80 Years Later?”, which focused on methods for researching Nazi crimes decades after the tragedy. The first day concluded with an informative tour of the Jewish quarter in Paris, led by Siiri Brunner and Alexander Dünne.

The second day began with a presentation of new educational materials for classroom use, prepared by Oksana Miroshnyk and Albert Khitri. The program continued with a workshop by Lotta Storm, a representative of the EVZ Academy, titled “Nothing Left...?”, which focused on the “Holocaust by Bullets” in Ukraine – specifically, the history of Drobytskyi Yar in Kharkiv. Participants also explored the role of women during conflicts in a workshop led by Lou-Anne Le Gré, titled “Women on the Front Lines of Mass Atrocities.” The seminar concluded with a final discussion on the major challenges involved in teaching the history of the Holocaust today, also moderated by Lou-Anne Le Gré.

Seminar participant Oksana Kazakova shared her impressions of taking part:

“I had the honor of participating in an international seminar for educators held at the Paris office of the French organization Yahad-In Unum. The event focused on various approaches to teaching the "Holocaust by Bullets" and reflecting on the tragedies of mass violence in the 20th and 21st centuries. The program included lectures, workshops, discussions, and visits to significant memorial sites linked to the history of the Holocaust. Participants had the opportunity not only to explore current research but also to discuss the specific challenges of teaching this subject within the educational systems of different countries.

The knowledge, materials, and methodological resources acquired will serve as a valuable foundation for enhancing the Holocaust history course at the Faculty of History and International Relations of ZNU (Zaporizhzhia National University). Particularly significant for implementation are the scholarly research and field materials from Yahad-In Unum – such as video interviews with witnesses and digital maps – which vividly illustrate the specifics of the "Holocaust by Bullets" in Ukraine and Eastern Europe. Furthermore, the interdisciplinary and interactive approaches, training programs for addressing sensitive and traumatic topics, and insights into teaching practices across various European educational systems will prove undeniably useful.

I would like to thank the Yahad-In Unum team, the EVZ Foundation, and "Tkuma" Ukrainian Institute for Holocaust Studies for the opportunity to join this vital international dialogue, exchange experiences, and collaboratively seek effective ways to teach complex chapters of history" .

We sincerely thank Yahad – In Unum for the high level of organization of the seminar, the opportunity for educators from Ukraine and various European countries to exchange experiences, as well as for a long-standing partnership and continued joint work on preserving the memory of the Holocaust.

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