Holocaust Education
© Wojciech Wojtkielewicz
© Wojciech Wojtkielewicz
In September 2022, a new joint project was launched by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (JCC), the EVZ Foundation and the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF): the Holocaust Education funding program. As part of the "Follow-up Responsibilities for Reparations to Victims of Nationalist Socialist Persecution", financial resources are allocated to the project by the German Bundestag and made available to the EVZ Foundation or the JCC via the BMF.
Antisemitic attacks have risen in recent years in Germany and worldwide. With the coronavirus pandemic, new conspiracy narratives emerged, in which antisemitic myths experienced an additional boost. At the same time, knowledge about the Holocaust is declining dramatically, as studies from various countries show. The end of the historical eyewitness testimony in the coming years will exacerbate this situation.
In view of these challenges, the "Holocaust Education" funding program was launched. It includes both single-year and multi-year projects, which are conducted by international organizations worldwide. They are dedicated to Holocaust education, i.e. teaching and learning about the Holocaust, from victim-centered perspectives in a variety of ways and include, among other things, the digitization and publication of documents such as historical eyewitness testimonies from Holocaust survivors, research and exhibition projects, continuing education programs for teachers, and educational projects for students and other target groups.
Project applications can only be submitted via the JCC website.
Note: The deadline for applications for the calendar year 2025 was 1 March 2024.
The international advisory board decides on project proposals submitted by the Jewish Claims Conference.
Eva-Maria Meyer, Head of Section, Federal Ministry of Finance (Chairwoman of the Advisory Board)
Prof. Michael Berenbaum, Director of the Sigi Ziering Institute and Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies at American Jewish University
Zvi Inbar, former Senior Consultant on Allocations at Jewish Claims Conference Jerusalem
Prof. Dr. Martin Lücke, University Professor Didactics of History at Freie Universität Berlin
Steve Schwager, former CEO and Executive Vice President of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
Patrick Siegele, Head of Sector Holocaust Education at the OeAD - Austria’s Agency for Education and Internationalisation
Explore some of the projects supported by the Holocaust Education program.
The Fondazione Istituto Di Letteratura Musicale Concentrazionaria is dedicated to music composed in concentration camps during the Holocaust. Primary sources are collected, and pieces of music are recorded and transcribed. A publication and a digital database are also being created.
To the Project
The memorial for Zhanis Lipke, who saved Jews during the Holocaust, is located in his old home. Teaching materials as well as short films about Latvian rescuers are produced in the funded education program Silent Heros of the memorial.
To the Memorial
In the Testimony Theater project "To Tell in Order to Live" pupils meet Holocaust survivors and representatives of the second generation, who share their personal stories. This forms the basis for theather plays which are performed together.
To the project
Parallel Stories Cultural Organization is developing an interactive Augmented Reality experience. Users can see overlays of archive images, holograms and 3D animations on their mobile devices in the Jewish quarter of Budapest. This renders, what is otherwise invisible, visible.
To the project
Living Room Conversations with Holocaust Survivors is ogranized by Zikaron BaSalon. The Living Room Conversations podcast, events on the November pogrom and much more will expand the project of international exchange and dignified remembrance.
The Jewish Cultural Historical Museum is creating three exhibitions: about Curaçao during World War II, George Maduro – the Jewish resistance fighter from Curaçao – and the story of Anne Frank.
Find out more
The National WWII Museum has opened the "Liberation Pavilion" with two funded exhibitions: And then They Came for Me is about life in the underground and the liberation of the camps, as well as the Liberation Theater, which presents testimonies from survivors and liberators.
To the pavilion
The Center for Jewish Art documents and researches Jewish visual culture. The pilot phase is being funded for the development of a database which records all Holocaust monuments. This also documents the status of existing memorial sites and places of remembrance.
To the Center for Jewish Art
The Jewish Digital Cultural Recovery Project Foundation promotes the documentation, collection and development of Jewish cultural assets, stolen by the National Socialists and their allies. The completion of the database and research is funded for this purpose.
To the project
The Leo Baeck Institute has produced the second season of its podcast Exile. It is based on testimonies of Jews who lived in Canada, the USA and Germany before World War II and their views on growing antisemitism and fascism.
To the podcast
Do you have any questions or suggestions about the Holocaust Education funding program? Please contact holocaust-education@stiftung-evz.de.
