Holocaust Education

Photo from the project "MemoryLanes: Ways of remembrance of Jewish life"

Holocaust Education

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.

Current Challenges and Needs

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.

Funding

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. Deadlines for submitting applications are April 1 (funding begins at the earliest in the following January) and October 1 (funding begins at the earliest in the following July).

Advisory Board

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

Partner Portraits

  • Holocaust Education

    Jewish Claims Conference

    In 1951, the JCC was founded as an alliance of 23 international Jewish organizations to negotiate compensation with the German government for the crimes committed during the Holocaust. The result was the Luxembourg Agreement, which was agreed in 1952 between the JCC, Israel and the German government. Since then, the JCC has represented Jewish interests worldwide, with the exception of Israel, in regular negotiations with the BMF.

  • Holocaust Education

    Federal Ministry of Finance

    Upon signing of the Luxembourg Agreement on September 10, 1952, the Federal Ministry of Finance assumed Germany's responsibility for the Nationalist Socialist crimes. To this day, payments are made to Holocaust survivors by the federal government. With the end of historical eyewitness testimony coming in a few years, there will be a focus on promoting historical lessons from and remembrance of the Holocaust.

  • Holocaust Education

    EVZ Foundation

    The mission of the EVZ Foundation is to commemorate the remembrance of the injustice of National Socialist persecution and to advocate human rights and international understanding. It supports projects within the framework of funding programs, especially in Central and Eastern Europe, Israel and Germany. In the Holocaust Education funding program, the EVZ Foundation is entrusted with the administrative and communicative support of the project due to its many years of expertise in the field.

Selected Projects

  • POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews

    Temporary Exhibition: Around Us a Sea of Fire. The Fate of Jewish Civilians During the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

    The temporary exhibition at the POLIN Museum in Warsaw is dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, which began on April 19, 1943. The exhibition is based on historical eyewitness testimonies, diaries and other archival materials and is being developed in cooperation with the Polish Center for Holocaust Research, the Ghetto Fighters' House Lohamei HaGeta'ot and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

  • Melbourne Holocaust Museum

    Establishing a Museum for Children and Adolescents

    The Melbourne Holocaust Museum is planning to build a permanent exhibition of the Children's Museum for visitors aged 10 to 14. The exhibition will convey essential aspects of the Holocaust, such as the rise of Antisemitism, life under Nationalist Socialist rule, survival in secret hiding places and the reconstruction of a new life after the Holocaust. Using objects and multimedia, the stories of seven Holocaust survivors living in Melbourne will be presented.

  • Jewish Claims Conference

    Netherlands Holocaust Knowledge and Awareness Survey

    The Holocaust Awareness Knowledge Study surveys adults, millennials and Generation Z in the Netherlands about their knowledge of the Holocaust as well as their perception of it. The study covers factual knowledge, personal connection to the Holocaust, perceptions of the Holocaust in general and in social media, and antisemitism and neo-Nazism in the Netherlands. The research findings will be compared with existing Holocaust Awareness and Knowledge Studies in the U.S., Canada, Austria, France and the UK.

Contact

Do you have any questions or suggestions about the Holocaust Education funding program? Please contact .