The Auschwitz Educational Initiative is an outgrowth of the Taube Foundation's commitment to the preservation of the Nazi death camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau as a world heritage site, and a timeless memorial to Jewish life. We support the creation of accessible educational materials and programs that impact future generations of Jews and non-Jews so that the lessons of the Holocaust will forever inform all of humanity.
Established by the Nazis in 1940, the death camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau have become the ultimate symbol of the Holocaust for the world. In the years since the 1989 fall of Communism in Poland, there has been increasing concerted effort to assess the needs of the site for posterity. These needs range from structural concerns of re-mapping the site for respectful and informed visitor experience, to developing content-based educational materials and orientations, both on and off-site.
With visitorship to Auschwitz-Birkenau nearly tripled since 2005 and reaching an astonishing 1 million visitors a year, it is time to take stock of what these numbers mean. What steps will best insure that the truth of what happened will be told and re-told into future generations? Visitors, especially young people, need to be better prepared both before they come, once they arrive, and even after they leave.
By establishing the Auschwitz Educational Initiative, the Taube Foundation is committed to securing greatly needed private funds to assist the severely stretched staff resources of the Auschwitz State Museum, funded largely by the Polish government. Working with representatives from the Auschwitz State Museum and the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust (ICEAH), the Taube Foundation's Auschwitz Educational Initiative will develop a series of programs and learning opportunities, beginning with an international conference, Representing Auschwitz as Museum and Memorial, of top scholars and experts in the field of Holocaust studies.
The Auschwitz Educational Initiative will greatly assist in the development of critical resources to address the gaps in visitor experience, and to retain the sanctity of this memorial as a devastating chapter in Jewish and world history. This new fund will address very concrete needs, and will:
- Assess educational materials linked to the Auschwitz State Museum and ICEAH;
- Provide links to new and existing curriculum for pre-tour education throughout Poland, Europe, the United States, Israel and around the world;
- Improve the Auschwitz-Birkenau website as an educational resource and tool;
- Identify curriculum users to create a global network of educators;
- Link teacher training programs that address gaps in school-based learning;
- Promote inter-active media for a new generation of technologically adept visitors;
- Enhance on-site visitor experiences by relocating commercial kiosks;
- Provide language translations of web-based and on-site content.
Click here to read an OpEd by Tad Taube on Improving the Auschwitz Experience
