On January 27, 2011, the Russian State Professional Pegadogic University (RSPPU) held a gathering of students and professors dedicated to International Holocaust Remembrance Day. This gathering was initiated by RSSPU professor Maria Snegireva. An Euro-Asian Jewish Congress (EAJC) General Council member, Presidentf of the Jewish National Cultural Autonomy of Sverdlovskaya Oblast, Michael Ostrach. He spoke before the gathering about the roots of the Nazists' racial hatred, about the tragedy of the Jewish people, of how they had been doomed to totral destruction, and of lessons the Holocaust could teach in fostering tolerance and counteracting extremism among youths. Ostrach supplemented his speech with a presentation on the history of the Holocaust, which he then consigned to the university. After his lecture, there was an award ceremony, in which schoolchildren and university students who had taken part in the IX international competition "Lessons of the Holocaust – Path to Tolerance" were presented with certificates. Then students and professors of the RSPPU spoke on how these lessons of the history of the Holocaust had affected them.