On September 28-30, the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress (EAJC) and the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Moldova, the Jewish Community of Moldova, and the Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies (Director – EAJC General Council Member, Dr. Anatoliy Podolsky), together with the “Holocaust” NGO (Beltsy city) and the “Center for Training and Professional Development (Chisinau) held a seminar for teachers of non-Jewish gymnasiums and lyceums on the EAJC program “Tolerance – Lessons of the Holocaust” (Program Director Dorina Zilbermintz). The goal of the seminar was to prepare the teachers for the 2013 republican competition of creative and research works for school children.

EAJC General Council Chairman Josef Zisels spoke at the opening of the seminar about Congress projects and the importance of fostering and preserving tolerance in society. Research associate of the Ukrainan Center for Holocaust Studies Michael Tyagly shared his experience of working in Ukraine. Inna Gortolum, the Moldova program coordinator, spoke about the importance of preserving historic memory and of the role of the history teacher in fostering humanism and tolerance in the citizen.

26 history teachers from different regions of the republic took part in the seminar, and represented not only the teaching community, but different cultures. Ukrainians, Russians, Moldovans, Romanians, Gagauz, Jews, and Bulgarians all took part in the seminar. This multitude of nationalities did not stop a spirit of unity, mutual understanding, and tolerance from forming as the seminar went on. 20 hours of lectures were read, among which the most discussion-provoking were: “Genocides and the Ethnic and National Problems of Today”; “Different Approachers to 'The Solution to the Jewish Problem' in Countries Allied With Germany, Including Romania”; “Immortalizing the Memory and the Problems of Memorialization.” Workshops were held on the following topics: “How to Write a Research Work in School”; “Work with Sources and Literature”; “Methods of Teaching Emotionally and Tragically Colored Historic Facts”; “Methods of Folk Studies – Collecting Witness Reports”; “Facets of Tolerance” and others. Teachers worked with photos and audio-visual sources. The teachers' interest was also piqued by the “Rybnystkoe Ghetto” exposition,kindly provided by the Jewish community of the city of Rybnytsy. The sensitive questions of the seminar did not leave anyone untouched, which was visible especially during the meeting with Dmitry Zaharovich Kozhuharyev, an eyewitness of the mass shootings of Jews in Dubossary city in September 1941, as well as after watching the movie “Crib” by Ephraim Sevela.

The teachers learned about new methods of holding classes, as well as received the necessary teaching aids for preparing their students for the upcoming competition. Besides practical knowledge, all teachers received methodological teaching aids and literature. But most importantly, the seminar filled the teachers in on a new historic period, and for many this was their first introduction. The teachers evaluated the program and the seminar itself highly, and thanked the organizators for the opportunity to participate in the project.

Photo right: the Rybnytskoye Ghetto exposition, organized as part of the seminar