Mount Tabor Teacher Going to Poland for Conference about the Holocaust

Laurie Schaefer

Laurie Schaefer, who is the chair of the English department at Mount Tabor High School, is one of 25 teachers from around the world who have been chosen to go to Poland later this month to participate in a four-day workshop about the Holocaust.

Educators from 11 countries on four continents will attend the workshop designed to deepen their understanding of the historical landscape of Poland before, during and after the Holocaust and to increase their knowledge of such concentration camps as Auschwitz-Birkenau.

“I am very excited and honored to be able to participate,” Schaefer said.

While there, teachers will meet with Holocaust survivors. In May, one of those survivors will come here.

“I will be holding a one-day workshop for teachers at the end of May to teach about what I learned,” Schaefer, “and I will also have a Holocaust survivor there from Auschwitz to talk to the teachers.”

To be considered for the honor, Schaefer said, “I had to make a short video detailing why I wanted to participate and how it would benefit me, my students, and my peers. Then, I had to answer five short essay questions and fill out the rest of the online application. They said that they were going to take no more than 200 applications and they chose 15 American teachers from that pool of applicants, as well as 10 other teachers from different countries around the world.”

Auschwitz: The Past is Present is an education program being held in conjunction with the observance of the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz on Jan. 27. The program is sponsored by the University of Southern California Shoah Foundation - The Institute for Visual History and Education and by Discovery Education. The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and the International Auschwitz Council are the organizers of the official commemoration event.

“Survivors shared their stories because they understood how vital it was that future generations never forget what happened at places like Auschwitz,” said Kori Street, the USC Shoah Foundation Director of Education. “By bringing teachers to a place where so many atrocities occurred is a way to show survivors that we take seriously our responsibility of keeping their voices strong forever.”