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Global - Theme: Racism and Xenophobia
New online tool features Holocaust survivors’ video testimonies (25 January 2012)
EI has welcomed the launch of IWitness, an online educational resource showcasing Holocaust survivors’ video testimonies. IWitness debuted at the United Nations’ (UN) headquarters in New York, U.S.A., on 23 January.
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Produced by the Shoah Foundation Institute at the University of Southern California, IWitness provides teachers and students access to video testimonies of over 1,000 Holocaust eyewitnesses from the Institute’s archive of nearly 52,000 testimonies.
The UN brought more than 350 high school students to its headquarters to discuss their experiences with IWitness. Students also had the opportunity to interview Holocaust survivor Roman Kent, whose testimony they had studied as part of IWitness.
Stressing the importance of this educational tool, UN Under-Secretary General for Communications and Public Information Kiyo Akasaka explained: “As students learn more about the Holocaust and the significance of this history today, they will soon discover its connection to their own lives and communities.”
Akasaka told students that they will also learn about the dangers of hatred and prejudice in our world today.
“EI believes IWitness is a great tool in terms of peace education,” said EI General Secretary Fred van Leeuwen. “EI is firmly committed to international peace activities linked to education in the field of human rights and promoting democracy. Educators must lead future generations on the path to democratic societies respecting diversity.
“EI calls on its member organisations to further their actions in this field, working closely in line with UNESCO's aims and recommendations and its Charter, the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, as well as the Recommendation on Education for International Understanding and Cooperation and Education regarding Human Rights and Basic Liberties.”
The launch of IWitness was held as part of a series of events to mark the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust, observed annually on 27 January. This year’s theme is “Children and the Holocaust”.
More information about the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust can be found here.
To find out more about EI’s policy on peace through education, please click here.
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