Join the Virginia Holocaust Museum and Centropa for a day of professional development focused on the experience of Sephardic Jews.

In 1492, Sephardic Jews—Jews whose ancestors were originally from Spain—came to the Ottoman Empire (including today’s Balkan region), when King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain expelled them. Eighty percent of the Jews of Yugoslavia were murdered during the Holocaust, and the same in Greece. In this workshop, you will learn about Sephardic Jews in the Balkans, the Holocaust, and two remarkable stories of when civil society stood up in times of war—once during the Holocaust, and another time during the Bosnian war of the 1990s. You will return to your students with resources in Spanish and English for teaching this history.

In this workshop, you will spend time with Centropa’s interviews, photographs, short multimedia films, thematic websites, and podcasts.

This workshop is free for educators and includes:

• Breakfast, Coffee, and Lunch
• English and Spanish Language Resources for Educators
• A Certificate of Attendance

About Centropa:  Centropa is a non-profit, Jewish historical institute dedicated to preserving 20th century Jewish family stories and photos from Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans, and disseminating these stories and photos through films, books, and exhibitions.  Centropa offices are in Budapest, Hamburg, Austria, Vienna and Washington, DC.

About Lauren Granite, Workshop Facilitator:  Dr. Lauren Granite, US Education Director for Centropa—a historical institute based in Vienna—has a Ph.D. from Drew University, and master’s degree from the University of Chicago. Before joining Centropa in 2010, she spent more than a dozen years teaching Jewish history to adults, college students, and teens.  She builds Centropa’s network of Jewish, public, parochial and charter schools in North America, and designs workshops, seminars, webinars, and Centropa’s annual Summer Academy, where 70 educators from 15 countries come together to study history in the great cities of Central Europe. Dr. Granite also mentors teachers, designs online and in-person activities, and establishes teacher advisory teams for Centropa programs. Her latest project is creating a network of museum educators in the US and Europe to discover ways that Centropa can support their work with museum visitors, particularly visiting school classes.

A limited number of scholarships are available for teachers 120+ miles from Richmond. Scholarships are to help cover travel, housing, and meals.

Please contact Megan Ferenczy mferenczy@vaholocaust.org for more information about travel scholarships or for workshop questions.

To Register Click HERE!

Deadline for Registration is March 1, 2024.