We are grateful to the over 400 educators from across North America and Europe who spent part of their summer learning at TOLI seminars, strengthening their content knowledge, and gaining practical strategies for teaching the Holocaust and human rights.

We are proud to share this “Report Card” of just some of the highlights from our seminars in the U.S. in California, Florida, Idaho, Kentucky, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, and Virginia; and internationally in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Mexico, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia. Seminars are still scheduled this year for Albania, Italy, Republic of Moldova, Ukraine, and Washington State. Click the links to read about each program.

Teachers working together at TOLI seminars in Slovakia (left) and Florida (right)

Each five-day TOLI seminar incorporated TOLI’s unique pedagogy of inquiry-based learning and reflective writing in a small, supportive environment that fostered discussion and community. Teachers left with lesson plans, classroom resources, new professional networks, opportunities to access TOLI's Impact Grant program, and a long-term commitment to Holocaust and human rights education. 

All seminars explored the Holocaust and human rights, Jewish life before and after the Holocaust, how hate can take hold in a democracy, and ways to break stereotypes and counter antisemitism. 

• Hungary: Addressed the topic of Women and the Holocaust.
• Poland: Visits to the Auschwitz concentration camp deepened teachers’ understanding of the enormity of the industrialization of the genocide.  
• Minnesota: Studied the Dakota Exile and Indian Boarding Schools, alongside the history and resilience of Minnesota Tribal Nations. The seminar used field trips, primary sources, speakers, and place-based learning. 
• Virginia: Examined parallels between Jim Crow laws and the Nuremberg Laws, exploring how legal systems can institutionalize racism and exclusion. 
• California: Explored how anti-Black racism has operated systemically through policies, impacting communities.

Seminar participants in Hungary learning local Holocaust history 

Teachers in Kentucky discussing the "pyramid of hate"

"TOLI is more than a professional development program; it is a moral compass for the modern classroom.

It has transformed my teaching from a focus on 'what to learn' to 'how to be,' proving that language education is a powerful vehicle for human dignity.

My relationship with TOLI has taught me that as an educator, my greatest responsibility is to ensure that the lessons of the past become the safeguards of our students' future."

Nino Akhaladze from Kutaisi, Georgia attended our Transnational seminar in Vilnius, Lithuania

The most powerful lessons often came through survivor testimony, sharing reflective writing, and conversation.

• California: At the Museum of Tolerance, Dydine Umunyana Anderson shared her story as a survivor of the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
• New Mexico: Examined cultural narratives surrounding the Holocaust, and invited educators to consider human decisions and moral complexities through inquiry and discussion.
• Virginia: Explored young adult Holocaust literature with renowned author Jennifer Nielsen.

"When you listen to a witness, you become a witness."

- Elie Wiesel

We were honored to have Holocaust survivors join many of our seminars and thank them for sharing their powerful stories (and hugs) with our teachers:

Henry Sluki (California); Jane Gunter (Idaho); Andy Holten (New Mexico); Herb Barash (New Mexico); Judy Rosen (Florida); Irene Fogel Weiss (Virginia); Joe Gosler (New York); Susan Kalev (New York); Miriam Rokowski (New York); Doris Schechter (New York); Ivo Rotter (Czech Republic); Sandra Rosenfeld Katz (2G, Mexico); Faina Kukliansky (2G, Lithuania); Vasile Szekely (Romania); and Pavol Kucera (Slovakia)

Participants at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles heard from Dydine Umunyana Anderson, survivor of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda

Participants at the Romania seminar heard from Holocaust survivor Vasile Szekely

All seminars explored Jewish history, culture and religion before and after the Holocaust, as well as historic and contemporary antisemitism. 

• New York and Florida: The seminars for Catholic educators focused on the history of anti-Judaism in the Church, including joint readings of scripture with Father Dennis McManus and Rabbi Gary Bretton-Granatoor (in Florida) and David Fox Sandmel (in New York). 
• Idaho, New Mexico, Kentucky, Florida, New York, Virginia, Minnesota, Mexico, Romania, and Slovakia: Visited local synagogues and attended Shabbat services.
• Mexico: The 33 participants (selected from 150 applications) learned about Jewish religion and rituals during their visit to the beautiful Shar Hashamaim Sephardic Synagogue.  
• Romania: The program highlighted local history in Cluj-Napoca’s Jewish neighborhood, including the community where Olga Lengyel lived.

Seminar participants at Park Avenue Synagogue (top) in New York City; Shar Hashamaim Sephardic Synagogue (middle) in Mexico City; and Beth Torah Benny Rok Campus (bottom) in Miami

Educators strengthened their skills to teach in the digital age and learned how to help students navigate Holocaust distortion and preserve historical truths.



• Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland: Participants were introduced to the USC Shoah Foundation's IWitness digital testimony platform and IWalk digital tour platform.
• California: UCLA Professor Todd Presner presented research on AI and the erosion of Holocaust memory.
• Idaho: TOLI board member Dr. Kathrin Meyer gave a virtual lecture from her home in Berlin on trends in Holocaust distortion and how to combat it. 
• Romania: Visited MuzeON’s exhibition on Jewish life in Cluj-Napoca that uses digital tools along with audio and video sources.

UCLA Professor Todd Presner presented research on AI and the Erosion of Holocaust Memory at the TOLI seminar at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles

"I have reminded myself that this is not something I’m doing alone. To be in a room full of people who are curious and like minded has been instrumental to reinvigorating my excitement for learning."

Middle School Teacher Hannah Gilbert attended the Idaho seminar

Throughout every seminar, educators learned about Jewish identity, culture, resilience and community. 

• Lithuania: Visited the Samuel Bak Museum in Vilnius, whose featured artwork is deeply connected to Holocaust memory, Jewish identity, displacement, resistance, and survival. 
• California: Screened the powerful short film, "Ice Cream Man," the true story of a Jewish man targeted by the Nazis after the invasion of the Netherlands.
• Minnesota: Visited BirchBark Books & Native Arts, an Indigenous-owned bookstore and cultural space, to explore Native American literature, art, and cultural perspectives. Participants also experienced an Art & Judaica Tour.
• New York: Educators learned how to use photographs to help students critically analyze primary source documentation of the Holocaust. 
• Idaho: Explored the “Art of Gaman,” the artworks made by Japanese Americans incarcerated in World War II internment camps.

Participants examine Holocaust photographs at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York

Teachers shared artifacts to express their own cultural identities at the seminar in New Mexico

This summer’s classrooms extended far beyond four walls. These experiences demonstrated the power of place-based learning and the importance of connecting historical events to the communities and places where they occurred. 

• Lithuania, Romania, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, and Slovakia: Tours of historic Jewish neighborhoods, synagogues, and Holocaust memorial sites. 
• Virginia: Walking tour exploring African American history in Loudoun County, including the burial ground of enslaved individuals at the former Belmont Plantation.
• Kentucky: Attendance at a Juneteenth event to mark the end of slavery in the United States.
• Czech Republic: Visited the Museum of Survivors in the former Schindler’s factory in Brnenec.

Participants visited the Museo Memoria y Tolerancia in Mexico City

Teachers at the Minnesota seminar visited Dakota tribal sites

Throughout the Coming School Year

Throughout the upcoming school year, TOLI teachers will be supported through:



• Webinars and regular meetings of the Teacher Network 
• Educational materials translated into multiple languages 
• Impact Grants for school and community projects
• Opportunities for international cooperation among schools in Europe
• A Transnational Conference for European alumni

"I thought I knew the story of the Holocaust. I was wrong. I have learned so much not only about the Holocaust but about Jewish history and the Jewish people. I have been forced to reconsider preconceived notions. I have been educated. I have been inspired. I am truly excited to incorporate these new ideas into my classroom curriculum next school year and to share what I know with fellow educators from my district and state. "

Emily Williams from Wichita, Kansas attended the seminar in Virginia

With Thanks to Our Amazing Facilitators, Partners and Donors

CALIFORNIA

Facilitators: Corey Harbaugh, Paul Regelbrugge

Partner: Museum of Tolerance

CZECH REPUBLIC

Facilitators: Oana Nestian-Sandu, Gabriella Komoly

Partners & Donors: Zachor Foundation for Social Remembrance, ARKS Foundation, MEHRIN - Moravian Jewish Museum, Vila Löw-Beer, International Visegrad+ Program

FLORIDA (CATHOLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS)

Facilitators: Corey Harbaugh, Donna Tarney, Brendan Murphy

Partners: FIU Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs, Bearing Witness Institute at Marist School, Archdiocese of Miami, Catholic Jewish Alliance, Schutts & Bowen LLP

HUNGARY

Facilitators: Oana Nestian-Sandu, Andrea Szonyi

Partners & Donors: Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, German Federal Ministry of Finance, Zachor Foundation for Social Remembrance, International Visegrad+ Program

IDAHO

Facilitators: Lacy Watson, Paul Regelbrugge

Partners: Wassmuth Center for Human Rights, Boise State University Writing Project, Council for Holocaust Awareness of Idaho

KENTUCKY

Facilitators: Lauren Hill, Wendy Zagray Warren

Partners: University of Kentucky – Jewish Heritage Fund Holocaust Education Initiative, Association for Teaching Black History in Kentucky, Carter G. Woodson Center at Berea College, Temple Adath Israel in Lexington

LITHUANIA

Facilitator: Oana Bajka, Ingrida Vilkiene

Partners: Good Will Foundation, International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania, Lithuanian Jewish Community

MEXICO

Facilitators: Oana Nestian-Sandu, Sandra Rosenfeld Katz, Irvin Moreno-Rodriguez

Partners & Donors: Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, German Federal Ministry of Finance, Museo Memoria y Tolerancia

MINNESOTA

Facilitators: Anne McCarney, Kathy Robinson

Partners: St. Cloud State University, Mount Zion Temple, Jewish Community Relations Council (Minnesota & The Dakotas)

NEW MEXICO

Facilitators: Barbara Lazar, Susan Quintana, Michelle Thompson-Loyd

Donor: Dr. Mary Pratt

NEW YORK (CATHOLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS)

Facilitators: Corey Harbaugh, Donna Tarney, Brendan Murphy, 

Partners: Bearing Witness Institute at Marist School, Archdiocese of New York, UJA Federation of New York

NEW YORK (SINGLE-DAY WITH MJH)

Facilitators: John Farris, Corey Harbaugh

Partner: Museum of Jewish Heritage

POLAND

Facilitators: Oana Nestian-Sandu, Katarzyna Laziuk

Partners & Donors: Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation, Zachor Foundation for Social Remembrance, International Visegrad+ Program

ROMANIA

Facilitator: Oana Bajka

Partners: Elie Wiesel National Institute for the Study of the Holocaust in Romania, Intercultural Institute of Timișoara, Jewish Community of Cluj-Napoca

SLOVAKIA

Facilitator: Oana Bajka

Partners & Donors: Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, German Federal Ministry of Finance, Holocaust Documentation Center, Zachor Foundation for Social Remembrance, European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative, International Visegrad+ Program

VIRGINIA

Facilitators: Nikki Korsen, Shanedra Nowell

Partners: Loudoun County Public Schools, NoVaChai, JCRC of Greater Washington, Lillian & Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum, Congregation Sha’are Shalom

TOLI is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Your tax-deductible gift is needed and appreciated. Thank you.