The Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach is expanding its educational mission with a new education center that opened in March, adding interactive technology, survivor testimony and educational programs to the memorial’s longstanding role as a place of remembrance. The center has welcomed more than 5,00 0 visitors this summer alone, according to Sheri Zvi, CEO of the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach. The organization expects the number of visitors to the memorial and education center to grow significantly this year. The education center was conceived as an extension of the memorial, which opened in 1990. Ms. Zvi said the founders understood that preserving the memory of the more than 6 million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, including about 1.5 million children, needed to be accompanied by education. “We were welcoming hundreds of thousands of students and visitors, and sending Holocaust survivors and their descendants into schools throughout the community,” she said, “but we didn’t have the physical space on our campus to fully realize what our educational mission could become, and so the education center was the necessary next step.” While the memorial provides an emotional space for remembrance, the education center offers historical context, survivor testimony, interactive digital technology and educational resources translated into more than a dozen languages. The center also includes digital theaters and interactive survivor interviews developed in collaboration with the USC Shoah Foundation. Visitors can learn about Jewish life before, during and after the Holocaust, explore the history and consequences of antisemitism, and consider how the lessons of the Holocaust apply today. “There’s nothing that can compare with first-person survivor testimony and interactions,” she said. “However, digital resources are incredibly important because they allow us to reach students, educators and visitors in a very different way, especially as survivor voices are slowly declining.” The digital interviews will allow visitors to continue hearing survivors’ stories even when survivors are no longer able to regularly visit the memorial or speak with groups in person. The center is also expanding its programming through films, guest speakers, special events, extended hours and partnerships with organizations throughout Miami-Dade County. The City of Miami Beach has been an important partner, Ms. Zvi said, noting that the memorial has been part of the city for more than three decades. The center also works with Miami-Dade County and Jewish and non-Jewish community organizations on programs and educational events. “We’re very fortunate to work collaboratively with organizations throughout Miami-Dade County, both Jewish and non-Jewish, to create programs and conversations, film screenings, educational experiences, and opportunities for dialogue,” she said. The center’s educational mission extends beyond its physical location. Ms. Zvi said the memorial is developing presentations and educational experiences that eventually will be available online and in multiple languages. The goal is to make the center’s resources available to people who cannot travel to Miami Beach, including communities that do not have their own Holocaust memorial or education center. “If you can’t come to us, we want to find a way to bring Holocaust education to you, which means that someone living hundreds or thousands of miles away, perhaps in a community without a Holocaust memorial or education center, can still have access to high-quality Holocaust education at no cost,” she said. Educational resources, including films, lesson plans and books, are free to educators. Interactive survivor interviews also are expected to become available for classroom use this year. The memorial provides buses for school field trips and brings speakers to schools. The effort comes as the organization prepares for a future in which fewer Holocaust survivors can share their experiences firsthand. “As we move further away from the Holocaust in time,” Ms. Zvi said, “education becomes even more important, and we have a responsibility to preserve survivor testimony, teach the historical record accurately and give the next generations the tools to carry these stories forward.” She said students should leave the memorial and education center with more than an understanding of historical events. The goal is for them to recognize antisemitism, prejudice, propaganda and dehumanization and understand their own ability to respond when others are targeted. “We don’t want a student to leave the memorial saying, ‘I learned about the Holocaust,’” Ms. Zvi said. “We want them to ask questions of themselves.” Those questions include whether they can recognize antisemitism, question misinformation, speak up when someone is targeted and refuse to remain indifferent, she said. “And so, what we want students to understand is that they don’t have to change the entire world, but when they leave, we want them to understand that they can change what happens in their world: in their classroom, on social media, with their friends and in their communities,” Ms. Zvi said. “We want people to know that memory becomes meaningful when it informs how we choose to live and how we choose to treat each other.” The memorial had 158,000 visitors last year while the education center was under construction, Ms. Zvi said, and the organization expects to double, if not triple, that number this year. She said the increased reach is part of the founders’ original vision: preserving the memory of the Holocaust while ensuring its lessons remain accessible to future generations. Visits to the education center are free, and Ms. Zvi said the organization wants its resources to remain accessible beyond Miami-Dade County. “We truly believe that geography should not be a barrier to learning this history,” she said, “and accessibility is incredibly important to us because the lessons contained at the memorial and in our education center belong to everyone.” The post Holocaust Memorial education center off to a fast start appeared first on Miami Today. ...read more read less