Educator Workshops

The Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies supports educators through workshops and seminars facilitated by leading experts in Holocaust and genocide education. Through these workshops, we develop and distribute a myriad of resources for teaching age-appropriate lessons about the Holocaust and genocide.

Below is the information for our upcoming workshop: 

The Holocaust by Bullets

with Yahad in Unum

Summer 2025 Workshop

(All times are Central)

Most students learn about the concentration and death camps of the Holocaust – Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, Dachau, etc. Few are aware that more than half of the six million Jewish and countless non-Jewish victims targeted during the Holocaust were murdered in fields, forests and ravines in the former Soviet Union and other countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Many of these sites remain unknown, unmarked, and unrecorded to this day. 

This workshop will run Thursday, July 10 and Friday, July 11 on the University of Minnesota campus. Parking and meals will be provided. 
 

During this two-day workshop facilitated by Yahad in Unum educators, you will: 

  • Learn about the fate of the Jewish communities in the former Soviet Union and about the mass shootings in which they perished, known today as the Holocaust by Bullets.

  • Discover Yahad in Unum’s investigative work in the archives and in the field: the organization has interviewed more than 7,400 eyewitnesses to those crimes and it has identified over 3,000 killing sites in Eastern Europe. 

  • Investigate excerpts from eyewitness testimonies and how these can used to enhance students’ critical thinking skills.

  • Get an overview of educational tools which will help you address this part of Holocaust history with your students. 

  • Learn about contemporary mass crimes investigated by Yahad in Unum: Mass killings of the Mayan population in Guatemala, Yazidi genocide in Iraq, war crimes in Ukraine. 

  • Discuss means of connecting the past with the present and of making the study of the Holocaust relevant to students’ lives.

Register here by June 15
DAY 1 - Thursday, July 10
9:00- 9:40am
Introduction: General presentation about the work of Yahad - In Unum, founded by Father Patrick Desbois      
9:40 - 9:50am  Break
9:50 - 11:20am Jewish communities in the former Soviet Union
11:20 - 11:30am Break
11:30-12:30pm Holocaust by bullets: historical overview and steps of the crime. Part 1
12:30 - 1:15pm  Lunch
1:15 - 2:15pm Holocaust by bullets: historical overview and steps of the crime. Part 2
2:15 - 2:25pm Break
2:25 - 3:30pm Roma genocide in the former Soviet Union. Other victims of the Nazi killing units in the Soviet Union
3:30 - 3:45pm Break
3:45 - 5:30pm
How to investigate an 80-year old crime? Yahad - In Unum methodology of investigation. In Evidence, an         interactive map of the killing sites
DAY 2 - Friday, July 11
8:30 - 10:00am
Educational tools: Study Guides for Educators
10:00 - 10:15am Break
10:15 - 11:45am How to use Yahad – In Unum’s investigative tools in the classroom? A case study
11:45 - 12:30pm   Lunch
12:30 - 1:45pm Aid and rescue of Jews in the occupied Soviet territories. Motivations of the perpetrators
1:45 - 2:00pm Break
2:00 - 3:45pm Other genocides investigated by Yahad - In Unum: Massacres of the Mayan populations in Guatemala and   the Yazidi genocide
3:45 - 4:00pm Break
4:00 - 5:00pm Closing discussion: relevance of Holocaust education today
For information on other upcoming opportunities and events, please sign up to receive the CHGS Newsletter.
For educational resources, please see our Holocaust and Genocide Education pages.
"I cannot begin to express how grateful I am for the workshop. I gained knowledge of the topics, as well as teaching strategies. It was also very momentous because I had never had the opportunity to meet a survivor and hear part of their story.”
—Participant in "The Holocaust in European Memory" summer institute
“I have taken 5+ workshops through the UofM, many on the topic of genocide. Each one has been unique and full of great resources and amazing presenters."
—Participant in "Genocide in Africa: Darfur and Rwanda" summer institute