Tolerance training programs

Lessons of the Holocaust is a unique global training program for teachers and students meant to further understanding of human rights and social justice. 

Our grounding begins with the Holocaust because it serves as an academic framework to understand the rise of discrimination, its danger and its consequence. More importantly, the lessons of the Holocaust propel us to build a better world for all peoples, faiths and religions. 

The following is the outline of our Lessons of the Holocaust workshop:

Section I. The birth of Antisemitism as a unique form of faith based racism and discrimination throughout history. In this section, students will come to understand the history of antisemitism, its manifestations and variations over a 3,500 year period. In this framework, antisemitism is used to demonstrate the consequence of hate and intolerance and why combating all forms of discrimination is critical. 

Section II. Conspiracy theories and myths about victimized groups emerge as a way to legitimize hate and discrimination. In this course, students will be introduced to the various conspiracy theories that have circulated about Jewish people, as a faith based group. This will included an analysis of the infamous blood libel and the forgery of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. 

Section III. In this section, students will learn about the rise of Adolph Hitler, Nazism and the Holocaust. They will come to understand the process and layers of genocide and how it was possible for an entire nation to endorse the Genocide of the Jews, the Roma-Sinti, the LGBTQ2 and other minority groups. We will discuss concepts like the “Final Solution”, “Ghettos”, “Death Camps” and the aftermath of the Holocaust. 

Section IV. Following the Holocaust, the international community came together to ensure that a genocide and a global war of this magnitude never happens again. In this, it created various legal remedies and international structures. The United Nations, for example emerged from the ashes of the Holocaust, as did the Universal Convention on Human Rights. Institutions like the International Criminal Court and the UN Human Rights Commission were set up as a result of the Nuremberg Trials and the lessons learned.  But are these institutions unravelling today given the magnitude of international conflicts? How do we preserve notions of Human Rights?

Section V. In the final section of this workshop meant to advance tolerance and promote human rights, students will look at various considerations and definitions of discrimination and racism. The idea is to understand fully the variants of hate and therefore, to be enabled to counter them and promote diversity and inclusivity. A final document analysis will be undertaken using the working definition of Antisemitism as defined by the international community through the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. 

Section VI. The concluding session of Lessons of the Holocaust asks students to present on the lessons they have learned and cross-reference those lessons with modern day issues concerning human rights and countering antisemitism, hate and intolerance. Further questions and discussion will enable students to crystallize what they have learned. 

Resources: Students will have corresponding reading materials about the Holocaust and racism and discrimination. The following books will be assigned: Elie Wiesel – Night; Daniel Goldhagen, Hitler’s Willing Executioners; Anne Frank: The Diary of Anne Frank; Deborah Lipstadt – Antisemitism Here and Now & Denying the Holocaust; Robert Wistrich – Antisemitism from Antiquity to the Global Jihad.

As an extension of Lessons in the Holocaust, students may have the opportunity to join the organization in Europe on the ground.  To truly understand the consequence of hate and peel its layers (if ever really possible), there is nothing more impactful than standing at the gates of Auschwitz and seeing the magnitude of the largest genocide ever committed by humanity. 

From Darkness to Light is an immersive education program that brings together educators, law enforcement officials, political leaders and people of influence from all sectors of society.  The idea is to provide a universal educational platform that can enhance cultural proficiency and sensitivity and be applicable in all spheres of professional life. 

For educators, this program provides substantive context and tools to engage students at all levels about respect, acceptance, diversity and pluralism. Without these basic values that contribute to civil society, our social fabric can easily fray.

For law enforcement that operates on the front lines each day, understanding the critical nature of hate crime and hate speech is fundamental to their profession - particularly at the senior level. More and more, police services around the world are confronted by racial tension and must be equipped and sensitized to respond to it. 

Lesson Plan:

Section I. In the introductory session of this program, students are required to read a large number of materials and books relating to the Holocaust, genocide and discrimination. Students attend 2-3 workshops to review these materials and must attend the Lessons in the Holocaust workshop to qualify to attend. 

Section II. The program begins in Berlin, Germany at the Wannsee Conference House where the Final Solution was hatched. Students visit the mansion outside the city centre and review materials and documents that showcase how it was that the genocide was agreed upon and carried out. The students also meet with officials, visit memorial sites and the central Jewish museum. 

Section III. From Berlin, students fly to Krakow, Poland. In Krakow, students first begin by learning about the Polish Jewish community; visit its old synagogues and community centre; visit the renowned Oscar Schindler Factory and finally, travel to Auschwitz on a full day immersive guided educational program. 

Section IV. From Krakow, students fly to Israel for a three day immersive experience to understanding the aftermath of the Holocaust (by visiting Yad Vashem for example) and to visiting the old City of Jerusalem and finally, to participating in co-existence programs between Jewish people, Muslims, Beduins and Druze, among others. 

Section V. Upon returning home, students attend a debrief session.  At this session, they have an opportunity to explore questions and seek out more resources. They discuss how they will advance their educational program in their work spheres with possible presentations to their colleagues. 

Resource Materials/Required Reading: Elie Wiesel – Night; How Could this Happen – Dan McMillan; Max Eisen – By Chance Alone; Oscar Schinder – David Crowe; David Cesarani - Final Solution; 

FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT: Join Avi Abraham Benlolo, top Canadian Holocaust and Israel expert who has led 10 delegations on the most meaningful journey of your life - from understanding the Holocaust to the renewed life of the Jewish people in Israel.
The journey is planned for July 2022. To find out more about our application criteria and participation, please contact our office.   Due to confidentiality issues, this program may have restrictions.

When did women get the right to vote in Canada? What was the residential school system? Were Italians ever interned in labour camps? Why did Canadian officials say “none is too many” when it came to admitting Jews during the Second World War? This course will cover some of the key historical elements to human rights in Canada. 

Lesson Plan:

Section I: Canada came into being in 1867. Its history however evolved from colonialism of the British and the French. During this time, the colonist settlers subjugated and ethnically cleansed the Indigenous population. How do we reconcile today the horrific residential school system, the reservation system and the dislocation of the Indigenous school system. This lesson will look at this history…in conjunction with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and where we stand today in terms of justice and human rights for our indigenous communities. 

Section II: Canada also discriminated against the Chinese and Japanese communities. In 1880, at the insistence of the provincial government, Ottawa imposed a head tax of fifty dollars on all Chinese and Japanese immigrants; this tax would expand to five hundred dollars in 1900 and would remain in play until 1923. This was meant to discourage their immigration, although they were used as near slave labour to construct the railway. 

Section III: Its hard to imagine, but Canadian women only got the vote in 1918. In this course, we will look at the suffrage movement and the women’s rights movement as it evolved until the present time. We will discuss where things stand today and what we yet need to accomplish to achieve, equity, equality and full partnership in our country.

Section IV: In 1939 Canada turned away a ship called the St. Louis carrying some 900 Jewish people fleeing the gas chambers in Germany. Canadian officials said “none is too many” disallowing most Jewish people from entering the country. Between 1939 – 1945 – only 5,000 Jews were allowed in. As a result of closed borders everywhere, 6 million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust. 

Section V: In this lesson, we will discuss the internment camps set up by Canada during the Second World War. During the war, 22,000 Japanese people most of whom were Canadian citizens were interned in labour or concentration camps. About 10,347 were deported to Japan. Canadian Italians were treated in the same way as the history of this group has just become realized. What led to their internment? How has freedom been achieved today for these groups?

Section VI: The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms began changing Canada’s discriminatory past and policies. Freedoms given to all Canadians ushered in a new era. But it still took time for the LGBTQ2 community to gain acceptance and the Indigenous community was still suffering greatly with respect to the residential school system. In this section, we will look at how Canada began coming into its own and setting human rights policies.

Section VII: This final workshop brings us to an analysis of Canada’s human rights evolution up to today. Apologies have come forth from the government for past transgressions, but are they enough? Canada with its growing diverse population is increasingly finding it difficult to appease everyone – but can this be achieved? And what role can Canada play internationally in advancing human rights according to its policies? 

Materials/Resources: The Promise of Canada - Charlotte Gray; Truth and Reconciliation Commission; None is Too Many – Irving Abella and Harold Troper; Righting Canada's Wrongs: Japanese Canadian Internment in the Second World War - Masako Fukawa and Pamela Hickman; The Famous Five: Canada's Crusaders for Women's Rights – Barbara