Phot credit: Ellsworth rally against anti-Semitism By Connor Clement WABI5, Bangor, Maine.
Updated: Jun. 14, 2021 at 11:04 PM EDT. (Heidi Omlor third from left.)
Heidi also petitioned for and succeeded in having Holocaust Education mandated in Maine Public Schools.
Joan:
Heidi, How and when did you become interested in Holocaust education?
Heidi:
“I first became interested in teaching about the Holocaust twelve years ago when I was teaching AP European history. I had a textbook that devoted more than one paragraph to the Holocaust, and I realized how little I knew.
I looked for some professional development but did not find a lot at first. Fortunately, I discovered that the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum offers the Belfer program for beginning teachers of the Holocaust every summer. So, in 2011 I went to Washington, D.C. and studied at the museum for a week.
I met a survivor from Auschwitz, the first I had ever met, and listened to many testimonies from other survivors. One survivor in particular, Helen Goldkind, challenged me to share the survivors’ stories with my students, reminding me that soon all the survivors would be gone. I can honestly say, this changed my life.
Helen told me it was now my responsibility to make sure they were never forgotten. I took this very seriously and began the journey to educate myself and others about the Holocaust.
I learned about the SMF “Journey on the Road to Freedom” through our mutual friend Ellen Widawsky. Ellen had signed up and asked me if I would accompany her. And boy am I glad I did!!
The story of Sousa Mendes spoke to me on many levels but mostly because he was not Jewish and yet he was concerned for the Jewish people. This has challenged me on a personal level to continue to find ways to stand up for not only the Jewish people but for any group that is oppressed.”
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