Wisconsin Event Helps Teachers Learn From Holocaust Survivors

A workshop at La Crosse’s Viterbo University this week is bringing educators and Holocaust survivors together. This is the 10th anniversary of the Teaching the Holocaust workshop.

Eva Schloss and Anne Frank were neighbors in Amsterdam. Like the Franks, Schloss and her family went into hiding from the Nazis and were eventually caught. As a teenager, she was sent to Auschwitz and survived.

After the war, Eva’s mother, Elfriede Geiringer, married Anne’s father, Otto Frank.

Schloss is among the long list of survivors to be a keynote speaker at the Teaching the Holocaust workshop.

“It’s very important to learn history, what had happened, and what mistakes the western world had made,” said Schloss.

Workshop coordinator Darryle Clott said teaching the Holocaust in schools should include more than just the facts.

“We can show our students what happens when people don’t accept other people’s differences and the importance of not being a bystander, because the Holocaust never could have happened without the bystanders,” Clott said.

Clott said teachers should incorporate more memoirs and personal stories in their lessons.

Schloss’ story about surviving Auschwitz and life after liberation was featured on WPR’s Newsmakers series.