The Cohen Center’s biannual Summer Institute is an intensive residential program held during the summer that brings educators together from across the United States and Europe. The Summer Institute typically takes place during one week in July. While the focus of each year’s program shifts over time, we always foreground the role of memory and witness in developing competencies for democratic citizenship.
Goals
- Enhancing practical pedagogical and methodological competencies necessary to effectively and responsibly teach and engage students in continual Holocaust and genocide studies.
- Identifying the processes by which genocide unfolds while identifying factors that move ordinary people to make a variety of behavioral choices.
- Empowering education to prevent genocide and crimes of mass atrocity by finding points of leverage, intervention and empowerment.
- Enabling civic engagement through the Cohen Center Fellowship to promote the mission of the Cohen Center through activities in schools and communities.
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2025 Summer Institute: Holocaust by Bullets
July 15-17, 2025 at Keene State College
Register here.
The 2025 Summer Institute will feature experts from Yahad - In Unum, the organization founded by Father Patrick Desbois, author of Holocaust By Bullets. Educators who attend this 2.5-day institute will learn about Yahad - In Unum’s investigative work pertaining to the fate of Jewish communities and other targeted groups in the former Soviet Union. Sessions will: focus on eyewitness testimonies and how these can be used to enhance students’ critical thinking skills, introduce educational tools and pedagogy (including a ready-made case study) for use in the classroom, and teach about connections to present mass crimes. The final half-day of the Institute will highlight resources and programs available through the Cohen Center to support teachers.
Educators who participate in the Institute will earn 20 hours of Continuing Education credit and receive teaching resources, including flash drives with two study guides, video excerpts from eyewitness testimonies, books, and other resources. Breakfasts, lunches, and coffee breaks are provided throughout the Institute. This is a residential program that includes three nights of housing on campus. The final day of the workshop will be a half day. A full schedule for the Summer Institute will be provided to attendees prior to their arrival on campus.
Learning Outcomes:
- Learn about the fate of the Jewish communities and other targeted groups in the former Soviet Union while wrestling with the challenges of categorizing behavior.
- Discover Yahad - In Unum’s investigative work and forensic methodology.
- Investigate excerpts from eyewitness testimonies and how these can be used to enhance students’ critical thinking skills.
- Get an overview of educational tools and pedagogy (including a case study) which can be used in your classroom.
- Learn about contemporary mass crimes investigated by Yahad - In Unum: mass killings of the Mayan population in Guatemala, Yazidi genocide in Iraq, and 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.
- Learn about programs and resources available through the Cohen Center to support teachers.
Please note that space is limited and registration will close no later than June 30, 2025 (unless spaces fill sooner). Register here.
CCHGS Fellows
Attendees who complete the Institute join a corps of educators who serve as leaders in Holocaust and genocide education in their schools, communities, and professional organizations and may assist the Center in implementing its mission. Examples of Cohen Center Fellows contributions may include:
- Serving as regional contacts
- Presenting a workshop at a professional conference
- Writing an article for a newspaper or professional journal
- Conducting a book discussion in your community or a present a lecture
- Developing a lesson plans for distribution
- Coordinating community events
CCHGS Fellows’ Benefits
- Special invitations to events and programs
- Membership in the Cohen Center Professional Community of Practice
James H. White/Sibylle Sarah Niemoeller-von Sell Award
Educators who are interested in participating in the Summer Institute may be eligible to apply for partial funding to offset the cost of their participation, provided that they do not have other professional development funds available. Learn more about eligibility and fill out an application here.
