We have to prevent similar atrocities from happening again. People should come together the moment there is danger. Endangering one group means endangering all of us. - Olga Lengyel (Founder of The Olga Lengyel Institute)
What We Do
The Holocaust Educator Network of Michigan was established with the support of The Olga Lengyel Institute for Holocaust Studies and Human Rights (TOLI) to further its mission of bringing the lessons of the Holocaust into today’s world. Michigan was one of five original satellite sites established by TOLI in 2009 to serve teachers in Michigan and across the region.
Since its founding, the Holocaust Educator Network of Michigan has reached teachers across Michigan and in neighboring states with high quality teacher professional development and networking opportunities that deepen both content knowledge and teaching practices and connect teachers in their classrooms across the diverse communities of our state.
This program is made possible through our additional partnership with The Zekelman Holocaust Center (Farmington Hills, MI) so participants are exposed to the resources and programs of the museum. Michigan teachers earn 30 hours of SCECH credit for the one-week seminar, and teachers interested can earn graduate credit through Western Michigan University.
Seminar co-directors John Farris and Corey Harbaugh pose with Paula Marks Bolton, a Holocaust survivor who shares her testimony for participants at the seminar each summer, a highlight of our program.
The Holocaust Memorial Center prepared a video in 2017 featuring Paula, and it is linked here for past participants to reconnect with this beautiful messenger and educator in our program, and as an introduction to her story for prospective participants: What Could Have Been.