MCHE staff attend IWitness Conference at Shoah Foundation Institute (USC)
Needle in the Bone – author talk by Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg (KC Library)
Hollywood and the Holocaust film series
Carol Sader elected MCHE Board President
Yom HaShoah Commemoration pays tribute to New Americans by featuring local cantors singing songs of the period
Partnered with Coterie Theatre to provide educational support for Number the Stars
Together We Remember – congregational educators visit United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
White Rose Student Essay Contest moves to a document-based format to better align with Common Core standards – Theme – Flight from the Reich: The Search for Safe Havens
White Rose Student Essay Contest Educator workshop Exploring the Essay
Echoes and Reflections training – October 2013 offered in conjunction with KCPT and ADL
Echoes and Reflections training – November 2013 offered in conjunction with Yad Vashem
Kristallnacht Commemoration – 75 Years – Remembering the Synagogues
Collective Voices recognized with “Unique Concept” award by Nonprofit Connect
Naomi Berenson and Leah Warshawski: A Conversation Between Novelist and Filmmaker (KC Library)
Kristallnacht Commemoration: “Witnesses to the Holocaust: Jewish Responses”
Sidonia’s Thread – author talk by Hanna Perlstein Marcus
Approval of new 3-year strategic plan
MCHE works with Command and General Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth as part of its “Genocide and the Military Role: Identification, Prevention, Intervention” course – Fran Sternberg lectures on the Holocaust, interwar Polish Jewry, and antisemitism
Course for Educators: “1942 and the Final Solution”
White Rose Student Essay Contest – 17th year — 1942: Destruction of the Ghettos in Poland
Echoes and Reflections training
2011
Steve Chick elected MCHE Board President – Annual Meeting combined with White Rose Essay Contest Reception
18th Anniversary Film Series featuring Witnesses to the Holocaust DVD series
TO LIFE – 18th Anniversary celebration featuring Marvin Hamlisch at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts
MCHE creates White Rose Chai Society for annual donors of $1,800 and up
HolocaustEDU: An Interdisciplinary Conference for College and University Faculty
MCHE designated by ADL, Shoah Foundation Institute and Yad Vashem as training hub for Echoes and Reflections
Yom HaShoah Commemoration featuring readings about East European shtetlekh
Provided docent training in support of Fighting the Fires of Hate: America and the Nazi Book Burnings sponsored by the Wyandotte County Library
Relating the Holocaust to Other Genocides Seminar Series – taught by cadre
Summer Course Responses to the Holocaust: Perpetrators, Victims, Bystanders taught by Dr. Robert Jan van Pelt, Dr. Severin Hochberg and Mitch Braff
White Rose Student Essay Contest – 16th year — Kansas City Survivors: History and Lessons of the Holocaust
Launch of newly redesigned web site
2010
Annual Meeting featuring premier of “Witnesses to the Holocaust: Auschwitz”
Yom HaShoah program featuring “Witnesses to the Holocaust: Liberation”
Kristallnacht program featuring “Different Trains” in partnership with UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance
Course for teachers at Eisenhower Library:
First online course: History of the Holocaust
Approval of amended by-laws
DEADLY MEDICINE: CREATING THE MASTER RACE – traveling exhibition from U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, in partnership with the National Archives at Kansas City
Film screening: A Film Unfinished
White Rose Student Essay Contest – 15th year — Jewish Resistance During the Holocaust
2009
Mark Adams elected MCHE President; Annual Meeting Speaker – Stanlee Stahl, Jewish Foundation for the Righteous: Rescue During the Holocaust
Partnership with Avila University: “A Blessing to One Another: Pope John Paul II and the Jewish People” – teacher workshop facilitated by Jessica Rockhold and community talk presented by Fran Sternberg
Jane Redman, Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, presents teacher and student workshops
White Rose Student Essay Contest expanded to 18 counties
Film Screening: “Defiance”
Day trip to Abilene, KS commemorating the 65th anniversary of D-Day
Launch of “Collective Voices,” a writing workshop for children and grandchildren of survivors
Courses for Educators: “History of the Holocaust” and “Teaching the Holocaust in an Age of Genocide”
Exhibition: Saving the Little Brown Monkey: The True Wartime Escape of Margret and H.A. Rey, in cooperation with the Jewish Community Center – programs featuring illustrator Allan Drummond, author Louise Borden, and a celebrity reading panel
Completion of thematic DVDs for Witnesses to the Holocaust Archive: In Hiding, Ghettos, Kristallnacht, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Liberation – Kristallnacht program featuring related film
MCHE’s first online course for educators: History of the Holocaust
Summer Course: Holocaust History and Resources for Educators
Summer Course: Teaching the Holocaust in an Age of Genocide- co-facilitated by Jessica Rockhold and Mary Johnson of Facing History and Ourselves
White Rose Student Essay Contest – 14th year — Children in Hiding: Dilemmas and Decisions
2008
Development of new strategic plan
Bushman Community Endowment Year One
Dr. Michael Devine speaks at Annual Meeting: “Harry S. Truman and Cyrus the Great”
MCHE’s Portrait 2000 Exhibit at Truman Library and at State Capitol in Topeka
Completion of Witness Archive, Phase Two – all witness tapes edited to classroom-appropriate length
Film Benefit: “The Rape of Europa”
Speaker Series Commemorating MCHE’s 15th Anniversary
“Auschwitz Through the Lens of the SS,” presented by Rebecca Erbelding, Archivist, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Not Your Father’s Antisemitism – talk and book signing by Dr. Michael Berenbaum – in partnership with Jewish Community Relations Bureau/American Jewish Committee
Speaking of Darfur: talk and book signing by author and human rights activist John Prendergast – partnership with Rainy Day Books
Echoes and Reflections curriculum workshop presented by MCHE
“History and Memory” – graduate course for teachers
Partnership with the Coterie Theatre, “And Then They Came for Me”
Publication of survivor writings from The Memory Project
MCHE’s “The Warsaw Ghetto — A Pictorial Remembrance” displayed at the Jewish Federation of Northwest Indiana
Community Memorial Programs at Rockhurst University, University of Kansas, Ft. Leavenworth Military Base
Exhibit: “Klaus Frank: Caricaturing Leadership — The 1940s”
Exhibit: “The Smallest Witnesses: The Conflict in Darfur Through Children’s Eyes”/Speaker: Georgette Gagnon, Deputy Director, Human Rights Watch, Africa Division
Work begun to establish Witness Archive/testimonies converted to digital format
MCHE Newsletter receives Council on Philanthropy’s First Place Philly Award for best non-profit communication
2005
Bill Kort elected MCHE president
KCPT Partnership: “Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State”/Portrait 2000 displayed at KCPT
“Persecution of Homosexuals during the Holocaust,” exhibit, co-sponsored with Kansas City Jewish Museum/Museum Without Walls
HEART – University Roundtable inaugurated (Holocaust Education Academic Roundtable)
“Teaching the Holocaust in Catholic Secondary Schools”
Talk by Michael Phayer on the Church and the Holocaust, in partnership with Rockhurst University
Partnership with Truman Library: “War Crimes and International Law: The Legacy of Nuremberg”
Educational presentations: Missouri Council for the Social Studies, Kansas Association of Middle Level Educators, National Council for the Social Studies
Shipment of resource collections to Jewish communities of Romania, in partnership with the Jewish Federation
Coordinate KC interfaith contingent for International March of the Living
La Causa (story of Cesar Chavez) presented for schools and at Guadalupe Center
Kristallnacht program: Readers Theater of “No Way Out” (roles portrayed by MCHE board members and friends)
2004
Kansas City Together — training for Kansas City, Missouri Police Department, in partnership with the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, Project Equality, and Guadalupe Center
Memory (writing) Project for survivors, in conjunction with U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
Panel: Holocaust in Hungary
Cooperative program with Practical Center for Bioethics: Eugenics and Racism
Film benefit with Simon Wiesenthal Center: “Unlikely Heroes”
Exhibit: “State of Terror: Germany 1933-1939”
Outreach teacher education: Lincoln, Nebraska (ADL); Wichita (Wichita Jewish Federation), Missouri Council of the Social Studies
Kristallnacht program with JCC and St. Andrew Church of Olathe – Professor Hubert Locke
2003
Blanche Sosland elected MCHE president
The Kansas City Star publishes Star in Education Holocaust supplement for area classrooms
Nearly 900 attend MCHE’s Tenth Anniversary Celebration, Overland Park Convention Center
Jessica Rockhold hired as school outreach coordinator (now Director of School Programs and Teacher Education)
Masters and Mentors conference at United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
MCHE hosts Romanian teachers for cadre class
MCHE 10th Anniversary Journal wins Greater KC Council on Philanthropy’s First Place Award, Special Event Category
Talk by Peter Gay, author of My German Question, co-sponsored with German Studies Department, University of Kansas
Kristallnacht panel featuring German survivors and refugees
Co-sponsorship of “Bonhoeffer” at Halfway to Hollywood Film Festival
Co-sponsored Jewish Book Fair talk by Alexandra Zapruder, editor of Salvaged Pages, Young Writers’ Diaries from the Holocaust
2002
Partnership with Avila College on their production of Kindertransport
Partnership with the Coterie Theatre, “Playing for Time”
Mosaic of Memories slide program, based on Portrait 2000, developed for classroom and community groups
Partnership with Kansas City Symphony for Holocaust-themed concert
MCHE and Life in a Jar (Uniontown, Kansas) honored at Temple B’nai Jehudah’s Tikkun Olam dinner
Teacher open house featuring Uniontown High School’s “Life in a Jar,” the story of Irena Sendler
Masters and Mentors project expands teaching cadre
Partnership with Truman Library, “Aftermath of the Holocaust: Truman and the Postwar World” (graduate course for educators)
MCHE hosts international teachers from Croatia
Harry Reicher lecture, “Law and the Holocaust: The Ultimate Oxymoron;” partnership with UMKC School of Law
From the Heart School Patron Project launched to donate class sets to area middle and high schools
MCHE newsletter awarded North Star Award at the Beacon of Freedom Celebration Dinner
Kristallnacht Lecture: James Carroll, Constantine’s Sword, co-sponsored with UMKC and the JCC Book Fair
Jean Zeldin elected treasurer, Association of Holocaust Organizations
Film benefit: “Secret Lives: Hidden Children and Their Rescuers”
Essay contest expanded to include 8th and 9th grades
2001
Colleen Ligibel becomes MCHE president
“Beyond Tolerance” workshop, for Martin Luther King Day Celebration
Cadre members present at KAMLE Conference (Kansas Association for Middle Level Educators) and regional conference of Kansas Council for Social Studies.
Andrea Warren writes Surviving Hitler based on the life of Jack Mandelbaum.
Publication of From the Heart: Life Before and After the Holocaust — A Mosaic of Memories by Kansas City Star Books
MCHE video “The Holocaust: Through Our Own Eyes” broadcast on KCPT for the first time
First Baptist Church of Raytown displays Portrait 2000; invites survivors to Freedom Celebration
Cadre repeats “Core Concepts in Teaching the Holocaust,” offered through Baker University; MCHE chosen as one of ten sites to host European teachers under auspices of Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education
Teacher workshop offered with the Truman Library: “Implications of the Holocaust: US Response, KC Connections”
MCHE one of 16 centers designated by Jewish Foundation for the Righteous as a Center of Excellence.
Lecture by Deborah Lipstadt, author of Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory” – co-sponsored by Congregation Beth Shalom
2000
Women and the Holocaust series, cosponsored with UMKC
Portrait 2000 exhibit completed; displayed at Jewish Community Campus and at Science City at Union Station
MCHE hosts Association of Holocaust Organizations’ Conference
MCHE cosponsors Jackie Robinson exhibit at Negro Leagues Baseball Museum
Michael Marrus lecture, cosponsored with Department of German Studies at University of Kansas
Elie Wiesel lecture, MCHE a cosponsor with Truman Library & Jewish Federation
Remember the Children, Daniel’s Story, work in association with Science City and U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
Intergenerational programs, “What My Parents Told Me”
1999
Karen Herman elected MCHE president
Web site launched (www.mchekc.org)
MCHE works with Lyric Opera on production of “Brundibar”
“The Last Days” – free high school screenings, courtesy of AMC Theatres; also worked with Fine Arts Theatre and KU Hillel on screenings
Kindertransport benefit at Quality Hill Playhouse
Program on stolen Holocaust art, cosponsored with B’nai Brith and Beth Torah
Cadre conference at US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Summer workshop: “TECHniques for Teaching the Holocaust”
Cadre conducts resource training for Truman Library and Eisenhower Library
1998
Lecture series in partnership with Jewish Federation and the Truman Library: Joe Persico, Michael Benson, and Greg Bradsher
MCHE cosponsors Gerda Weismann Klein lecture with Johnson County Community College
Program on rescuers, cosponsored with Museum Without Walls, Temple B’nai Jehudah, and Kansas City Art Institute
Jean Zeldin elected to Board of Directors, Association of Holocaust Organizations
Headquarters remodeling & dedication
Fran Sternberg hired as program assistant (now Director of University Programs and Adult Education)
Gay Ramsey hired as evening resource assistant – establishes evening hours for resource center
1997
Art Federman elected MCHE president
KC Camerata, Holocaust musical program “The Courage to Remember: The Holocaust 1933-1945” at Unity Temple
MCHE hosts Morris Dees lecture at Rockhurst College
Teaching Tolerance workshop for teachers
Remembrance and Hope Resource Chests created and piloted
IWitness speakers bureau programs launched
1996
First newsletter published
Nelly Toll exhibit at Bruce Watkins Cultural Heritage Center
MCHE works with The Coterie on production of “Anne Frank and Me”
“The Holocaust: Through Our Own Eyes” wins award for Best Informational Video from KC Chapter of the International Television Association
MCHE becomes an affiliate agency of the Jewish Federation
White Rose Membership Society established
Federman Conference for local teachers at U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
1995
MCHE assumes responsibility for Holocaust speakers bureau from JCRB
Susan Zucotti, author of Italians and the Holocaust, cosponsored with Bisceglia Italian Cultural Center and Rockhurst College
MCHE partners with RLDS on Anne Frank exhibit at the church
Mark Weitzman, Director, Simon Wiesenthal Center Task Force Against Hate: “Tolerance and Terrorism”
Teaching Cadre formed
White Rose Student Essay Contest launched
1994
Witness to the Holocaust project: videotaping of 48 witnesses, including camp survivors, those in hiding, refugees, liberators, German citizen, psychologist, resistance member; Production of “The Holocaust: Through Our Own Eyes” documentary
Schindler’s List screening for 600 guests
Yom HaShoah talk by Prof. Arnost Lustig; partnership with Kansas City Art Institute
Yaffa Eliach programs, cosponsored with Kehilath Israel Synagogue and RLDS World Church Headquarters
Warsaw Ghetto Exhibit at RLDS Headquarters
Partnership with Missouri Repertory Theatre on their production of “The Deputy”
Jean Zeldin appointed to Kansas Holocaust Commission
Endowment campaign kickoff event with Ernie Michel
1993
Incorporated in April; office established at Jewish Community Campus, Overland Park, Kansas
Jack Mandelbaum serves as first president; Isak Federman, chairman
Jean Zeldin hired as executive director
Warsaw Ghetto exhibit displayed at Jewish Community Campus & at UMKC Miller Nichols Library
Alison Owings, author of Frauen, speaks at Jewish Community Campus – cosponsored with Rainy Day Books
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Our mission is to teach the history of the Holocaust, applying its lessons to counter indifference, intolerance, and genocide.
