20-22 January, an international seminar for teachers took place in the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum. 44 teachers from all over Lithuania interested in the Holocaust education, attended the seminar.
The seminar “The Holocaust, collaboration and mass extermination in Lithuania” was conducted in Lithuanian, English and French. The lectures were by the lecturers from Estonia, France, Germany, Lithuania and the USA. At the beginning of the seminar the speeches were given by the French Ambassador Philippe Jeantaud, the representative of French organisation Memorial de la Shoah Bruno Boyer, the Director of the Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum Markas Zingeris, the Ambassador at large at the Lithuanian MFA Dainius Junevicius, a representative of the Ministry of Education and Science Rimantas Jokimaitis. The executive director of the International Commission addressed to the audience: “Today teachers are responsible for the knowledge given to the young generation and the historical perception instilled into their students.”
During a very intense three-day programme the teachers were given lectures, which evolved questions and the need of answers; some thematical educational programmes were also present at the museum expositions.
The seminar was co-organised by the Memorial de la Shoah (France), the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum and the Secretariat of the International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania