Canadian FM Baird & Education Minister Saar to Attend 30.1.12
Dedication of new International Seminars Wing at Yad Vashem
New International Seminars Wing Opens January 30
New building to meet increased interest in Holocaust education
Canadian Foreign Minister, Israel Education Minister to Attend Event
(January 27, 2012 – Jerusalem) On January 30, 2012, Yad Vashem will
inaugurate the new International Seminars Wing of the International School
for Holocaust Studies, generously supported by Joseph Gottdenker of Canada
along with Friends of Yad Vashem worldwide, and the new Edmond J. Safra
Lecture Hall, donated by the Edmond J. Safra Philanthropic Foundation. The
new wing adds 45,000 square feet of space to the International School, and
provides state-of-the-art facilities, to meet the ever-expanding demand for
educational seminars for teachers and opinion-shapers from Israel and around
the globe.
The inauguration event will take place with the participation of Canadian
Foreign Minister John Baird, Israeli Minister of Education Gideon Sa’ar, the
donors, dignitaries and educators currently participating in seminars at the
International School from Taiwan and Latin America. The event will take
place at 10:15 in Hebrew with English translation and is open to the press.
RSVP: 02 644 3410/2.
Since the establishment of the International School for Holocaust Studies in
1994 and the redevelopment of the entire campus, Yad Vashem has become a
world center for teaching about the Holocaust.
„Paradoxically, more than six decades later, it seems that interest in the
Holocaust, as well as the desire of educators to learn about the event and
acquire the tools for meaningful Holocaust education is only growing,” said
Avner Shalev, Chairman of Yad Vashem. „Over the past few years, the number
of seminars for educators has doubled; in the last year alone, the School
has hosted 67 seminars for educators and lay leaders from around the globe.”
The International School for Holocaust Studies holds seminars for educators
from some 55 countries around the world, as well as in Israel; develops
custom-made pedagogical tools for specific countries and age groups, in more
than 20 languages, and hosts hundreds of thousands of students and soldiers
annually.
The International Seminars Wing was designed by Guggenheim-Bloch, the
architectural firm behind the construction of the International School
building in 1999. It incorporates eleven new classrooms, a videoconference
suite, conference rooms and auxiliary facilities, as well as a 330-seat
lecture hall, which will greatly enrich the quality of the many large-scale
events and seminars run by the School for thousands of participants each
year.
The new International Seminars Wing was generously supported by: Joseph
Gottdenker, Canada; Rose Landschaft, Germany; Jane and Isaac Ladelsky,
Mexico; Prof. Dr. Jan Philipp Reemtsma, The Hamburg Foundation for the
Advancement of Science and Culture, Germany; The Klarman Family Foundation,
U.S.A.; Erika Herskovits, Germany; Rachel and Meir Yaskil, Israel; The
Gewolb Family, U.S.A.; Alfred von Oppenheim Foundation, Germany; Willie &
Rachel Moll (Molczadski), Canada; Paul and Pearl Caslow Foundation, Esther
and David Mann and Betty Breslaw, U.S.A.; Selma Gruder Horowitz, U.S.A.;
Lauren and Martin Geller, U.S.A.; Sara and Rolando Uziel, Mexico; Ivonne and
Samuel Geller, Mexico; J.B. and M.K. Pritzker Family Foundation, U.S.A.; The
Wolfson Family Charitable Trust, UK; La Fondation pour la Mémoire de la
Shoah, France; and The Marion and Norman Tanzman Charitable Foundation,
U.S.A.
The Edmond J. Safra Lecture Hall was generously supported by The Edmond J.
Safra Philanthropic Foundation, Switzerland.
