Upcoming Events
Through the Eyes of Children: Poland during the Holocaust and Today | A trip not about touring, but connecting - connecting to history, connecting to people, and understanding that each one of us has the power to make a difference.
Children experienced the Holocaust in a unique way. Some had their identities changed and lived with new families, others became the young providers for sick parents and siblings. 1.5 million children were killed in the Holocaust. Amidst the tumultuous landscape, children still created adventure, experienced the ups and downs of friendship and love, and some even wrote it all down for future generations to serve as witnesses to their tenacity, creativity, and spirit.
"I would enthusiastically recommend this program. I believe that nowhere else would a traveler get the experiences that you provided." - Traveler, 2018
Trip includes: Warsaw, Warsaw Zoo, Treblinka, Tykocin (where we will help restore a Jewish cemetery), Bialystok, Krakow, Schindler's Factory, Auschwitz-Birkenau; meetings with a survivor, rescuer, and local educators and students; and Shabbat dinner in Krakow.
"I would definitely recommend this trip to others. Absolutely. The trip gave me a much needed moral clarity about what matters in the world, in politics, and in human relations." - 2018 Traveler
Deadline for application: February 1, 2020.
Itinerary (subject to change)
DAY 1, Saturday, July 4 - Arrive Warsaw | Meet group, Welcome Dinner, optional evening walking tour
DAY 2, Sunday, July 5 - Warsaw | Warsaw Ghetto, POLIN Museum
DAY 3, Monday, July 6 - Warsaw to Bialystok by bus | Treblinka, meet with rescuers - Righteous Among Nations, Overnight in Bialystok
DAY 4, Tuesday, July 7 - Bialystok | Visit Tykocin, volunteer work to maintain Jewish cemetery; tour provided by local students
DAY 5, Wednesday, July 8 - Bialystok to Krakow by train | Tour Krakow Jewish heritage sites; visit Galicia Jewish Museum, Schindler’s Factory
DAY 6, Thursday, July 9 - Krakow | Kazimierz District; afternoon visit to Auschwitz
DAY 7, Friday, July 10 - Krakow | Morning visit to Birkenau, lunch at the Oswiecim Jewish Center. Optional afternoon walking tour in Krakow. Closing dinner with live Klezmer music.
DAY 8, Saturday, July 11 - Depart Krakow
This trip is geared toward those who want an in-depth and meaningful experience with other open-minded travelers. Pre-reading materials will be suggested, and a pre-trip meeting will be held in Seattle in late May. For those researching and exploring their own family histories, we are happy to help make suggestions or connections. Clock hours are provided for Washington State teachers. Custom extensions are available. Please note: Each day’s schedule is quite full. Please consider extending your trip if you want more personal exploratory time. This trip includes a significant amount of walking.
Costs
$2995 (per person, double occupancy) | Single room supplement: $590
$500 deposit is due upon application.The deposit will be applied to the payment balance. Payment due in full May 1, 2020. Costs are based on a group size of 15 and include: accommodation in 4- and 5-star hotels, breakfast daily, 4 lunches, 3 dinners, land transportation, all guides, and entry fees. Cost does not include airfare.
Scholarships for Teachers - To apply for scholarship funds, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. To be eligible, you must currently be teaching in a classroom. Scholarships range from $500-$1000. Deadline for scholarship application - January 1, 2020.
Questions? Email Ilana Cone Kennedy, Director of Education at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
From past travelers:
"From the bottom of my heart, thank you for this experience. I didn't know what to expect at the beginning but I know I could never have asked for a better experience."
"The experience was once in a lifetime and the information was so in depth!"
"I am blown away by the experience I had between the people I met, the tour guides we were lucky enough to have, as well as the opportunities for seeing what tourists don't get to see."
"I'm still processing all the information we received. It was truly a trip of a lifetime. Thank you!"
"The meaning and depth of emotion and learning with both head and heart seems to increase as time passes and I contemplate all I experienced."
"I never experienced a tour that was so well put together and carried out as this one."
"The trip was one of the best experiences of my life. I will never forget it."
January 23, 2020 | 4-5pm
WEBINAR - Holocaust Education 101: Why and How to Teach it in Washington State
One clock hour available for attending!
Join Holocaust Center for Humanity staff for one of two live, interactive and free info sessions. We will discuss new Washington State legislation that supports Holocaust education passed earlier this year, Holocaust Center resources, and local connections to the Holocaust. Meet our Executive Director, the Education Department, and a local Holocaust survivor.
Register for Thursday, January 23 | 4pm-5pm
Simple registration and log-in with Zoom!
Open to all: teachers, administrators, and parents are welcome.
Questions? Contact Julia: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Commemorating International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 75th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz | January 25, 2020, 7:30pm | New Location! Town Hall, Seattle - 1119 8th Avenue, Seattle WA 98101 | Free - Advanced Registration Required
The story of Jose Arturo Castellanos, the Latin American Wallenberg. Screening of the documentary short film with live musical soundtrack.
"THE RESCUE - A Live Film-Concerto" is a performative film experience that combines a 60-min documentary film with a live musical performance of its musical soundtrack - to recount the little-known story of 'Righteous' Colonel José Arturo Castellanos. Castellanos collaborated with his Jewish friend to save thousands of Jewish lives during the Holocaust by issuing Salvadoran nationality certificates while working as a diplomat; putting his life and family at great risk. This ground-breaking Film-Concerto concept was developed by filmmakers Alvaro and Boris Castellanos, grandsons of Colonel Castellanos as an emotionally engaging and uplifting way to tell the story of their grandfather and as a pioneering narrative in Holocaust education and commemoration of the "Righteous Among the Nations."
Town Hall - Location, Directions, Parking
This program is made possible by a generous gift from Steven Baral.
Teacher Workshop | March 19, 2020 | 9:00am - 3:30pm | At the Henry and Sandra Friedman Holocaust Center for Humanity
Lunch provided. 6 Clock Hours. Registration Fee - $25.
Participants will:
- be able to differentiate types of misinformation
- understand how misinformation is created and spreads
- apply digital forensics and fact-checking tools and skills to verify information and debunk misinformation
- connect news literacy to civic engagement and recognizing the standards of quality journalism
- explore of current trends in misinformation and conspiracy theories relating to Holocaust denial
Presented by John Silva, NBCT Director of Education for the News Literacy Project.
March 26, 2020 | 9:00am - 3:30pm | Gonzaga University, Foley Center Library | Registration Required
What did Americans know and how did conditions in the United States impact Americans' responses to the Holocaust?
Sessions include:
- Explore "Americans and the Holocaust" exhibit on display for a short time at Gonzaga
- Immigration Trends Then and Now
- Letters from a Dachau Liberator
- What did Americans know? Uncovering newspapers in Washington State during the Holocaust
- Practical lessons and resources for the classroom
6 clock hours and lunch provided. $25 registration fee.
More about the "Americans and the Holocaust" exhibit at Gonzaga, March 16th - April 27, 2020.
Presented by the Holocaust Center for Humanity in partnership with the Foley Library at Gonzaga University, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
We are in this together. Find out what you can do.
This interactive, discussion-based program engages participants by examining connections between historic and contemporary antisemitism, addressing current events, and providing practical tools for responding to antisemitism and hate in our society.
"Confronting Antisemitism and Intolerance" is a 1-2 hour interactive presentation available for schools, businesses, and organizations. Presentations can be tailored to your group's needs.
Questions or to schedule a presentation for your group, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Funding for Confronting Antisemitism and Intolerance: A Program for the Community was made possible, in part, by a grant from the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle.
"I believe very strongly this is the most hopeful place in the city." - Local Holocaust Survivor Steve Adler
Finding Light in the Darkness - Through stories and artifacts of Washington State Holocaust survivors, the museum’s exhibit engages visitors in this history and challenges them to consider how each person’s actions make a difference.
Visitors to the Holocaust Center can take a Virtual Reality tour of the Anne Frank annex, interact with embedded testimony screens that feature survivors and stories of coming to Seattle, explore artifacts that bring history to life, and learn about local students who are upstanders in their schools and communities.
TICKETS
Open Wednesdays and Sundays | 10am - 4pm
Group Tours & Field Trips by appointment every day except Saturday
At the Henry and Sandra Friedman Holocaust Center for Humanity | 2045 2nd Avenue, Seattle, WA 98121
At the entrance to the Holocaust Center for Humanity are photos of children who experienced the Holocaust. All are survivors who later moved to the Seattle region, with the exception of one. Come visit and learn more about the stories. Photo by Alan Berner, Seattle Times staff photographer.
A bookcase opens to reveal a photograph of the stairs leading to Anne Frank's hiding place in Amsterdam during the Nazi occupation. Explore this feature and learn more about Anne Frank when you visit the Holocaust Center. Photo by Alan Berner, Seattle Times staff photographer.
A memorial to the 6 million Jewish people murdered in the Holocaust and the millions of other victims invites visitors to leave notes, prayers and wishes at the Holocaust Center. Photo by Alan Berner, Seattle Times staff photographer.
Train tracks at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in Poland at the Holocaust Center for Humanity. Designed by architects Olson Kundig. Photo by Stefanie Felix.
This exhibit was supported, in part, by 4Culture/King County Lodging Tax and The State of Washington.
The Light of Hope - Spokane Jewish Cultural Film Festival
Saturday, February 1, 2020 | 7:00pm | In Spanish, Catalan, and French (English Subtitles) - 96 mins | Tickets and More Info
In the early 1940s, refugees from all over Europe sought shelter in southwest France, escaping persecution from the Nazis and Franco’s regime in Spain. Among them are countless women, some pregnant, and their small children. Young Red Cross nurse Elisabeth Eidenbenz transforms an old villa into a birth clinic, saving mothers and children alike from certain death. But soon authorities in Nazi-occupied France demand that she hand over all Jewish refugees and their children. Based on a true story, “The Light of Hope” offers a vivid and inspiring look at a largely untold chapter of Jewish (and world) history.
The Holocaust Center for Humanity is a proud sponsor of the Spokane Jewish Cultural Film Festival.
Americans and the Holocaust - Exhibit
March 16 - April 27, 2020 | Foley Library, Gonzaga University, Spokane | Learn More
Foley Library is one of 50 U.S. libraries selected to host Americans and the Holocaust, a traveling exhibition from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum that examines the motives, pressures and fears that shaped Americans’ responses to Nazism, war and genocide in Europe during the 1930s and 1940s. Americans and the Holocaust will be on display in the Rare Reading Room on the 3rd floor of Foley Library, along with a series of related special events presented by the Gonzaga Institute for Hate Studies and supported by the Spokane County Human Rights Task Force, from to March 16th - April 27th, 2020.
Related programming: Teacher workshop - "America and the Holocaust" at Gonzaga, March 26. Sponsored by the Holocaust Center for Humanity and the Foley Library.