The Black and White

(This is shared from an official press release from Echoes and Reflections)

Pilgrim teacher, Dr. Michael Xiarhos, has been selected for the Echoes & Reflections Echoes & Reflections Advanced Learning Seminar in Poland with Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, July 7-15. The 9-day seminar will give 30 teachers, representing 21 different states, in-depth learning about the Holocaust and Echoes & Reflections teaching resources, including visits to historical sites, such as Warsaw, Treblinka, Lodz, Auschwitz-Birkenau and Krakow, to gain extensive knowledge about prewar Jewish life as well as the Holocaust, in the very places where its atrocities took place.

“The trip will give educators who already have a strong knowledge of the Holocaust an opportunity to develop a more personal connection to what they are teaching,” said Sheryl Ochayon, Yad Vashem’s Project Director for Echoes & Reflections, and the leader of the program. “This experience carries over into the classroom and helps educators convey to students not only that Jews in prewar Poland were real human beings who were not born victims, but also that the Holocaust is a part of our shared human story.”

The program is designed for U.S. middle and high school educators and aims to strengthen the knowledge and skills needed to effectively teach the complex history of the Holocaust to their students. Tuition and hotel costs are completely subsidized by Echoes & Reflections.

Following the trip, in addition to bringing their learning to students, participants will complete post-seminar work such as arranging an Echoes & Reflections professional development program for teachers in their areas, creating a lesson plan, or presenting at a local conference.

Applications for the 2026 program are expected to open later this year. For more information, visit echoesandreflections.org/advanced-learning-programs.

Echoes & Reflections supports teachers with comprehensive and free resources from three world leaders in the field, ADL, USC Shoah Foundation, and Yad Vashem.

About Echoes & Reflections

Echoes & Reflections is a premier source for Holocaust educational materials and dynamic content. We partner with educators to support them, foster confidence, and amplify their skills and resources to teach about the Holocaust in a comprehensive and meaningful way. Since 2005, Echoes & Reflections has impacted more than 168,000 educators, reaching an estimated ten million students across the United States. More at echoesandreflections.org.

About Yad Vashem – World Holocaust Remembrance Center

Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, is entrusted with Holocaust commemoration, documentation, research and education: remembering the six million Jews murdered by the German Nazis and their collaborators; commemorating the destroyed Jewish communities, the ghetto and resistance fighters; and honoring the Righteous Among the Nations who risked their lives to rescue Jews during the Holocaust. More at yadvashem.org.