Holocaust Warnings

Can the Holocaust provide a template for understanding and confronting extremism today?

The Holocaust began with words – hateful words aimed at Jews, and others. Words can encourage and compliment, but words also can startle and wound people personally and in public ways. Words can poison an atmosphere. Words matter. When a world-famous rapper, an NBA star, and other prominent people spread anti-Jewish vitriol on social media sites, they add to fears that public figures are normalizing hate and ramping up the risk of violence in America, a country already experiencing a sharp increase in antisemitism. More dangerous than Nazis with torches chanting, ‘Jews will not replace us,’ are political leaders and others espousing those same conspiracy theories in increasingly normalized ways. Can the Holocaust provide a template for understanding and confronting extremism today?

WVIA, in partnership with Misericordia University, presents a multi-part project with world-renowned scholars that will help to educate our regional audience about the importance and weight of words in civil discourse. We want to shine our powerful spotlight on this growing problem and bring our community together to educate and influence change.

We believe a small number of people working together can create big change. The rising vitriol and divisiveness across our country compel us to act. Here in our region, we want to highlight this issue, facilitate a community dialogue, and create educational content all with the goal of bringing our community together to understand how hurtful words and unchallenged hatred can lead to violence against others.

Premieres Thursday, September 7th 9pm on WVIA TV.
Encore broadcasts Friday, September 8th 2pm & 7pm; Sunday, September 10th 1pm; Thursday, September 21st 9pm; Friday, September 22nd 2pm & 7pm

Listen to an ArtScene Interview with Dr. Carol Rittner, RSM

Resources

Commentary: We all must stand against terrorist attacks, antisemitism and Islamophobia by Rachel Garbow Monroe, Weinberg Foundation President and CEO

Reacting Consortium: Reacting to the Podcast with Kelly McFall.

Warnings: The Holocaust, Ukraine and Endangered American Democracy by Leonard Grob and John K. Roth

Thank you to these generous individuals, foundations, and community partners who helped to make Holocaust Warnings possible. Together we are standing against hate speech, extremism, and antisemitism in our region.

WVIA Education assembled a team of experts to create and distribute curricular materials to primary, middle, and high schools for Holocaust Warnings: American Antisemitism and Extremism. These materials are available to the civic and religious communities-at-large, as well as to teachers, clergy, and other interested people to support the education of students in the private and public schools in our 22-county region.

The curricula provides teachers with:

• A compilation of the best materials available to teach about the history of the Holocaust
• A unique program for social/emotional learning (SEL) in classrooms and school communities based upon the CASEL (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning) framework and the topics discussed at the Holocaust Warnings televised event. Both the primary and middle school/high school curricula culminate in a community–or school–based service project.

Curriculum Committee

Alissa Swarts, Director of Education
WVIA

Teresa Sabecky, Education Program Manager
WVIA

Michael Novrocki, Social Studies teacher
Lake-Lehman School District

Erin Pencek, SAP Coordinator
Northeast Educational Intermediate Unit 19

Michael Motsko, Safe Schools Coordinator/Data Lead
Northeast Educational Intermediate Unit 19

Amanda Caleb, Ph.D., MPH, Professor of Medical Humanities
Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine

Rachel Dwyer, Special Education teacher
Lakeland School District

Levi Y. Wolff, LPC, LMHC, MS, NCC
L.Y. Counseling, Kingston, PA

Vicki Austin, Senior Director of Grants and Education, WVIA

Special Advisor to the Committee

Carol Rittner, Ph.D., RSM