Program Educating to Remember

The project “Traces to Remember” aims to keep the testimony of the Holocaust survivors alive, as a way to prevent the repetition of one of the most sinister chapters in the history of humanity. It highlights the respect for life, liberty and human dignity, as well as adopting the historical truth of the Holocaust perpetrated against the Jewish people and other victims of minority groups during World War II, since this is one of the most evidenced genocides and recognized as a historical event by the international community and by Germany.

The world must remember that after the Holocaust of World War II, other genocides have occurred in every continent of the planet. Just remember Cambodia (1975 - 1979), Rwanda (1994), Bosnia (1995) and Darfur (since 2003 to the present), only naming some of the most representative cases; and the only way of preventing them is through education.

This project consists in the exhibition of a plaque in the form of the Star of David, which contains the handprints of the Holocaust survivors; as well as the handprints of one of their children and one of their grandchildren. The plaque is accompanied by a sheet that includes a brief summary of what happened during the Holocaust and the story of the survivor.

1. Exhibition of the place “Traces to remember” and the University Forums “The Holocaust, Paradigm of Genocide” and “Holocaust and Human Rights”

The plaque are presented and exhibited along with a photographic gallery of the Holocaust and other genocides, in educational forums, under the topic “The Holocaust, Paradigm of Genocide” and “Holocaust and Human Rights”, which are carried out in universities and student workshops in elementary and middle schools, where the honored survivors express their experiences and interact with the public.

Specialists in Human Rights and historians teach the participants on the chronological events of the Holocaust and other genocides, and speak on the topic of current conflict in the world.

The exhibition of the plaques and the photographic gallery is also presented in embassies, the headquarters of official government entities, (parliaments, ministers, chancelleries), cultural institutions (museums, parks and plazas) and religious institutions.

The reiteration of these events demonstrates that humanity has not learned the lesson of the violence that hate, intolerance and discrimination generates, and therefore, this page in history cannot be passed. Instead we have to remember it, teach it and learn from it. 

This Educational Program proposes to teach the history of the Holocaust and other genocides based on the teaching of Human Rights, ethical, moral and spiritual values, aimed at students and professors of private and public schools, and universities.

1. Educational Program at a school level

Its objective is to contribute to the teaching and learning process, which contain subjects on respect, tolerance, justice, equity, equality, solidarity, the study and promotion of Human Rights and the analysis of different genocides that were perpetrated throughout history, emphasizing on the Holocaust.

Continuing with the humanistic, constructive focus and the educational principles of Dr. William Soto, we intend to contribute towards the formation and development of an integral and critical being that base their ethical decisions and ideals on human needs and interests, reaching important assimilations, constructing their own learning and demonstrating positive actions based on respect and love towards human dignity.

General Objective

Promote principles, values and human rights through the study of the Holocaust, strengthening a culture of peace and respect towards the dignity of the human family for the development of an integral education in the schools of different countries in Latin America and the world.

2. Training workshops for professors “Educating to Remember – The Holocaust, Paradigm of Genocide”:

These workshops are directed towards professors at a school level, and it intends to offer the foundation for an integral management and implementation of the Educational Program parting from its philosophical foundation and concrete pedagogic strategies.

Genocide, crimes against human dignity, and the specific way of the Holocaust, are topics that are not deeply discussed in curriculums, programs and/or educational plans; for this reason, it is important to increase the knowledge of academic formation on the history of the Holocaust, on the events that during that time in history, unleashed in the midst of society the lack of ethical, social, moral and spiritual values and the transgression of Human Rights.

The field of training professionals implies a sense of integral formation in people that work in these important education roles; it is an instruction-learning process that is being carried out to perfect or revise everything involved in the implementation of programs, projects or educational plans.

General objective

Ensure that teacher at a basic/primary level and a middle/secondary level of formal school education can become aware of the importance of teaching the Holocaust as a paradigm of genocide, and to reinforce their knowledge and preparation to impart and to impress in school students the subjects of principles, values and human rights, presented in the Educational Program “Educating to Remember”.

In the mid 30’s, millions of Jews were beginning to be humiliated, mistreated and segregated. Gradually, their rights were taken away, first as citizens, and then has humans, until they were sent to concentration camps to be eliminated, not mattering age, or gender, in a gradual, systematic and massive way, by hunger, sickness, cold, forced labor, beatings, shots, hangings, gas chambers and, on occasions, in such atrocious ways, that even today they are considered repulsive and unthinkable.

The “final solution to the Jewish problem” was implemented by Nazi Germany against the alleged perpetrators of the troubles of the country. They weren’t the only victims, but other persecuted groups like the gypsies, homosexuals, Jehovah Witnesses and communists, were not exterminated to such an extent or obsessive way.

There were survivors, some with more luck than others, who had to restart their lives in foreign lands, with only the memory of their disappeared loved ones. There willpower to overcome adversity and their determination to go on, sometimes against their own will, inspired the birth of the State of Israel.

Today their testimonies are shared through the project “Traces to Remember” of Dr. William Soto Santiago, founder of the Global Embassy of Activists for Peace, with a special message aimed at new generations so the epitome of genocides serves as an example to those who now should take hold of the flag of Human Rights and Peace, and they hold it high in human consciousness, so that it is never repeated again.