CHGS Philanthropy Report

Thank you for your generous support of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies (CHGS) at Salem State University. Your contributions have enabled the center to not only continue but expand its programming, reaching thousands of students, teachers and community members in our region and around the world. The center’s research, teaching and public programs further our mission by combatting racism, antisemitism and prejudice and defending the values of social justice, diversity and human rights that are the basis of our democracy.

Because of you we can produce meaningful programs for hundreds of people throughout the year. Last summer we held a three-day institute for middle and high school teachers on “New Perspectives on Teaching the Holocaust” and numerous teacher workshops throughout the year from the Cambodian Genocide to teaching about environmental justice. We have hosted scholars and artists tackling a variety of themes from the role of the International Criminal Court to the healing power of music and art. We also presented our signature event, the Yom HaShoah commemoration, livestreamed from the Higgins Middle School in Peabody, to over 300 viewers.

The center’s rich academic and educational programs exist and thrive because of you and your support. We are a leading institute in Holocaust and genocide research

and can offer new scholarships and resources for researchers, professors, educators, students and the public because of your generosity. This report aims to illustrate just how deeply your philanthropy advances our mission at Salem State and beyond.

Sincerely,

Chris Mauriello, PhD
Professor, History
Director, Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies

The Salem State University Archives and Special Collections holds a rare collection of child Holocaust

survivor testimonies and photographs from immediately after World War II. CHGS Director and Professor of History Chris Mauriello and University Archivist Susan Edwards determined that the Polish language notebooks contained original child Holocaust testimonies from young girls (aged four to fourteen years old). The testimonies were written by the children’s teachers and international aid workers in the Bergen-Belsen Displaced Persons (DP) camp located in northern Germany.

Jill Sullivan and Zellie Kaplan, members of the CHGS Community Board, took a personal interest in the testimonies as a historical record of the Holocaust. During the summer of 2018, the thoughtful generosity of Zellie and Harold Kaplan enabled us to translate the documents from Polish to English. This translation provided more clarity into the origins and the history of these tragic stories of  suffering, loss and resilience.

Read the full story.

Our teacher workshops continue to reach hundreds of educators in our region and beyond. The Teaching the Holocaust and the Teaching Difficult Topics workshops bring middle and high school teachers and curriculum directors together to examine new approaches, curriculum and resources to address urgent historical and contemporary issues in the classroom. Through strong school district, community and national partnerships, we have developed innovative workshops and introduced participants to new expertise and educational materials from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Each year, these workshops prepare educators to engage their students on complex topics, including teaching about the history of the Holocaust, Native American history, LGBTQ history and other social justice and human rights issues. This work with teachers impacts hundreds of the students they educate, who make up a new generation of Americans. The center has a goal of expanding their professional development workshops and becoming the region’s hub for Holocaust and human rights education.

“Students need to see that so much of what we’re experiencing now—as a nation and as individuals—has already happened to varying degrees. This knowledge helps students to shape their world in positive ways.”

- Kim Hubbard ’14G, MAT- History, Melrose High School history teacher

We are so grateful for your ongoing support of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies; we hope that the details and stories provided in this report begin to illustrate the depth of your impact on the Salem State community and beyond. Thank you for all that you make possible—and thank you again for your thoughtful philanthropy.