After signing the Munich Agreement in September 1938 and under the pretext of protecting the interests of ethnic Germans who agitated for Nazi rule, Hitler annexed the Czechoslovakian borderlands. While some still hoped that giving up Czechoslovak territory would bring peace, the agreement signed by Great Britain, Germany, Italy, and France meant the beginning of occupation for the citizens of Czechoslovakia.

The weekend before International Holocaust Remembrance Day, experts from Yad Vashem, the Department for Education and Culture of the Jewish Museum in Prague, the Terezin Memorial, and USC Shoah Foundation - The Institute for Visual History and Education held training seminars for teachers in the Czech Republic. The Institute presented its Czech-language educational resources, which are based on the testimony of Holocaust survivors and other witnesses; the seminars reached teachers in the cities of Karlovy Vary, Ostrov nad Ohří and Plzeň.

USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education welcomed Eyal Kaminka, the newly-appointed director of the International School for Holocaust Studies (ISHS) of Yad Vashem, to its offices on July 26 for a discussion about the ways that the two organizations cooperate and partner in a variety of educational programs.

Shani Lourie of Yad Vashem visited USC Shoah Foundation Thursday in order to learn more about USC Shoah Foundation and its mission and to receive in-depth training on the principles and strategies for developing activities within IWitness.

Today begins a 10-part series that takes a detailed look at each of the 10 Echoes and Reflections lessons. We begin with Lesson 1: Studying the Holocaust.

A daylong workshop will introduce teachers to the Holocaust multimedia curriculum guide Echoes and Reflections at the USC campus on Friday.