Twenty-five educators from 11 different countries representing four continents will attend a a professional development program in Warsaw, at the Museum of the History of the Polish Jews, and in Krakow designed to deepen their understanding of the historical landscape of Poland before, during and after the Holocaust and increase their knowledge of authentic sites including Auschwitz-Birkenau. They will also have the unprecedented opportunity to meet with a large number of Holocaust survivors prior to attending the commemoration ceremony at Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum January 27. Teachers were chosen from a competition developed in partnership with Discovery Education.

Twelve students ages 13-15 will also travel to Poland and participate in Auschwitz: The Past is Present programming as Junior Interns. Junior Interns were introduced to survivor testimony and the history of Auschwitz in anticipation of the trip. In Poland, they will engage with IWitness in parallel with the teachers who are participating in the professional development program, and they will join the commemoration January 27. In April 2015, a group of Junior Interns will help lead Discovery Education’s Virtual Field Trip to Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.