Deborah Batiste has worked for the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) since 1991, after teaching high school English for 16 years, and was one of the lead authors of Echoes and Reflections, the multimedia Holocaust education guide developed by Yad Vashem, USC Shoah Foundation and ADL. She is currently the Echoes and Reflections project director, facilitating or co-facilitating over 130 Echoes and Reflections training programs in 34 states and the District of Columbia since 2005, reaching 25 percent of all participants who have attended Echoes and Reflections programs. 

Why is Echoes and Reflections important to you?

What I have learned in my travels is that educators in every part of the country care deeply about delivering accurate and sensitive Holocaust instruction to their students. Teachers enthusiastically participate in the training programs and are very appreciative of the interactive approach that we take to professional development. We do not lecture participants; we engage them in the materials and provide them with opportunities to grapple with the same difficult questions and subject matter that they will eventually take back to their classrooms.

What is your favorite memory from working with Echoes and Reflections?

Meeting Holocaust survivors who speak at our training programs has been the highlight of my experience with this project. They are amazing human beings who teach us the true meaning of courage and grace. I believe that I/we have a responsibility to have them participate in our training programs whenever possible for as long as they possibly can. Because of health and mobility issues, we are now having survivors join programs via Skype.

When it is not possible to have a survivor join the program even by Skype, we are very fortunate to have the USC Shoah Foundation visual history testimonies, which I see as the heart of Echoes and Reflections.  Every time I press “play” and show one of the testimonies, I feel deeply satisfied. I am in that moment allowing someone whom the Nazis and their collaborators wished to silence, to speak. There are testimonies that move me to tears even though I have seen them literally hundreds of times. The power of these individual narratives is a testament to the human spirit and can move our students to think deeply about their own narratives.

What are your goals for the future?

I look forward to successfully identifying ways to ensure that Echoes and Reflections is available to as many teachers and schools across the country as possible. Presently, we are investigating alternative training models in order to offer our program at a distance.  Other than being a classroom teacher, Echoes and Reflections is my proudest professional accomplishment. I am thankful every day to be associated with this program and to work for the Anti-Defamation League.