By Mahima Verma

Nárcisz Vida always had a desire to help individuals who faced discrimination through the power of education. Today, Vida empowers students and teachers to combat hatred and stand against intolerance through testimony.

Vida leads the education programs at Zachor Foundation for Social Remembrance in Budapest, Hungary. She started as a volunteer working closely with Zachor Foundation founder and director, Andrea Szőnyi, who is also USC Shoah Foundation’s international training consultant in Hungary,

“Even as a volunteer Nárcisz was smart and reliable,” said Szőnyi. “Since she started working for Zachor full time she has developed into a most creative, insightful and hard-working educator. Zachor Foundation would not be what it is today without her both as a person and as a professional. ”

While Vida studied history and literature at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) she worked with children of Roma descent and other groups of students in need through university student organizations. A classmate who knew Vida’s passion for education and interest in local history recommended that she volunteer for Zachor.

As a Zachor peer-guide, Vida led educational walking tours throughout the Budapest Jewish district (former ghetto area) introducing students to not only the local history of the Holocaust but to Jewish life before and during the war.

"I gained a lot of experience from my first walks,” said Vida. “I saw that students have a lack of information or false information about the Jewish community and about the Holocaust.”

She continued to volunteer while she received an M.A. history and literature education at ELTE. Inspired by the pedagogical background of her volunteer work, Vida wrote her master’s thesis on non-formal education, specifically about education in local and urban spaces.

After receiving her master's degree in history and literature education, Vida became a certified educator and full-time employee at Zachor Foundation, assisting Szőnyi with teaching with testimony programs. 

Nárcisz Vida has combined her passions for education and history by leading IWalks around Budapest.

The project she is most proud of is the interactive educational program called IWalks established by Zachor Foundation and USC Shoah Foundation. IWalks connects physical locations with historical events and eyewitness testimony from the Visual History Archive. Vida sees how students react and have been impacted by Holocaust survivor testimony.

 “IWalk is more interactive than the traditional walks because the guides and the participants discuss a lot of questions related to the testimonies we use,” said Vida. “[The] first time, it was difficult for me because I had to keep asking them interesting and relevant questions. But I saw that students are very motivated to learn by watching the testimonies."

Vida now leads IWalks of the former ghetto area and memorial sites along the Danube River, not only for students but for educators who plan to integrate IWalks into their curriculum. Vida always wanted to teach the importance of local history and now the testimonies help her achieve this goal.