the organisation proved that students have scarce knowledge of the Holocaust, only 14% able to specify the correct number of World War Two Jewish victims. While young people are open to Holocaust victim memorials, they frequently lack fundamental knowledge. According to Centre for Public Opinion Research polls, the Kielce pogrom is not a commonly known historical fact – just under one in every four respondents actually heard of it, with over three-quarters having no knowledge of related events whatsoever. The performance report by the Research of the young people’s community carried out by plenipotentiary of the Świętokrzyski voivode mentions no related educational initiative.
The project purpose was to train teachers from the Świętokrzyskie voivodship in delivering anti-discrimination classes according to Professor Philip Zimbardo’s (Stanford University) Exploring Human Nature course, in recognition of local history. The project also intended to expand student knowledge in areas of stereotypes, exclusion, and discrimination.
Teachers improved their knowledge of overcoming prejudice with the use of Professor Zimbardo’s Heroic Imagination Project, and of Kielce’s Jewish community and the pogrom. Students learned more about local history and discrimination mechanisms.
Workshops were held for 9 groups of teachers from the Świętokrzyskie voivodship. Duly trained teachers delivered 96 hours of classes for pupils of 27 schools in the voivodship (approximately 800 attendees). Fifty-six hours of student workshops based on Kielce ghetto memories were held. The project closed with a conference on dialogue, memory, and reconciliation.
One hundred and eleven teachers took part in the project; workshops were attended by approximately 50 students; 70 persons participated in the closing conference.