The Experience History program
March of the Living Foundation and its partners are excited to announce a new educational project to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Holocaust.
Our Foundation and partners have been dedicated to promoting education for democratic values, fighting against prejudice, racism, and anti-Semitism, and providing Holocaust education for decades.
Our Experience History (ExHis) program, which is funded by the European Union, presents the history of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camps in an engaging way for young people. We use innovative teaching tools that also focus on the history of local Jewish communities and their members.
At the start of the project, we will create a lifelike model of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camps, measuring over 30 square meters. This model will be presented in a travelling exhibition across 18 different cities in Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia.
Our trained junior volunteer guides, having been prepared for this task by experienced trainers from the ExHis project, will present the model and the accompanying story. Our goal is to attract young people, teachers, and educational professionals to the traveling exhibition, and share with them the story of the Holocaust, as well as its historical and social context.
Our goal is to cover the subject in a manner exciting and memorable for Generation Z. Secondary school students will actively participate in the show. They will collect written documents, photos, and stories of survivors, helpers, victims, and persecutors in their neighborhoods before the traveling exhibition arrives. Additionally, they will conduct interviews and compile local historical tableaux. Peer guides will then present these tableaux in the local exhibitions. The students, with the support of professionals, will provide expert guidance to the tours to ensure that visitors gain a full understanding and appreciation of the history.
Key elements of the project:
Official opening on 05 May 2024 in Budapest, in the hours before the March of the Living,
Local calls to secondary school students to collect Holocaust-related memories and volunteer as peers,
Training of youth guides with ExHis project staff - training in 18 cities,
Organization of traveling exhibitions in Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia,
The project will conclude in 2026 with an international conference.
