Webinar “Learning from the Past — Acting in the Present: Jewish Perspectives on Antisemitism in Past and Present” took place on December 3rd. Speakers explored how survivors and their descendents reflect on Holocaust distortion and denial.

Among the presented projects were studies conducted by Bundesverband RIAS in 2022–2023, documenting the experiences of Holocaust survivors and addressing the state of Holocaust remembrance. The report ‘Continuities and Discontinuities’ explored how the children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors cope with the legacy of trauma. As part of this session, participants shared personal reflections on how their family histories have shaped, and continue to shape, their lives.

The USC Shoah Foundation also presented interviews with survivors of the October 7, 2023 massacre in Israel.

The film screenings were followed by a panel discussion during which experts from Austria, the Czech Republic, Italy, and Poland discussed the role of testimonies of Holocaust survivors and their descendants in contemporary Holocaust education and in countering manifestations of antisemitism. The panel featured Anna Makówka-Kwapisiewicz of the Jewish Association Czulent.