Euroasian Jewish News

Results of the International seminar "Tolerance - Lessons of the Holocaust " held in Kazakhstan.

On February 7-10, 2003 the International training-methodical seminar "Tolerance - Lessons of the Holocaust" was held in the city of Almaty (Kazakhstan) for teachers of history from Kazakhstan and other countries of the Central Asia. The seminar was prepared by the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, "Mitsva" Association of Jewish organizations of Kazakhstan and the Ukrainian Center of studying the history of Holocaust.
The seminar has taken place before the International Conference of Peace and Consent, called under the initiative of the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbaev, and some other official actions of international significance aimed at development of interaction between the East and the West; rapprochement of various groups of the world community and strengthening the global Judaic-Muslim dialogue. Ideas of strengthening the interethnic and interreligious peace, being dominants of the seminar, were entirely conformable to ideas of forthcoming summit of the Central-Asian states.
More than 60 persons from Kyrghyzstan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan participated in the work of the seminar. Among them Kazakhstan was the most widely represented: teachers from 16 areas of the Republic gathered in Almaty. By its contents and representation the seminar has turned to be really polyethnic and polycultural: participants of the seminar represented 15 nationalities (Kazakh, Tatar, Uigur, German, Korean, Uzbek, Kirghiz, Tadjik, Turkmen, Turkish-Meskhetin, Armenian, Byelorussian, Jewish, Russian, Ukrainian). The religious segment has been represented by Islam, Judaism, Christianity of different confessions and Buddhism. In general, inhabitants of Kazakhstan belong to more than 120 ethnoses and 40 confessions.
Basically participants of the seminar were teachers of comprehensive schools and gymnasium as well as methodologists of educational bodies, editors of scientific-methodical magazines, teachers of national Sunday schools, active workers of National-cultural societies.
Among the active participants of the seminar there were Gulnara Annakulieva - the employee of the department on internal policy of the Kazakhstan President's Apparatus; the Chairman of the Turkmen national-cultural center Farkhad Khasanov - professor of the Kazakh State University, a member of the Assembly Council of Kazakhstan nations, the Chairman of Uigur national association.
Basing on the concept of the seminar, Kiev experts have grouped lectures on four thematic blocks.
The senior lecturer of Kiev-Mohyla Academy, the candidate of philosophical sciences Tatyana Chajka, has read lectures of the philosophical block, having given definitions to basic concepts of the course: tolerance, xenophobia, psychological and moral sources of interethnic conflicts.
Director of the Ukrainian Center of studying the history the Holocaust, the candidate of historical sciences, Anatoly Podolsky, in the context of historical block has presented participants of the seminar lectures about preconditions of the Holocaust, nazi policy of fascism, the Holocaust factology, interethnic relations of that period.
The EAJC's program methodologist, Svetlana Kandeeva, has acquainted participants with experience of Ukrainian, Russian, Armenian, Georgian teachers working in the program "Tolerance - Lessons of the Holocaust", with forms and methods of teaching the course, peculiarities of perception the theme by different audience.
The professor of Kazakh State University, doctor of historical sciences Zhulduzbek Abylkhozhyn; the candidate of historical sciences Isaac Grinberg; the doctor of historical sciences Leonid Gurevich; the art critic Anna Sailjants have read lectures on problems of polyethnic Kazakhtan society consolidation, history of Kazakhstan Jews, anti-Semitic campaigns of Stalin epoch in Kazakhstan, multinational culture of the Central Asia.
The Round table "Interethnic climate of the region. Problems of interethnic peace preservation. Objectives and aims for a modern teacher" became the key event of the seminar. It passed in the form of the active dialogue resulted in productive exchange with opinions on the urgency of studying problems of interethnic relations and educating tolerance as means of xenophobia and genocide displays; about development of forms and methods of teaching the theme in view of peculiarities and specificity of the regions. There also appeared a lot of interesting ideas and suggestions on forms of studying and teaching. Thus, the Kazakhstan educators have decided to adopt experience of their Ukrainian colleagues on organizing a youth camp of interethnic tolerance; arranging competitions of creative works for pupils. The idea of carrying out the annual International seminar of trainers of the program "Tolerance - Lessons of the Holocaust" can turn to be very prospective. The theme of positive self-identification and teaching respect of tradition, history and culture of other peoples became one of the main results of the Round table.
Within the framework of the seminar the methodical mini-seminar for regional coordinators aimed at development of the further strategy for project realization in regions of the Central Asia has also been carried out.

EAJC Board of Programs