MAY 27 • 2021 | 21

T

he Holocaust Memorial Center 
(HMC) has launched the 
Virtual Museum Experience 
(VME), a new online program 
for students learning about the 
Holocaust.
When the pandemic hit 
and HMC had to shut down, 
HMC’s Education Department 
knew they didn’t want to stop 
teaching the lessons of the 
Holocaust. 
The team began strategizing 
how to take the museum experience 
to students virtually, customizing the content 
for each particular classroom and staying 
true to the curriculum. They then came up 
with a plan.
“
A member of our education staff can 
basically Zoom into the classroom, and using 
photos of artifacts and survivor testimony 
clips, can have a conversation with the 
students and teach about the Holocaust,” said 
Ruth Bergman, HMC education director.
Each VME session is facilitated by a HMC 
educator via Zoom or Google Meet, and lasts 
approximately 45 minutes. Artwork created 
by survivors are also among the audio-visual 
assets incorporated into VME sessions. 
HMC can tailor a VME to focus on a 
particular subject, like ghettos, or focus on 
themes, a popular way teachers like HMC to 
approach the sessions. 
Overarching themes from which teachers 
can choose include Propaganda; Pyramid 
of Hate (how could the Holocaust happen); 
Choice and Responsibility; Resistance; 
Resilience and Returning to Life; and 
Camps/Final Solution.
Once a teacher expresses interest in 
scheduling a VME, a Holocaust Memorial 
Center educator has a one-on-one call with 
the teacher to discuss what the students are 
learning and the themes that shape the VME 
content, tailored to each classroom. 

Usually more than 35,000 students from 
across the state take field trips to the HMC 
annually. More than 6,500 students will have 
participated in a VME within the first five 
months of 2021. HMC plans to continue the 
VME program after all capacity restrictions 
are lifted, due to its massive success. 
“It has been so much more positive and 
desired than we even thought,” Bergman 
said. “We launched the program in February 
and, so far, we’ve reached 6,413 students. 
By the time we’re done with the end of the 
school year, we’ll have reached over 8,000 
students. 
“It’s exciting and very heartening for us 
because with the rise in antisemitism and 
prejudice, Holocaust education can’t stop,” 
Bergman added. “The fact that teachers want 
us to continue teaching their students and 
we’re able to continue doing what we do, it’s 
so important and we’re grateful we have this 
technology that allows us to do it.”
Currently, the Holocaust Memorial Center 
is booking VMEs for the summer and fall. 
Teachers can email VME@holocaustcenter.
org to schedule a VME. 

HMC is open Sunday through Thursday with timed 

appointment tickets available. Beginning Memorial Day 

weekend, HMC will be offering public tours on a limited 

basis. Visit holocaustcenter.org for more info. 

Holocaust Memorial Center launches 
Virtual Museum Experience. 
Shoah Education

DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

he Holocaust Memorial Center 
(HMC) has launched the 
Virtual Museum Experience 

(VME), a new online program 
for students learning about the 

HMC’s Education Department 

The team began strategizing 

how to take the museum experience 

Virtual Museum Experience. 

STAFF WRITER
These wooden shoes are 
among the artifacts on the 
HMC Virtual Experience.

HMC

Frankel Center’s 
Undergrad Award

Every spring the 
Frankel Center 
for Judaic Studies 
at University of 
Michigan honors 
a graduate with 
the Outstanding 
Undergraduate 
Student Award. 
This year’s recipient is Miriam 
Saperstein of Huntington Woods, 
who uses the pronoun they. In 
addition to majoring in Judaic 
Studies, Saperstein also minored in 
creative writing. 
“This award really is a reflection 
of my excellent professors who 
helped me take on challenges both 
academic and personal during my 
time in undergrad,
” Saperstein said. 
“It’s as much a testament to their 
teaching as it is to my learning.
”
Faculty nominate students 
who have made standout aca-
demic achievements and have 
achieved a grade point average 
of at least 3.8 in Judaic studies 
courses. Professor Devi Mays said 
Saperstein was one of the most 
impressive students she has had 
the pleasure of teaching. 
“They are a thoughtful and 
astute writer, researcher, and think-
er, whose classroom contributions 
propelled discussion forward and 
encouraged other students to think 
more deeply about entrenched his-
torical narratives,
” said Mays.
After graduation, Saperstein 
plans on working with the U-M 
history department on Michigan in 
the World, an internship program 
where students, in partnership with 
the Bentley Historical Library and 
the College of Literature, Science 
and the Arts, develop online pub-
lic exhibitions of research about 
the history of U-M and its rela-
tionships with the wider world. 
Saperstein then plans on attending 
Wayne State University’s Master’s 
in Library and Information Science 
program. 

Miriam 
Saperstein

