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