American teacher Theodore Kempinski has been appointed the Honorary Consul of the Auschwitz Memorial in the United States. He will primarily support the activities undertaken by the Diplomacy of Remembrance of the Museum in the State of Massachusetts.

Haverhill High School in Massachusetts, where Theodore Kempinski teaches, was the first American school to start cooperation with the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation to participate in online tours of the Auschwitz Memorial through the platform "Auschwitz. In Front of Your Eyes."

"As a 25-year History secondary educator, I now commit a significant part of my life to improving Holocaust education relationships with organizations. As a teacher, I dedicated my career to empowering students at Haverhill High School. As time went on I grew to lead many years of community activism for improving public support for education in Massachusetts,” said Theodore Kempinski.

“I now take those two great wells of experience on my new mission to connect the American education system to primary Holocaust sources. Bridges between organizations will transform student lives,” he added.

“The Haverhill community initiative, the entire school district, and local administration have allowed local students to learn about the history of Auschwitz and the Shoah in a way previously inaccessible to them," said Wojciech Soczewica, the general director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation.

The appointment was made on 22 November during the National Council for the Social Studies educational conference in Boston, which was attended by thousands of teachers and others involved in education and the popularization of the social sciences in the United States.

“This opportunity to meet with so many teachers is a unique chance for me to encourage everyone to watch together the upcoming commemoration event of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. This will allow them to be together with the Survivors and with us in their schools and their classrooms,” said Museum Director Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński. Details of the broadcast will be available at 80.auschwitz.org.

At the 104th NCSS conference, the Museum and Foundation present the interactive platform "Auschwitz. In Front of Your Eyes" to American teachers, enabling live online tours of the former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp. Additionally, other educational activities conducted by the Diplomacy of Remembrance and the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust are showcased.

The online tour lasts approximately two hours and is divided into two parts: Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau. The narration is conducted live by a guide who uses multimedia materials, archival photographs, artworks, documents, and testimonies from survivors. The application also allows interaction with the guide and asking questions.

The "Auschwitz. In Front of Your Eyes" platform project, which was dedicated specifically to the Auschwitz Memorial, was developed in cooperation with the Museum, the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, and the companies AppsFlyer and DISKIN.

"Participating in the NCSS conference provides an opportunity to introduce teachers and educators from across the United States to technology that allows local youth to work with the difficult history of the Shoah, which may seem remote due to geographical distance. Reflecting on the mechanisms of hatred and dehumanization, which Auschwitz symbolizes, remains disturbingly relevant today," said Wojciech Soczewica.

"One of the tasks of memorial sites is to find new ways of communication, reaching broader social groups and engagingly conveying knowledge of the past. Therefore, the platform 'Auschwitz. In Front of Your Eyes' can play a pivotal role in building awareness among American students about the processes that led to the crimes at Auschwitz," he added.

More information about the online tour can be found here. Schools and educational institutions interested in incorporating the online tour into their programs are encouraged to contact via email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

A panel discussion titled "What Auschwitz Can Teach Us Today: Holocaust Memory and Its Implications for Future Education" also took place at the NCSS conference.

Participants included Jenn Goss from Echoes and Reflections, an organization that collaborates with 145,000 teachers and educators in the USA; Jeremy Nesoff, director at the Boston-based organization Facing History and Ourselves, which prepares educational materials for teachers; Auschwitz Museum Director Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński; and Theodore Kempinski. The discussion was moderated by Wojciech Soczewica, the general director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation.

Founded in 1921, the National Council for the Social Studies is the largest professional association in the USA dedicated solely to social science education. NCSS supports teachers in strengthening and promoting social sciences.