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Holocaust Museum calls off classes for teachers
By WAVENEY ANN MOORE © St. Petersburg Times, published November 12, 2000 ST. PETERSBURG -- The most recent Middle East crisis has forced the cancellation of three teacher training sessions scheduled by the Florida Holocaust Museum this week. The classes, which were to be conducted by educators who were to travel from Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Israel, were canceled at the last minute. "It was not until Wednesday that they made the decision," said Noreen Brand, education director for the Florida Holocaust Museum at 55 Fifth St. S. "The director for the International School of Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem sent me an e-mail saying that due to the impact of the crisis on the Yad Vashem families and the escalation expected in the next couple of weeks, that it would not be good for them to travel. Family members were being called up (to the Israeli military) and it was too critical a time for anybody to try to leave." The unrest in Israel, the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip began in late September. So far, more than 180 people have died, most of them Palestinian. Thousands have been injured. The trouble began after Ariel Sharon, Israel's former defense minister, visited the Noble Sanctuary revered by Muslims. It contains two mosques, al Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock, which sit on what is known to the Jewish people as the Temple Mount, site of the First and Second Temples. Mrs. Brand said three educators from Yad Vashem were supposed to travel to the United States. One, Shulamit Imber, pedagogical director of the International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem, learned that her 22-year-old son had been recalled to the Israeli army and was being sent to Jericho. "Shulamit's son is the same age as my son," Mrs. Brand said. This week's program was to have been the third conducted by Yad Vashem for the Florida Holocaust Museum. "All of the sessions were filled," Mrs. Brand said. "They were going to do three training sessions in Sarasota, Pinellas and Pasco. What they were planning to do is demonstrate many of the materials that were developed at Yad Vashem that were appropriate for American teachers." An effort has been made to contact all the teachers who had been planning to attend the sessions, she said. "As soon as it's possible, we are going to reschedule."
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