CARE – Combating Holocaust Denial and Distortion through Active Citizenship, Remembrance and Education

The project Combating Holocaust Denial and Distortion through Active Citizenship, Remembrance and Education, co-funded by the European Union through the CERV programme was implemented in the period 1 March 2024 – 30 May 2026.

The project aimed to develop networks of educators and of young people who took action to remember the past in a dignified way, to prevent and combat Holocaust denial and distortion and to create frameworks for intercultural dialogue and active citizenship.

A series of professional development opportunities was offered to teachers in Croatia, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Serbia. Between 30 and 35 teachers and other educational professionals attended 4‑day seminars in each of these countries. They were supported to work with their students in order to carry out local history projects that involved a learning and research part and a part in which students shared their newly gained knowledge, in creative ways, with wider audiences. The students also learned how to identify manifestations of Holocaust denial and distortion online and to report them. They shared their experiences of online monitoring and of carrying out local history projects in an international conference. The students formed a European network of Young European Ambassadors for Remembrance and Active Citizenship.

The most active teachers in the network, along with other education professionals from the civic sector and public administration from ten countries, were invited to attend an international conference in Lithuania. The experiences of working with students in an interdisciplinary approach, in order to learn about the Holocaust and promote human rights, were shared at this conference. At this event, concrete steps were discussed to consolidate and expand the European Network of Holocaust and Human Rights Educators and to create an impact that reached policy makers.

Two publications emerged from this project: a booklet with the students’ local projects that inspired other young ambassadors to promote remembrance and act for democracy; and a resource guide for teachers focusing on women in the resistance.

The project partners were:

• Intercultural Institute Timisoara, Romania (coordinator);
• Documenta, Croatia;
• Jewish Museum of Greece;
• CDEC Foundation, Italy;
• The International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania;
• Big Picture, Poland;
• Terraforming, Serbia.

The project was also co-funded by TOLI – The Olga Lengyel Institute for Holocaust Studies and Human Rights, and champions the interdisciplinary methodology for teaching about the Holocaust and human rights developed by TOLI.