West Virginia public school educators from 21 counties are learning the best way to teach their young students about the Holocaust at a two-week training seminar at West Virginia University that runs through July 21.

Nearly 30 teachers are involved in The Holocaust in the Context of Todays Education: Remembering for the Future to become more knowledgeable about the Holocaust and to improve their critical thinking, among other learning opportunities, said Edith Rechter Levy, chair of the West Virginia Holocaust Education Committee.

“Facing history must happen in many ways,”said Dr. Levy, Institute director.

“The Institute shows teachers how to help their students in the classroom confront the Holocaust.”

Called”the 20th centurys greatest crime”by some, the Holocaust saw the murder of 6 million Jews in Nazi Germany during World War II.

The two-week course includes lectures, talks, videos and reading assignments on ways to incorporate the Holocaust into various subjects ranging from history to theater.

Additionally, the Institute will sponsor Rabbi David Levys one-act drama, One Color Less, this weekend at the Monongalia County Art Center (MAC) so the community can learn about the Holocaust through something more than textbooks, she said.

“This powerful play explores what Lawrence Langer, noted Holocaust scholar, has called the lifetime sentence of memory survivors carry,”Levy said.

Rabbi Levys drama juxtaposes the grim memories of a child in the Holocaust and the idyllic childhood of other children. It also includes dramatic readings of testimony by survivors of Theresienstadt.

Also this weekend, internationally renowned Holocaust artist Marty Kalb will exhibit 15 original charcoal works at the MAC . Dr. Kalb has exhibited in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Cleveland Art Museum and other galleries throughout the country.

An artifact exhibition, on loan from the Simon Wiesenthal Center, will also will be on display at the MAC throughout the weekend.

The Institute was made possible by a grant procured by Anne Nardi, associate dean in the WVU College of Human Resources and Education.

For more information, call Levy at 291-3732. For the plays times and location, call the MAC , 292-3325.