The St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum is considered a special resource by a key group of educators: those who specialize in teaching about the Holocaust. The Midwest Consortium of Holocaust Educators organized a tour of the museum on Wednesday, July 24 for a dozen educators from around the country.

Darrylle Clott, who visited the museum from her home base in La Crosse, Wisc., has been teaching the history of the Holocaust for more than 40 years. She said it’s essential to continue that effort.

“Holocaust education is so important,” Clott said. “We need to teach kids what happens when people do not accept other people’s differences. They can get a real life take on how things can go so wrong, and they’re going to be responsible in the future. Learn from history, so we don’t repeat it. And we can use the lessons of the Holocaust to help prevent bullying, to show what happens when people are bullied.”

Helen Turner, director of education at the Museum, said the visit was organized after similar successful one in 2023.

“The goal of the session is to show the teachers and educators our facility, what we have to offer, and why the museum is such an incredible resource for teachers across the state and the region,” Turner said.

Karen Shawn, a Holocaust educator at Yeshiva University in New York, said she has previously visited a number of Holocaust museums, but the St. Louis facility was among the best.

“This is fantastic,” Shawn said. “It’s very impressive. I teach other teachers how to teach the Holocaust, and I think it would really be worth a field trip to bring my students here because it’s structured so much differently than other museums. It’s brilliant and I’d love for my graduate students to see the different way of presenting the Holocaust.”