Project Witness - Holocaust Education
1946 & Beyond: Rebuilding Life - Holocaust Education Conference
Virtual Conference FOR EDUCATORS

1946 & Beyond

Rebuilding Life

An international, scholar-led conference examining what came after liberation and why 1946 marks a continuation, not the end, of Holocaust history.

On-demand access opens January 25, 2026

Conference speakers - circular portraits of international scholars

Designed for curriculum development

An international, scholar-led conference examining what came after liberation and why 1946 marks a continuation, not the end, of Holocaust history.

How do survivors rebuild life without families, homes, or nations?

What does freedom mean after total moral collapse?

How do trauma, memory, and responsibility shape the generations that follow?

1946 & Beyond: Rebuilding Life is a virtual international conference featuring leading historians, educators, psychologists, and religious leaders examining what followed liberation—and why the post-war years remain essential to understanding Holocaust history and education today.

Register for access to this scholar-led conference and explore how survivors rebuilt lives, communities, and meaning after catastrophe.

5+
Hours

Hours of professional development

8

Expert-Led Sessions

5

Countries Represented

A man holding a Torah scroll

Educators Gain

  • •A historically grounded framework for teaching the Holocaust beyond liberation.
  • •Global post-war perspectives often absent from standard curricula.
  • •Insight into psychological, religious, and moral dimensions of survival.
  • •Language and context to help students understand rebuilding, displacement, and responsibility.

Conference Program

Day 1

January 25, 2026
Opening the Aftermath: 1946 and the Moral Work That Followed
TALK

Opening the Aftermath: 1946 and the Moral Work That Followed

Ruth Lichtenstein, PhD

Founder and Executive Director of Project Witness

Eighty Years Later: What Liberation Gave and What It Withheld
TALK

Eighty Years Later: What Liberation Gave and What It Withheld

Michael Berenbaum, PhD

Michael Berenbaum, PhD

World-renowned Holocaust historian and scholar of memory and ethics

Freedom and Responsibility: A Torah Perspective on Liberation Eighty Years Later
TALK

Freedom and Responsibility: A Torah Perspective on Liberation Eighty Years Later

Rabbi Warren Goldstein

Rabbi Warren Goldstein

Chief Rabbi of South Africa

Between Ruins and Renewal: Jewish Life in Poland 1945–1955
TALK

Between Ruins and Renewal: Jewish Life in Poland 1945–1955

Kamil Kijek, PhD

Kamil Kijek, PhD

Historian of postwar Polish Jewry

Day 2

January 26, 2026
From Displacement to Distance: Why Holocaust Survivors Built New Lives in Australia
TALK

From Displacement to Distance: Why Holocaust Survivors Built New Lives in Australia

Suzanne Rutland, PhD

Suzanne Rutland, PhD

Leading historian of Australian Jewry

Returning From The East: Jewish Repatriation to the Soviet Union After the Holocaust
TALK

Returning From The East: Jewish Repatriation to the Soviet Union After the Holocaust

Eliyana Adler, PhD

Eliyana Adler, PhD

Historian of Soviet and East European Jewry

After Rescue: Kindertransport Children and the Long Road Beyond the War
TALK

After Rescue: Kindertransport Children and the Long Road Beyond the War

Rabbi Aubrey Hersh

Rabbi Aubrey Hersh

Holocaust scholar and educator

From What Was Written to What We Teach: Youth Diaries and the Work Beyond 1946
TALK

From What Was Written to What We Teach: Youth Diaries and the Work Beyond 1946

Israel B. Bitton

Israel B. Bitton

Deputy Director at Project Witness

Free Conference Access

1946 & Beyond: Rebuilding Life is offered free of charge as part of Project Witness's commitment to responsible Holocaust education.

  • •Full on-demand access to all conference sessions
  • •Available starting January 25, 2026
  • •No payment required