The Tolerance Education Program does not offer middle and senior high school teachers a Holocaust/Genocide curriculum. It offers them four supplemental teaching aides and tools that help Holocaust/Genocide and anti-bullying become curriculums more effective learning opportunities for students. TEP offers the following tools free, paid for by grants from foundations and businesses and private donations:

• A DVD of the gripping movie, Escape From Sobibor, for classroom viewing.

• The powerful award-winning play, Dear Esther, which students can read and enact in the classroom.

• Copies of more than 100 student letters to Esther Raab, a Sobibor death-camp survivor.

• A reference copy of the book, Escape From Sobibor, for the classroom teacher.

• A Zoom Q@A with a Holocaust resource person.

The letters and the play are contained in the book, Children’s Letters to a Holocaust Survivor: Dear Esther. Each student will receive a copy of the book, which can be reused in the following years. The book also has an 18-page “Classroom Guide” for the teacher. The guide provides suggestions for in-class use, homework assignments, and projects.

Teacher & Administrator Reviews

The exciting thing about The Tolerance Education Program’s supplemental tools is that THEY WORK. On a scale of one-to-ten, teachers give them a “ten. Here is what Teachers & Administrators have to say:

An eighth-grade teacher reported: “A copy of Children’s Letters to a Holocaust Survivor: Dear Esther should be in every classroom.”

A high school principal reported: “What makes the Tolerance Education Program unique are the 100 plus letters–chosen from over 2,000–that middle and senior high school students wrote to Esther. The response of the children gives us hope that they will stand up against injustice, prejudice, and hatred throughout their lives.”

A Director of a Holocaust Education Center said of TEP: “It shows–in the students’ own words–how they have been touched by Esther’s story and motivated to change their behaviors and attitude toward others.”

Student Reviews

Students who saw the movie “Escape From Sobibor” and/or read the play “Dear Esther” or saw a performance of the play said in their “Dear Esther” letters:

“Your story touched my Heart.”

“I just wanted to thank you for surviving so your story could be told.”

“It’s the way to learn about it in school–from a survivor’s perspective.”

“You helped me find something in my heart that could help me show how much I care.”

“A life-changing experience.”

“I actually felt how everything was.”

“I think it’s insane how so many people don’t know the horrors of the Holocaust.”

“I would like you to know that I–a 16-year-old–will never let the generations blow me forget.”