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Holocaust Education & Remembrance

The Power of Place®: European Summer Institute for Holocaust Educators

June 18-27, 2027

Hungary, Sweden, Denmark

“Space stands as a witness to what happened.”
– Yitskhok Rudashevski, diary excerpt, Salvaged Pages

 

Power of Place is an immersive professional development opportunity for teachers where learning unfolds as we tour authentic historical sites across Europe in order to transform our understanding of the Holocaust, WWII, and antisemitism. Participants will explore Jewish civilization before the Holocaust, the choices made during persecution, and Jewish life today across Hungary, Sweden, and Denmark.  

In Budapest, participants will examine the richness and destruction of Hungarian Jewish life while studying persecution, collaboration, rescue, and the work of Raoul Wallenberg. Internationally recognized educator and curator Paul Salmons will lead participant-centered inquiry, reflection, and pedagogical practice. In Sweden, educators will consider how a neutral nation—and the individuals and institutions within it—responded to Nazi persecution, while learning about Sweden’s Jewish past and contemporary community. In Denmark, participants will trace the routes, communities, and acts of courage behind the rescue of Danish Jews and explore Jewish life before and after the Holocaust.  

Through authentic sites and encounters with historians, descendants, and survivors, this journey connects history with the present, helping educators teach the Holocaust within the broader continuum of Jewish civilization and deepen learning about responsibility, civic courage, empathy, and moral choice. 

Power of Place is planned and co-led by JCRC and Humanus Network. This program is generously supported by the Minnesota Vikings, the Tankenoff Families Foundation, Allianz of America Corporation and MINNE (Minnesota Norway Education Israel & Holocaust Fellowship).

 

Application below due by Friday, October 30, 2026

2027 DAILY ITINERARY – Power of Place

Double occupancy $2995 + airfare

Single occupancy $3995 + airfare

Applicants may request a double room if traveling with another accepted participant. Double-room requests are not guaranteed and are subject to availability. If a roommate match cannot be accommodated, participants may be required to stay in a single room and pay the associated single-room supplement. 

We encourage educators not to let financial concerns stand in the way of applying. Many past Power of Place® travelers have successfully secured partial or full funding through local organizations such as the VFW, American Legion, Rotary, Lions, and Kiwanis clubs, as well as churches, synagogues, school districts, and community foundations. Several participants have also received fellowships through Fund for Teachers, helping make this unique and transformative learning experience accessible to more educators. Needs-based partial scholarships may also be available through JCRC.

Included in trip costs:

  • Accommodations each night 
  • Breakfast daily at the hotel and any other meals listed in itinerary
  • Transportation between each European country (includes coach bus, trains, ferry and airfare while in Europe)
  • Tours and local guides as listed in itinerary
  • Site entry costs

Excluded:

  • Roundtrip Transcontinental Airfare (From U.S. to Europe; We can help you with options and purchasing.)
  • If you are flying from a city other than Minneapolis where the group will depart, and if your flight time is not coordinated with the group, you will be responsible for arranging and paying for your transportation between airport/hotel on arrival and departure.
  • Most lunches and dinners (see itinerary for meals included and those on your own)
  • Items of any personal nature
  • Optional (highly recommended) Trip Insurance

2027 trip leaders:

Susie Greenberg
Director of Holocaust Education and Programming, Jewish Community Relations Council of MN and the Dakotas (JCRC)

Susie Greenberg, Director of Holocaust Education, has spent the last 18 years working at the JCRC, devoting much of her time planning, facilitating, and implementing programming around Holocaust education and remembrance. Susie focuses on the Twin Cities community and beyond via an active speakers’ bureau, community trainings, charter trips to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the annual Yom HaShoah Commemoration (Holocaust Remembrance Day), and more. Additionally, she co-curated Transfer of Memory, a traveling photography exhibit about Minnesota Holocaust survivors, and coordinated and supervised the exhibition, Kindertransport – Rescuing Children on the Brink of War in Minneapolis and curated the accompanying local component, The Story is Here. Susie has been awarded the Leon and Sylvia Sorkin Jewish Communal Professional Achievement Award and Normandale Community College Presidents’ Community Partner Award. 

 

Kristin Thompson  
Founding Director,  Humanus Network, Holocaust and Human Rights Education Consulting

Kristin Thompson is the founder of Humanus Network and creator of the Power of Place® educational travel model. A former educator trainer at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum with more than 30 years of experience in Holocaust education, curriculum development, and teacher professional learning, she designs the program’s educational vision and itinerary, and co-leads each journey. Through Humanus Network’s extensive international partnerships and longstanding professional relationships, participants gain unique access to leading scholars, museum professionals, and archives, creating learning experiences that extend beyond traditional educational travel.

 

What participants say about us: 

“This is the finest Holocaust-related professional development that I know of today. Other PD programs are amazing, but just as the name implies, there is a “Power of Place.” To learn this information and these teaching strategies in the locations where the events happened, gives us a richer understanding to take back to our classrooms and students.” – Dave R., Idaho

“The facilitators created an environment of security, community, transparency, and support. There was a deep interconnectedness and sense of family throughout the experience. I can say with confidence that I left the trip with life long friends. We had a common mission/connection that made for courageous dialogue.” – Peg H., Minnesota

 

Questions? Contact Susie Greenberg at susie@minndakjcrc.org