The Olga Lengyel Institute
for Holocaust Studies and Human Rights
The Olga Lengyel Institute was established to educate teachers in the United States, Europe, and other parts of the world about human rights and social justice through the lens of the Holocaust and other genocides so that such atrocities may never again take place.
TOLI hosted its first New York summer seminar in 2006, bringing together educators from all over the US. Since then, TOLI has expanded to include US Seminars, which are led by our graduates and take place in various regions in the US. In 2012, TOLI expanded to Europe where it has conducted seminars in several countries. To date, in the US and Europe, TOLI has supported over 5,000 educators who, in turn, have taken the lessons of the Holocaust to their classrooms where they are applied to understand and act against social injustice, bigotry and hatred.
TOLI also established a US impact grant program and a European impact grant program for graduates of our seminars. These grants, up to $1000, are intended to foster projects in classrooms, schools and the community.
The Institute is named after Olga Lengyel, a survivor of Auschwitz and author of Five Chimneys: A Woman Survivor’s True Story of Auschwitz. An American immigrant and philanthropist, Olga dedicated herself to remembering the martyrs and lessons of the Holocaust so that such atrocities would never happen again. Those education programs were organized under the auspices of the Memorial Library and Art Collection of the Second World War. They have since been transferred to TOLI, incorporated as a 501c3 non-profit organization.
Learn More About TOLI
US Seminars
The US Seminar Program brings the TOLI educational model to teachers across the United States. Begun in 2011, these in-person seminars (usually four or five days) are designed to provide a collaborative and safe environment in which teachers can explore the difficult subject of the Holocaust and other genocides. The goal is for teachers to leave with strategies, materials, and ideas for use in their own classrooms that will help their students understand how hate can take hold in a democratic society and how individual choices and actions impact civil society. As of 2024, over 2,500 teachers have participated in TOLI seminars.
European Seminars
Over 2,200 teachers have completed TOLI training since the programs began in Europe in 2012. These programs are designed to fit within the context of each country’s Holocaust history and contemporary issues of human rights and social justice. National seminars have been conducted in Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain and Ukraine. In most of these countries the seminars are organized on a yearly basis, in partnership with local organizations and institutions. Since 2021, we have also provided transnational conferences, bringing together teachers from several countries to share challenges and best practices.
Impact Grants
Graduates of our summer seminars are eligible to apply for impact grants.
Grants have been awarded to support a wide variety of classroom work, including visits by Holocaust survivors, field trips to Holocaust centers and other relevant sites, resources for classrooms and school libraries, and extended programming and community outreach that bring Holocaust and social justice education to wider audiences. Grant funds may not be used for teachers’ travel to conferences or to purchase electronic equipment.
Student Art Exhibition
We invite all TOLI graduates of our US and European Seminars to submit photographs of their students’ artwork. The original art should reflect the student’s learning of the Holocaust itself or related concepts in context of the subject of the Holocaust, such as resilience. The original student created art could be a painting, drawing, three-dimensional sculpture, textile, or work in any other artistic medium. Students may complete this art on their own or as part of a class. Students could use a book or film as an inspiration, or draw from the larger lessons they learned while studying the Holocaust. We encourage teachers to collaborate across disciplines.
We will begin accepting submissions in January 2025.
Teacher Tools
Resources for professional development, classroom activities, seminars, and more! Contributed by TOLI staff, Teacher Leaders, and organizational partners including United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) and Echoes & Reflections.
Featured Teachers
Read what TOLI Seminar graduates say about their TOLI experience, and the work they do in their communities.