HEUVELTON -- John Liquori of Canton, a teacher at Heuvelton Central School, was one of 183 participants who attended the 23rd Arthur and Rochelle Belfer National Conference for Educators, a three-day workshop for teachers hosted by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in mid-July.

The conference is a part of the museum’s “ongoing effort to equip educators throughout the country with the knowledge and skills to effectively bring Holocaust education in their classrooms,” museum officials said in a prepared statement.

“In the face of rising anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial, educating students about this history is becoming increasingly urgent,” says Peter Fredlake, director of the museum’s teacher education and special programs. “As the global leader in Holocaust education, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum works to ensure teachers have the training and resources they need to introduce their students to this important and complex history — and show them how its lessons remain relevant to all citizens today.”

Every year, the museum trains hundreds of teachers through training programs held in Washington, D.C. and around the country. It provides these teachers with advanced tools and teaching materials for students of history, English, social studies, language arts, library science, journalism and more.

At the conference, the participants teamed up with museum educators and scholars in sharing rationales, strategies and approaches for teaching about the Holocaust, Nazi propaganda and anti-Semitism by using various media, such as literature, survivor testimony and diaries that the Museum provides. They toured the museum’s permanent exhibition, as well as special exhibitions like “Some Were Neighbors: Collaboration & Complicity in the Holocaust.” Program participants also heard from Agi Geva and Henry Greenbaum, two Holocaust survivors who volunteer at the museum.

The museum’s website, www.ushmm.org, provides resources at no cost to educators, including a range of online training modules, exemplary lesson plans and extensive historical information about the Holocaust.