English
Pieter-Kohnstam-education-program
As one of the few remaining Holocaust survivors (and especially as one of the even fewer 
survivors who have a personal connection with Anne Frank) Pieter Kohnstam offers an exceptional education program with the unique opportunity of meeting groups of students or others interested in learning about the Holocaust in an online format. In cooperation with Dr. Joachim Mathieu (a distant cousin and close friend of Pieter’s who teaches History at a grammar school in Bavaria), Pieter has participated in several such events. The first ones have taken place in Bavaria, but due to the almost unlimited possiblities of the digital age Pieter could also meet people everywhere around the globe (as long as there is a good internet connection).
survivors who have a personal connection with Anne Frank) Pieter Kohnstam offers an exceptional education program with the unique opportunity of meeting groups of students or others interested in learning about the Holocaust in an online format. In cooperation with Dr. Joachim Mathieu (a distant cousin and close friend of Pieter’s who teaches History at a grammar school in Bavaria), Pieter has participated in several such events. The first ones have taken place in Bavaria, but due to the almost unlimited possiblities of the digital age Pieter could also meet people everywhere around the globe (as long as there is a good internet connection).How it works
Interested schools/teachers/representatives can get in touch with Pieter or ‘his man in Bavaria’ (contact details below) and arrange a date for such an online event. Since time and space, in particular, in an age of global video conferences no longer pose unresolvable obstacles, Pieter can meet school classes online.
These educational events start out with the presentation of some basic background information with Pieter giving his first-hand account of his own experience and memories as a friend of Anne Frank’s. He also shares the story of his own family’s escape from Nazi persecution in 1942/43 on their long and dangerous road to freedom through occupied western Europe. Pieter (born in Amsterdam in 1936 as the child of Jewish refugees from Bavaria) was a young boy at that time, however, these memories have stuck with him to this very day.
The most important part of such events is not the lecturing (or maybe even pontificating) on past events, but the unique opportunity for members of a much younger generation to interact with a man of Pieter’s wealth of experience. Next to remembering the horrors of the Shoah the main lesson to be taught is that Pieter’s story is one of survival and one of tenacity during one of the darkest periods of history. He is living proof that the Nazis did not succeed in their unspeakably atrocious aim of eradicating the Jewish population of Germany and of Europe. It is Pieter’s express aim to fight ignorance with knowledge.
Where it started and where it is going
The first suchlike event featuring Pieter as the main speaker of this online educational program aimed at teachers and students in Germany took place in the summer of 2021. There have been several others since then. For instance, in November 2022 there was a very successful online teacher-training event with History teachers from all over Bavaria. As a consequence, there have been will be more events at schools all over Bavaria in 2023. One meeting is even planned for a school in Toulouse, France, which was - once more - possible through the mutual discovery of Pieter's and a fairly close relative of his who now lives there. One example of such an event is described in an article about it at the Neues Gymnasium (i.e. the "New Grammar School") in Nuremberg.
Anybody (from anywhere around the globe) who might be interested is encouraged to get in touch with us!
Let’s create public awareness of the Holocaust and combat ignorance with knowledge together.
contact details:
Dr. Joachim Mathieu
Gabrieli-Gymnasium EichstättLuitpoldstraße 40
85072 Eichstätt
additional information: