MGA History Professor Prepares To Travel To Germany For Holocaust Education

Author: Sheron Smith
Posted: Thursday, September 5, 2024 12:00 AM
Categories: School of Arts and Letters | Faculty/Staff | Students | Pressroom | Honors/Awards

Cochran, GA

Placeholder

As a professor specializing in modern German history and the two world wars, Dr. Tracie Provost is no stranger to studying and teaching about the horrors of the Holocaust.

But this past June the longtime Middle Georgia State University faculty member experienced what she described as the most intense learning period of her life. She participated in the Summer Institute for Teaching the Holocaust at the Kennesaw State University Museum of History and Holocaust Studies.

“Educators from around the country were provided research-based strategies for teaching difficult topics and historical context for Holocaust education,” said Provost, an MGA history department faculty member since 2003. “We heard survivor testimony and met with second-generation survivors.”

Her participation in the summer institute led to her application to and selection for the competitive Breman Teacher Ambassador program. As part of this program, Provost will spend her Thanksgiving holiday in Germany for training and professional development. The trip is part of a yearlong program that includes several extension workshops.

“As an ambassador, I’ll be tasked with working with other educators to improve education about the Holocaust in the state of Georgia,” Provost said. “Statistically, Georgia ranks in the bottom five of states in terms of knowledge about the Holocaust. At the end of the year the ambassador program participants will present sessions on training other educators in teaching about the Holocaust, Jewish life and culture, and countering antisemitism.”

The Holocaust was the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its allies and collaborators during World War II.*  Provost, who holds a master’s degree and Ph.D in history from the University of Toledo,  studied the Holocaust as part of her graduate education. She has taught a class about the Holocaust several times at MGA and is scheduled to do so again in spring 2025 on the Cochran Campus.

“It’s incredibly important to teach about the Holocaust and how it happened, and I am honored to be part of these programs to learn more and share the knowledge with others,” she said. “Learning about the past can help people identify dangerous trends and speak out when they see them. Never again means never again.”

 

*United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website: https://www.ushmm.org/learn