HMMSA new educational opportunities

In August, the Holocaust Memorial Museum of San Antonio (HMMSA) launched a new Lunch and Learn series which featured talks from HMMSA docents on topics such as Women in the Holocaust, and a Second-generation survivor talking about the experiences of several family members during the Holocaust.  In September, a new series was launched featuring several local San Antonio Rabbis from different congregations who will explain aspects of Judaism for our non-Jewish audience.  This series will encourage our community to better understand each other and in the words of Maxine Cohen, founding director of the HMMSA, “see ourselves in the faces of strangers.”   

Along with the new virtual series, the staff at the HMMSA is ensuring that the South Texas community is able to enjoy the programming provided by the museum. HMMSA has added subtitles to all of the Facebook and YouTube videos for our deaf and hard of hearing audiences.  Not only will adding subtitles better serve our community as a whole, but studies have shown that adding subtitles to videos can help comprehension of the content subject.   

With the continuing distanced learning affecting schools throughout Texas, the HMMSA has explored applications to help reach students in and out of the classroom.  The Flipgrid application is the latest application that the museum has joined which will allow us to present topics to students such as “Now that I know” or “Ask a docent.”  Students can then record themselves answering in brief 1-minute clips.  While the museum remains physically closed but open virtually, new applications such as Flipgrid will help the museum continue our mission of teaching the dangers of hatred, prejudice, and apathy, and promotes good citizenship, democratic values, and respect for human dignity.