Press Room - Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission

The mission of the Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission is to bring awareness of the Holocaust and other genocides to Texas students, educators, and the general public by ensuring availability of resources.

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Programs

THGC Non-Profit Grant

The Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission (THGC) offers to fund a variety of programs through its THGC Non-Profit Grant Program. These grant funds may be used for projects related to classroom education, workshops, recording of oral histories, and memorials or exhibits, as well as other purposes. This grant is open to all permanent, non-profit institutions that are headquartered in the State of Texas.

Amounts up to $10,000.00 may be granted per project. All funds may require one-to-one matches, but in-kind services may be counted toward the 50% total match. The THGC regularly assists educational institutions, museums, and other local non-profits throughout the entire state with this grant program.

THGC Holocaust Remembrance Week Grant
The intent of this grant program is to advance public knowledge and the study of the Holocaust and other genocides by partnering with Texas-based, non-profit organizations to provide local schools and communities with educational resources. The Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission is charged with providing advice and assistance regarding the implementation of Holocaust and genocide education and programming, most recently with the passing of SB 1828 in 2019, which established an annual Holocaust Remembrance Week in Texas schools. This grant is designed to help schools statewide in implementing Holocaust Remembrance Week education and programming, although we encourage using the materials provided by this grant throughout the entire year.

THGC Holocaust Remembrance Week Grants require a one-to-one match. Applications may be submitted for a total of one hundred percent (100%) of the materials’ cost, for a maximum grant amount of $25,000.00. Organizations should provide 50% of the cost in matching funds. In-kind services may be counted toward the 50% match.

Friends of THGC Educator Grant
The Friends of Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission (THGC) annually offers up to eight grants of up to $1,000 each to educators and educational institutions to fund projects that educate Texas students and communities about the Holocaust and/or genocides. This Educator Grant program is open to teachers and organizations throughout the state: teachers, administrators, school districts, homeschooling programs, and public, charter, and private schools may apply.

The THGC is offering this program to fund projects that promote students' learning about these historical events and how they connect to what we see in our world today. Sample projects have included providing class sets of texts that school districts have not been able to provide, helping to create oral history projects with Holocaust and/or genocide survivors and World War II veterans, and creating a Holocaust/genocide education project culminating in a field trip to one of Texas’ four Holocaust museums.

Educators can look for the application, criteria, and procedures in the late summer, apply by early fall, and look to complete their projects before the end of the academic year.

Contests & Awards

Friends of THGC Dr. Anna Steinberger Outstanding Educator Award
The Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission (THGC) is firmly committed to supporting efforts to teach the next generation about the Holocaust and/or genocides in the Ottoman Empire (Armenians), Cambodia, Rwanda/Burundi, the Balkans, Sudan (Darfur), and the Middle East (Iraq and Syria).

Since 2017, the THGC has presented a monetary award of $1,000 to one educator who has demonstrated a record of excellence in engaging any of the aforementioned subjects with Texas students (grades 6-12). Librarians, curriculum specialists, and classroom teachers in any discipline are eligible to apply for this award. This annual award is generously funded by the Friends of Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

Dr. Steinberger is a Holocaust survivor and served as a founding member of the Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission. She retired from the University of Texas Medical School in 2001, but has continued to demonstrate a commitment to education in Texas.

Friends of THGC Student Contests in Poetry & Visual Arts
The Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission (THGC) looks to engage Texas students in 6th-12th grade so that they might assume the role of witness and use their knowledge to improve the world in which we live. Each December the THGC opens its Student Contests in Poetry & Visual Arts to students across Texas in hopes that after viewing, listening to, or reading testimony from survivors, rescuers, liberators, scholars, or activists, they generate an original piece of visual artwork or poem as a reflection of said testimony. For the last two years, these contests have involved testimonies from the Holocaust and genocides in the Ottoman Empire, Cambodia, Rwanda/Burundi, the Balkans, Sudan, Syria, and Iraq.

In 2019, over 200 students participated in the contest, resulting in a total of eight winners from across the state. In 2020, over 180 students submitted entries and saw a total of four winners which can be viewed here. Students with the highest scores are awarded cash prizes in the amount of $500 (high school) and $250 (middle school). This annual contest is generously funded by the Friends of Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

Workshops

Live Workshops for Educators

The Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission (THGC) offers live workshops that provide training to educators on best practices. Since 2016, workshops have been held in each of the state’s 20 Education Service Center (ESC) regions. All workshops are free to Texas educators.

In July 2019, the THGC partnered with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and traveled to Edinburg, Texas to hold a two-day workshop entitled, The World Will Turn Right-Side Up One Day. Over 45 teachers and curriculum specialists from across the Rio Grande Valley were in attendance, and various resources were provided free of cost to all participants.

To host or request a live workshop in your area, please complete our Request a THGC Speaker form.

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Texas Liberator Exhibit Press Kit

The Texas Liberator: Witness to the Holocaust

Texas Tech University (TTU), with the generous support of the Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission (THGC), created the Texas Liberator Project as a means of introducing the wider public to the experiences of U.S. soldiers who were witnesses to and actors in the liberation of the Nazi concentration and death camps and serve as a portal to furthering Holocaust and genocide awareness and education. Working with the nineteen oral histories compiled by the Baylor Institute for Oral History and archival material from the Dallas Holocaust Museum, Holocaust Museum Houston, and the United States Holocaust Memorial and Museum, TTU faculty and students worked to create a multi-pronged project to be used in the classroom, with community members, and with scholars.

The project includes an educational app (available on www.texasliberators.org) that introduces viewers to the liberation of Dachau through the eyes of U.S. soldiers. The app features liberator accounts, survivor testimonials, artifacts, texts, and letters. Set in a virtual reconstruction of Dachau, students can interact with different historical documents and learn more about the liberation period and the Holocaust as they navigate the app. The accompanying education website features interactive maps, an Honor Roll of over 480 veteran liberators, a 360 degree virtual tour of the exhibit, bibliographies, filmographies, and teacher resources including research projects, discussion questions, quizzes, and other materials. The oral histories of twenty-one liberators, nineteen from the Baylor Institute of Oral History and two from Holocaust Museum Houston, are featured in a compellingly edited display quality book, The Texas Liberators: Veteran Narratives from World War II (Texas Tech University Press, 2017), that features the liberators testifying as to what they witnessed as well as modern-day portraits and service photos. This book has been provided free of charge to every public and private middle and high school in the state of Texas by the Friends of the Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission.

Finally, the entire project culminated in an exhibit curated by Dr. Aliza Wong, the project lead for the Texas Liberator Project and associate dean of the Texas Tech University Honors College and associate professor of History; Cameron Saffell, Assistant Director for Operations and Facilities; and Andrew Gedeon, Exhibits Manager, Museum of Texas Tech University, that was featured at the Museum of TTU in Fall, 2017. This exhibit is now traveling the state of Texas and serves as a portal to further Holocaust education and honor our Texas liberators.

For more information, please contact Aliza Wong, Project Lead for the Texas Liberator Project, by e-mail, or visit the Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission website.

A digital copy of this press kit is available.

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Aliza S. Wong, PhD | Project Lead, Associate Dean, Associate Professor, Director of European Studies | Texas Tech University
E-mail Dr. Wong

Aliza S. Wong, Ph.D. is the Associate Dean of the Honors College, an Associate Professor of History and the Director of European Studies. She joined the administration of the Honors College in 2014. She has been teaching for the Department of History at Texas Tech University since 2001. She joined the faculty in a tenure-track position in 2002. Aliza Wong serves as the Director of European Studies, served three terms as a senator on the Faculty Senate, and one term as the Faculty Senate president in 2013-2014. She is also the co-director and co-founder of the Open Teaching Concept: Teaching Diversity Across the Curriculum Program at Texas Tech.

Dr. Wong received her undergraduate degree with a triple major in History, English, and Asian Languages and Civilizations from Amherst College, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in History from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

She has taught a number of courses in the department including undergraduate seminars such as Europe and World War II, The First World War, Great Cities: Rome, Pompeii, Florence, and Milan, 19th Century Europe, 20th Century Europe, Europe and the World Wars, the History of Modern Italy, Nationalism in Europe, Popular Culture and History, History of Italian Fascism, Race, Nation, and Identity in Europe, and the History of the Italian Mafia, and graduate seminars on such topics as Methodologies, Cultural Theory and History, Diaspora and Immigration, The Breadth of Microhistory, European Nationalism and Identity, and the History of the European Right.

A dedicated teacher, Dr. Wong has been honored with several teaching awards including the Phi Alpha Theta Distinguished Faculty Award (2003-2004 and 2007-2008), the Hemphill-Wells New Faculty Teaching Award (2004-2005), the Mortar Board Society's Outstanding Faculty Award (2005-2006), the Alumni Association New Faculty Award (2005-2006), the President's Excellence in Teaching Award (2006-2007), the Eta Omicron Nu Distinguished Faculty Award (2013-2014), and was inducted as an Honorary Member of the Forum Chapter of Texas Tech University of Mortar Board Society (2014). Dr. Wong is also a member of the Teaching Academy at Texas Tech University. Most recently, Dr. Wong was selected as an Integrated Scholar by the Office of the Provost at Texas Tech University. She also received the highest teaching award of the Texas Tech University System, the Chancellor's Distinguished Teaching Award in 2015. For her work on multiculturalism, diversity, and access and opportunity, Dr. Wong received the Texas Tech Inclusive Excellence Award in 2013 and the President's Excellence in Diversity Award in 2015.

Dr. Wong is a specialist in modern Italian history with a concentration on southern question discourse, race, nationalism, and identity. Her book, Race and Nation in Liberal Italy, 1861-1911: Meridionalism, Empire, and Diaspora is available from Palgrave-Macmillan. She has also produced several articles and reviews. Dr. Wong's research interests have extended to work on diasporic systems and she has both published and presented papers on the immigrant communities in Italy. Dr. Wong has presented several papers including ones at the American Historical Association national conference and the American Political Science Association national conference. She has also presented in international conferences in places such as Cambridge, England, Hong Kong, Paris, France, and Cosenza, Italy. Dr. Wong is currently working on her second book, an examination of Italian constructions of the American Far West. Dr. Wong has received many research fellowships and awards for her work.

Aliza Wong is a two-time Fulbright Scholar. She was awarded a Fulbright Junior Scholar Research Award to Italy (2005-2006) of which only one is awarded annually. She also received an earlier Fulbright graduate student research fellowship to Italy (1999-2000).

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Texas Liberator Project?
The Texas Liberator Project is a collaborative effort between Texas Tech University and the Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission, using the testimonies of WWII veterans collected by the Baylor University Institute of Oral History, to enhance holocaust and education for the wider public in the state of Texas and beyond. Using these testimonials,the team at Texas Tech University developed a digital app to help share the stories of the Texas Liberators with high school students across the state. Texas Tech created a narrative by which students could come to understand the extremes of savagery and fanaticism, humility and humanity of the Second World War from the perspective of the American soldier.

The Texas Liberator Project includes the app, a website, a large format, display quality book featuring the narratives of 21 of the Texas liberators, and an exhibit at the Museum of Texas Tech University.Led by principal investigator Dr. Aliza Wong and Texas Tech faculty, teams of Texas Tech University undergraduate and graduate students took on the gargantuan task of honoring the men and women who sacrificed so much to ensure the liberation, survival, and memory of the Holocaust.

For more information on the Texas Liberator Project, please contact Dr. Aliza Wong by e-mail or visit the Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission website.

How do I access the app?
The interactive app, as well as filmed walk-throughs and links to the full-length testimonials, are available on the Texas Liberator website.

What is the Texas Liberators Honor Roll?
The former chair and commissioner of the Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission, Peter Berkowitz, took on the arduous and difficult task of “rescuing” the names and service information of Texan men and women who were present at the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps. Before he passed, Mr. Berkowitz found more than 460 Texas veterans on the Honor Roll. The Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission continues his work and to date has expanded the Honor Roll to nearly 500 liberators.

I have a family member who I believe should belong on the Texas Liberators Honor Roll – to whom should I speak?
For more information on the traveling or full-scale exhibit, please contact Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission Director of Programs, Cheyanne Perkins by e-mail or phone.

How do I find out more about the Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission?
For more information on the Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission, please visit their website.

Where can I learn more about the Holocaust and genocide?
The Texas Liberators website has bibliographies, filmographies, educational resources, a list of Texas, national, and international museums and archives as well as interactive maps, videos, and project guides. The Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission shares information about teacher workshops, educational materials, events, and major news stories.

Where can I order a copy of the Texas Liberators book?
You may order a copy of the book from Texas Tech University Press or from most major bookstores.

To whom should I speak to bring either the traveling or full-scale Texas Liberators exhibit to my city?
For more information on the traveling or full-scale exhibit, please contact Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission Director of Programs, Cheyanne Perkins by e-mail or phone.

How can I learn more about Texas Tech and the public and engaged scholarship at the university?
For more information, please see Texas Tech University's website or contact University Outreach and Engagement by e-mail.

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