Founded in 1988, the Holocaust Educational Trust (HET) works to ensure that the Holocaust has a permanent place in our nation’s collective memory. One of HET’s early successes was securing the Holocaust on the National Curriculum in 1991 for Key Stage 3 students (11-14 year olds). The Trust also successfully worked to secure the restitution of assets belonging to Holocaust victims and Survivors to their rightful owners - and was instrumental in the establishment of an annual Holocaust Memorial Day in the UK. Working in schools and higher education institutions, HET provides teacher training workshops and lectures, as well as teaching aids and resource materials.

Among its key projects is Lessons from Auschwitz, which receives significant Government support and which has given thousands of post-16 students the opportunity to visit the Nazi concentration and extermination camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau - to learn at first hand the consequences of allowing racism in society to go unchecked.

The Trust’s recently launched Think Equal Project is an innovative educational programme designed specifically for schools in areas of reported racial and community tension. In partnership with schools, HET deliver teacher training to staff in schools who go onto deliver workshops which help their students explore themes of personal responsibility, their own identity and the dangers of pre-judging others. Students have the opportunity to hear a Holocaust Survivor share their testimony and consider the dangers of prejudice and discrimination.

The Holocaust Educational Trust’s website is http://www.het.org.uk/