Course in preparation at the Széchenyi István University in Győr
At the Széchenyi István University in Győr, a free-choice course on the theme of “Judaism – Inclusion – Exclusion” will be offered in the fall semester of the 2025/2026 academic year for BA students majoring in elementary education, therapeutic pedagogy, social pedagogy, social work, and sociology with the support of the Jewish Roots in Győr Public Charity Foundation in the spirit of raising awareness to prevent anti-Semitism.
The invited guest lecturers, Dr Richárd Papp, associate professor (ELTE Faculty of Social Sciences), and Dr Anikó Sükösd, assistant professor (KRE Faculty of Economics, Health Sciences and Social Sciences), will explore and interpret the problems of anti-Semitism and other forms of exclusion in interactive lectures and workshops.
The guest lecturers and participating faculty members from the University of Győr will place special emphasis on local Holocaust remembrance, which the guest lecturers have been researching in Hungary and Eastern Europe for many years. During the semester, they will seek answers to questions such as: what is the significance of Holocaust remembrance in Hungary today among different generations and in different communities? What are the reasons behind the silence and concealment? What are the signs that are among us but whose meaning we do not understand?
According to Dr Péter Simonik, associate professor, acting head of department, coordinating the introduction of the course, “it is both significant and disturbing that 80 years after the Holocaust, we still need to talk about different forms of exclusion and the importance of combating anti-Semitism. We trust that the ideas presented during the semester will make the main message of the course clear to the participants, which can be summed up in the words of the late Chief Rabbi József Schweitzer: “It is impossible for us, who are all children of the Almighty, to seek what divides us; rather, we must strive for what unites us.”
The organizers will conclude the preparatory phase of the University Project on May 9, 2025, with an online lecture for prospective participants.