Aiken, SC: Aiken Intermediate School was chosen by the South Carolina Council on the Holocaust to receive $500 worth of books related to the Holocaust for their school library. It is one of only 35 schools across the state that are being selected as part of the SC Council on the Holocaust’s “35 for 35 Initiative” during the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 school years.
This initiative was created to honor the 35th year of the existence of the South Carolina Council on the Holocaust by awarding select schools across the state to receive a $500 donation of books on the Holocaust. Each school chosen to participate in this program has demonstrated an interest in providing resources for their students to learn more about the Holocaust. Over this school year and the next over $17,000 in books will be distributed to schools across the state as part of this initiative.
Scott Auspelmyer, the Executive Director of the South Carolina Council on the Holocaust, states, “Our council felt that one valuable way we could contribute to Holocaust education in our state is to get more books into the hands of the students at the schools that they attend. We have received great interest in this program and we are excited to work with school librarians throughout South Carolina to provide them with quality nonfiction texts to add to their holdings.”
The South Carolina Council on the Holocaust was established in 1989 through a state legislative mandate. It operates in collaborative partnership with the state legislature and the SC Department of Education to promote awareness about the Holocaust and to honor the survivors and concentration camp liberators who call South Carolina home. To this end, the Council supports teacher training programs, special events that discuss Holocaust history, human rights, and genocide, and annual Holocaust commemorations around the state.
