The legacy of the Holocaust includes PTSD(post-traumatic stress disorder) according to an author who is speaking to participants in a teacher institute in Davenport this week

(Davenport, Iowa) The focus of the "Teacher Institute on Holocaust Study" is the Holocaust and the keynote speaker is author, Howard Reich. Heist traveled across the United States and Eastern Europe to uncover why his 76 year old mother believes the world is conspiring to kill her. He claims his mother is reliving the Holocaust six decades later. As he put it--she is once again a 9 year old girl in the small Polish village of Dubno, struggling to survive the Holocaust. His book is called, The Final Nightmare of Sonia Reich: A Son's Memoir. Reich says her mother has PTSD.  There have been thousands of Holocaust stories, but this angle--PTSD--is new.The paperback version of the book just came out and a film, with the same title, is playing on PBS nationally throughout this year.

The teacher institute is being held on November 17th at the Rogalski Center St. Ambrose University in Davenport from 3:30 pm until 7:15pm. Reich will be speaking from 4:30 pm until 5:15 pm. This is the first year the Jewish Federation of the Quad Cities is holding the Institute in Iowa.

The Teacher Institute on Holocaust Study is sponsored by the Jewish Federation of the Quad Cities, the Holocaust Education Committee of the Greater Quad Cities, and the Rauch Family Foundation II. Additional sponsors this year include St. Ambrose University and the Doris and Victor Day Foundation. The goal of the Teacher's Institute is to help provide the tools that teachers need in order to be able to teach the Holocaust in the classroom and how it relates to events today. You do not have to a teacher to attend.  Organizers are hoping for 100 attendees. Graduate credit option available for Illinois and Iowa teachers through Aurora University or Drake University.

WHAT: Teachers` Institute on Holocaust Study

WHEN: November 17, 2011 3:30 pm until 7:15 pm

WHERE: St. Ambrose University Rogalski Center Ballroom

WHO: Author, Howard Reich

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