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For three decades, Dr. Paul Winkler, executive director of the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education, has been at the country's forefront of Holocaust education.

In recognition of his work, Winkler was honored with the annual Philip Forman Human Relations Award from American Jewish Committee of Central New Jersey, June 8 at Greenacres Country Club in Lawrenceville.

Winkler, a career educator, first became involved in Holocaust education when a group of individuals from two school districts, one in northern New Jersey, Teaneck, and one in southern New Jersey, Vineland, joined together and approached the state's Department of Education. They were able to obtain a few thousand dollars of federal funds to develop a curriculum teaching the Holocaust and invited Winkler to participate in that early effort.

After Gov. Thomas Kean was elected in 1981, he gathered a group of educators, survivors, and legislators to discuss establishing a state-wide commission. In 1982, Kean, through an executive order, established the Holocaust Council to spearhead the state's Holocaust education. Kean tapped Winkler to lead this commission, a position he has held ever since.

Through the commission, New Jersey became a leader in Holocaust education. In 1994, New Jersey became one of the first states to mandate that the Holocaust and other genocides be taught in public schools.

Winkler, in an interview with The Jewish State, spoke about the changes he has witnessed in Holocaust education over the past several decades.

"At the beginning of Holocaust education, the teachers were Steinberg or Greenberg or Schwartz," he said. "Now you have teachers of every religion, every race, every ethnic background."

Instruction in the Holocaust, Winkler noted, has also moved from exclusively being taught in history classes and has been incorporated in subjects like art and music. Furthermore, Holocaust education has become "more inclusive," engaging in other genocides past and present such as the ongoing conflict in Darfur.

To fulfill the commission's mission, Winkler said the key has been to partner with other organizations, including the state's colleges and universities, the Anti-Defamation League, and institutions like the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Yad Vashem.

"We've taken a very eclectic approach," he said. "We don't feel like we have the one answer; we try to bring everyone together."

Teacher training has been one of the commission's priorities. Last year alone, the commission helped train 8,000 teachers in Holocaust education and 10,000 students went through programs and workshops sponsored by the commission, Winkler said. Another focus has been to connect survivors of the Holocaust and other genocides to students on a person-to-person level to make strong connections and ensure the next generation carries on their memory.

Allyson Gall, New Jersey area director of the AJC, said when the organization was deciding this year's award recipient, they were surprised to learn that Winkler had not been honored before.

"We were looking for someone with real impact and Paul fit the bill," she told The Jewish State.

"What people recognize about Paul is that it's not just about the Holocaust for him, it's about teaching people to be better human beings and doing something about prejudice and bias wherever and whenever it arises," she said.

Attendees of the dinner cited Winkler's modesty and the selflessness with which he approaches his work.

"For as much as he does, he seeks no credit, no recognition," Philip Kirschner, chairman of the commission, said of Winkler. "So it's appropriate tonight that his friends and colleagues can come together to recognize what he does, which has been the driving force of the commission."

"At first, I was reluctant to be honored by the American Jewish Committee," Winkler admitted. "We try to demonstrate that the Holocaust Commission is not the Jewish or Israel commission. We deal with man's inhumanity to man."

But when he learned that the award was to recognize the work of the commission, "I readily accepted and feel very proud."

Kean, who attended the reception, praised Winkler as a "teacher of teachers."

"This remarkable journey he has been on has been a remarkably productive journey," Kean said. "I cannot think of another person who has dedicated their life to something as worthwhile."

"I know I speak for everyone in this room when I say I love you and love you for who you are," he added.

Rabbi Andrew Baker, director of international Jewish affairs for the AJC, delivered the keynote address, where he spoke about "issues of the Holocaust that remain unfinished," namely Holocaust memory and the restitution of survivors in the former Soviet Union.

Advocates like the AJC are still struggling with issues and countries "on matters we would think would have been resolved long ago," Baker said.

According to Baker, when the Soviet Union fell in the late 80s, many thought restitution could finally be extended to survivors behind the Iron Curtain.

"But it didn't happen at all quickly or without tension," he said.

Instead, because of the high expense of Germany's reunification and its previous commitment to compensate Eastern Europeans who fought for Germany during the war, "you had the anomaly of veterans parading around in Waffen-SS uniforms in Riga, Latvia eligible for pensions but survivors in Riga getting nothing."

While some countries like Macedonia and Romania have taken steps in recognition of their roles in the Holocaust and begun to compensate survivors, in other countries like Lithuania there has been "a battle, a great struggle," Baker said.

"The question we must ask is: Are we bringing society with us when we get the political leadership to do the right thing," he said.

Widespread societal change with regard to the Holocaust may "take years, even generations," he added.