Terezín: A Leadership Journey into Memory, Moral Courage, and Cultural Resilience
Cultural Immersion
Details:
Date: Wednesday 15 October
Time: 9:00 – 3:00
Cost: $100 – Includes Bus to and from Terezín, Tour Guide, Facilitated Discussion
Start Location: Hilton Prague
Note: There is no food available for purchase on the Tour or at Terezín. If you wish to eat lunch, you must purchase it yourself and bring it on the bus before you board at 9:00 AM.
Sign-up for the pre-conference workshop:
- During Conference Registration: Select this event when you register for the global conference.
- Already registered for the global conference? Add this pre-conference event here. Please note that pre-conference activities are exclusively available to full conference registrants to ensure the best possible experience for all attendees.
As part of this year’s International Leadership Association (ILA) Global Conference, we invite you to join a profound and purposeful visit to Terezín (Theresienstadt)—a site that stands at the intersection of memory, moral reflection, and leadership learning. This experience represents a rare collaboration between four ILA member communities—Public Leadership, Leadership for Peace, Followership, and Philosophy, Religion, and Worldviews—each contributing a unique lens to explore what Terezín can teach us about leadership, ethical responsibility, and the human spirit under pressure.
Description
Terezín is not just a place of historical tragedy—it is a living testament to the resilience of the human spirit, the complexity of moral leadership, and the consequences of both courageous and complicit followership. Established by the Nazis in 1941 as a transit camp and ghetto, it became a deceptive propaganda site to mask the horrors of the Holocaust—while functioning as a place of immense suffering, psychological manipulation, and loss. Paradoxically, it also served as a powerful space of cultural resistance, where imprisoned artists, musicians, and educators held onto dignity and identity through creativity.
Learning from Local Communities and Contemporary Engagement
Through collaboration with local Prague-based educators and civic leaders, the tour includes insightful, community-grounded perspectives on memory preservation and public reckoning with the past. These partners offer both historical depth and living models of grassroots leadership and civic courage in the face of contemporary challenges.
This cross-community initiative reflects our shared commitment to fostering compassionate, courageous, and ethically grounded leadership, and to creating spaces for reflection, dialogue, and healing across disciplines and traditions.
Schedule:
- 9:00am: Depart from Hilton Prague
- 10:00am: Guided educational tour of Terezín, including the Small Fortress, Ghetto Museum, and key historical sites.
- 12:30pm: Facilitated Group Reflection
- 1:30pm: Board bus to return to Prague.
- 3:00pm Arrive at Hilton Prague
Places we’ll visit:
- Terezín Small Fortress (former Gestapo prison)
- Ghetto Museum
- Magdeburg Barracks (arts and education spaces)
- Jewish cemetery and prayer room
- Former crematorium (if accessible)
- Railway siding used for deportations
Materials needed:
- Comfortable walking shoes
- Layers for indoor/outdoor conditions
- A notebook or journal (optional)
- A filled water bottle
- There is no food available for purchase on the Tour or at Terezín. If you wish to eat lunch, you must purchase it yourself and bring it on the bus before you board at 9:00 AM.
Tour Guide
Ljuba P. started working as a tour guide in Prague in 1994, when she was still a student. Communism had just barely ended and foreign – especially Western – tourists were becoming a more common sight. Much has changed since then, but she still enjoy sharing her love of Prague with visitors from all over the world. She specializes in Jewish tours due to her family heritage.
“After working for so many years with tourists, I know that your time in a foreign city is valuable and limited. My job is to ensure that you get the most out of your visit – not just rushing through the sites. I pride myself not only on being a professional but also on providing great personal attention to all of my customers. Those who come on my tours leave Prague with a feeling that they are not only my clients but my friends as well.”
Facilitators
Aleen Z. Bayard, the current chair of the Leadership for Peace member community and an active participant in the Followership group. Dr. Bayard is an adjunct lecturer at Northwestern University in Chicago teaching Organizational Change and Leadership courses. She has been studying and researching peace building for several years, particularly in the Middle East and other areas of generational conflict. In addition to her academic interests, Aleen is the principal of Transformative Consulting, a consulting practice offering a range of services in the organizational development space.
Ariel Kaufman has served as a student leadership development specialist and assessment and research specialist in the Office for Student Organizations, Leadership & Involvement at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her work as a scholar practitioner in student affairs, academic units, campus community partnerships, and collaboratively across units with students, staff, faculty, and community partners. In addition to 18 years in higher education, she has worked in the nonprofit sector in programming and organizational consulting. She is also very active in the International Leadership Association, organizing sessions and events, reviewing, and serving as chair and on the core leadership team of ILA’s Public Leadership community. She holds a master’s degree in educational leadership and policy analysis from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Lisa Friesen is the current Chair of the Philosophy, Religion, and Worldview member community. She is an associate professor of Allied Health Professions at California Baptist University. She also teaches in the PhD of Leadership Studies program at California Baptist University.