Empirical and Normative Foundations of Holocaust education: Bringing research and advocacy into dialogue

Abstract

A scenario of Holocaust education gone awry, which was constructed from a real event in one author’s experience, and a 2010 critique of Holocaust education by former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, are used to explore key issues and dilemmas for Holocaust education. The authors argue that we should pursue clarity about the empirical and moral bases for advocacy, research, and teaching, which will protect the field from unrealistic expectations that are counterproductive for the subject. Bringing advocacy and research into dialogue will contribute to achieving clarity about both the purposes and the effects of Holocaust education. This article explores these tensions and suggests critical areas for further Holocaust education research, particularly regarding children’s emotional experience in Holocaust education; the practical tools educators need to respond effectively to inappropriate or problematic comments; how we can speak about groups without reinforcing totalizing and homogenizing identities that ideologues attempt to promote; and the ways that children in different cultural contexts construct meaning from the Holocaust. The article draws connections among the articles for this special double-issue.