The Pedagogy of Remembrance as a Form of Museum Education

Abstract

In Poland, over the last two decades, three currents have emerged in historical education about the Second World War. One is the program that goes by the name of “Holocaust education”, intended to support the development of both the teaching of history of the Shoah in schools and organizing visits to memorial sites. The general idea of this project, supported by the governments of more than 30 countries participating in the structure of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), posits linking Holocaust education with civic and moral education. However, despite its broad range of activities aimed at propagating knowledge about the extermination of the Jews and connecting that subject with education on human rights, it is difficult to regard “Holocaust education” as a coherent didactic concept, especially in regard to the educational work of museums at memorial sites. Basically, there are no scholarly studies presenting the theoretical and methodological assumptions of “Holocaust education” as a form of extramural education1. The majority of publications concentrate on issues surrounding covering the subject in the classroom, but fail to elucidate the concept of “Holocaust education” itself or to attempt to conceptualize this current in the categories of didactics or the theory of education2.