To teach the Holocaust in Poland: understanding teachers’ motivations to engage the painful past

Abstract

This article highlights the role of teachers in confronting traumatic, hidden wartime histories in communities traumatized by them. The study illuminates patterns based on field observations, emails, and surveys of 60 teachers who participated in a Holocaust teacher preparation program in Poland during the summer of 2010. The teachers surveyed were motivated to teach the Holocaust out of a personal or familial need, a sense of personal duty, and a desire to understand themselves and their histories. They also were concerned that their students lacked knowledge of the Holocaust in Poland. Findings from this research help to inform theory and practice related to the implementation of successful reconciliation curriculum across communities that have been traumatized by ethnic cleansing, racism, war, and intolerance.