Holocaust Education Research Articles

Holocaust Education in Times of Russia’s War on Ukraine

Holocaust Education in Times of Russia’s War on Ukraine

Participating in professional development programmes or learning in the wild? Understanding the learning ecologies of Holocaust educators

AbstractHolocaust education, which refers to the teaching and learning of the Holocaust—the systematic genocide of six million Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during World War II—is an essential component of history and social studies education in many countries. Its primary aim is to raise awareness of the Holocaust, promote understanding of its historical significance and develop critical thinking and empathy in students. However, despite the increasing specialisation and institutionalisation of Holocaust education, there is still a lack of understanding of how Holocaust educators acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to teach the subject effectively. This study aims to explore the learning ecologies of a group of Italian Holocaust educators, focusing on their motivations for initial and lifelong learning and their learning practices. Ten in‐depth interviews were conducted with teachers from different subject areas. The results showed that participants were driven by either personal or curricular motivations and interests and used a range of learning approaches for both initial and lifelong learning. Although few participants considered digital technologies and social media as a learning environment, they were found to be useful resources. The study concludes with practical implications for further research.

Holocaust education in the post-secular era: Religious-Zionist lessons from the Holocaust

ABSTRACT Applying Arthur Chapman’s conceptualization, this article explores Religious Zionist (RZ) Holocaust education and the way it has changed over the years. Beyond RZ’s increasing influence within Israeli society, this examination provides a unique example of faith-based Holocaust education that adheres to rationalism while teaching God’s power over history. The diachronic textual analysis reveals dramatic changes in RZ Holocaust education over the past eight decades. Similar to faith-based education around the world, RZ focused initially on a deontological lesson highlighting the duty of the religious person under any circumstances. Following the 67 War, a distinct consequentialist-theological lesson was added, clarifying the obligation of the Jewish people to respond to the process of redemption embodied in the Zionist movement. As for the present day, the study profiles a new post-secular ontological lesson about the atrocities that people are capable of perpetrating in a godless world. This lesson is intertwined into a novel meta-narrative, one based not on modern ideologies but on the Bibal and the vision of the Prophets. The conclusions of this article help to create analytical categories for exploring faith-based Holocaust education around the world—a topic that has emerged in recent decades as one of great importance.

At engagement’s edge: heritage experts and Holocaust education in Belarus

ABSTRACT Using semi-structured interview methodology and qualitative ‘thick description’, original interviews were recorded with heritage experts who educate about and engage the public with Holocaust history in Belarus. Significantly, the interviews explored grassroots realities and gave voice to practitioners at risk of marginalization in Belarus’s repressive cultural politics. Rigorously analyzing these research interviews within the context of regionally relevant academic literature and an online international workshop (2021), an original interpretation is offered. Namely, that Belarus has historically shifted from an opportune moment regarding Holocaust engagement and education to being ‘at engagement’s edge’ following the August 2020 elections and Ukraine conflict (2022).

Teaching with images: opportunities and pitfalls for Holocaust education

ABSTRACT Based on a sample of the most commonly used textbooks and online teaching resources, we find that photos play a central but deeply problematic role in Holocaust education in the UK. The impact of photos on a generation of ‘primarily visual learners’ is significant. But an over-reliance on a set of problematic stock photos, inadequate or erroneous captioning, and a lack of prompts for a critical analysis of photos create problems. Their combined effect can adversely affect understandings of this difficult history, and limit the development of visual literacy skills required for tackling contemporary misinformation and visual indoctrination.

Representations of Holocaust protagonists in history education in Polish primary schools under the rule of the Law and Justice party

ABSTRACT This article examines how the ‘historical policy’ of the Law and Justice party influenced Holocaust education in Poland at the mandatory primary school level (7–14-year-olds). It analyzes the party’s programs vis-à-vis the Holocaust and the representations of Holocaust protagonists – perpetrators, victims, and others – in the history core curriculum, history textbooks, and teaching practice as presented by teachers in interviews. The analysis shows that the representations of Holocaust protagonists in Polish primary school history education are considerably influenced by the nationalist approach originating from the ruling party's ‘historical policy’ and stressing the salvation of Jews from the Holocaust by Poles.

Democracy is opposed to dictatorship: Danish Holocaust memory and the didactic practices of Danish history teachers

This article addresses the collective memory of the Holocaust in Denmark. It suggests that narratives about Denmark as a particularly democratic nation generate a national bias, which may impede the understanding of the Holocaust as a transnational event and the development of an intercultural and analytical approach to Holocaust education. Through the lenses of Jan Assmann’s theory of communicative and cultural memory and based on interviews with 25 informants, the article explores how the didactic practices of Danish history teachers intermingle with the communicative memory of the students’ families and social networks to stabilize the canonized narrative of the Denmark as a democratic nation, but also how this narrative might be challenged by drawing on alternative archives.

Teaching Difficult Knowledge of Holocaust Education in Poland: A Look at The Impact of Narrative, Empathy, And Previous Knowledge on Memory.

Teaching Difficult Knowledge of Holocaust Education in Poland: A Look at The Impact of Narrative, Empathy, And Previous Knowledge on Memory.

The Holocaust in Polish and American culture. Deliberations, politics and watershed moments.

This article addresses issues related to Holocaust education in two emblematic sites: the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum (A-BSM) and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) in Washington, DC. Every year, these institutions are visited by millions of people, which contributes to their enormous impact on the memories of future generations. Their method of education, however, cannot be understood outside its historical, cultural and political context. Auschwitz contains the history of a former concentration and extermination camp, and the institution itself is also linked to the history of another totalitarian regime. In the United States, the National Holocaust Museum underwent years of deliberation over why the country should nationally commemorate Jewish victims, and why a memorial should stand on the National Mall in Washington, a place associated with American democracy. A broad view of the subject, as outlined in the article, not only allows for an awareness of what these centres are and how they educate, but it allows for an understanding of their perspective, excluding numerous criticisms that would seek to invalidate their discourse, while favouring criticism based on historical facts.

Crossing Borders: Conceptualising National Exhibitions as Contested Spaces of Holocaust Memory at the Auschwitz Birkenau State Museum

This paper considers the presence and potential educational impact of national exhibitions within the Auschwitz Birkenau State Museum in Poland. It takes a constructivist, personal-theoretical approach, drawing from autoethnography to explore possible visitor experiences at two of the national exhibits. Through detailed reflection on the French exhibition (Block 20) and the Dutch exhibition (Block 21), the author conducts a thematic analysis on the content in order to consider the constructions and possible intentions of the narratives presented. This is used to consider how the (relatively unvisited) exhibitions might contribute to visitors’ developing understandings of the complex history of the Holocaust. Particularly, the author considers how the national exhibits might contribute to the education of young people at the museum, and, by extension, at other sites, memorials, or educational spaces. The paper concludes that the inclusion of these complex national narratives is vital in young people gaining an understanding of the Holocaust as a multi-layered event. The paper offers a model for enabling inclusive Holocaust Education that embraces: (1.) divergent historical narratives (such as those in the national exhibitions), (2.) young people’s emotional engagement and responses to those narratives, and (3.) the Holocaust (and its representations) as a ‘contested space’ of history.

Classroom management and emotional regulation in Holocaust education: a qualitative video-based single case study in a secondary school

ABSTRACT Holocaust education is supposed to equip students with historical knowledge. It also pursues moral learning goals with the objective of enabling students to actively engage for human rights. However, teachers frequently report concerns about teaching the Holocaust because they feel unprepared to deal with intense emotional responses by the students. Classroom research suggests that teachers usually apply classroom management strategies to deal with unexpected student behaviours. For this reason, it can be assumed that teachers also apply classroom management strategies to deal with students’ emotional responses when teaching the Holocaust. However, little is known about this specific function of classroom management in Holocaust teaching. Therefore, this paper reports on findings from an exploratory, video-based single-case study in an urban secondary school in Germany. The results suggest that the participating teacher uses an avoidant classroom management to establish a joyful lesson and repress latent fear and sadness among the students.

MILESTONES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION

The importance of collaboration between research and practice is increasingly acknowledged lately. In this paper, we assert the transformative power of the educators present in the research by highlighting the main principles of the two authentic educational philosophies that have highly influenced the world. Shulamit Imber, initially a history teacher, developed into one of the leading creators of the Holocaust education philosophy, contributing her practical experience and methods to give the past meaning and ‘humanize’ the teaching about Holocaust. Luigi Giussani, the man who wanted to bring the Christian experience in high school environment, considered that the primary concern for an educator is educating the human heart, which is one, regardless of cultures, habits and ways of expression. Basing our research on qualitative methods, i.e. the content analysis technique, we claim that a ‘true’ education embracing the human being goes beyond the border of its subject even if it preserves its singularity.

Gesher Project Poetry at the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre

Gesher Project Poetry at the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre

IMPLICATED GAMING: CHOICE AND COMPLICITY IN LUDIC HOLOCAUST MEMORY

ABSTRACTHolocaust memorial sites and institutions have begun to embrace new media and digital technologies as methods of communication, public engagement, and memorialization. Despite increasing numbers of interactive digital media projects focused on Holocaust education, there is a significant gulf between the topics addressed by digital Holocaust works and those conceptualized and studied at a higher level in scholarly Holocaust literature. Most notably, challenging questions regarding the categories of bystandership, complicity, and perpetration are largely ignored in favor of traditional victim‐focused narratives. I suggest that, in their eagerness to adopt virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) technologies, digital Holocaust memory projects have neglected the significant potential of nonimmersive video games to address questions regarding bystandership and complicity. By moving away from the perceptual immersion of VR and toward the ludic and simulative arguments of video games, digitally interactive Holocaust projects may be able to lessen the risks of over‐immersion and retraumatization that are antithetical to critical historical thinking and understanding. This article examines the 2013 game Papers, Please as an example of how video games can present sophisticated arguments about human agency, bystandership, and complicity. By placing players in a historical problem space laden with impossible moral choices, Papers, Please demonstrates the systemic forces that structure human behavior under extreme, violent, and authoritarian conditions. I argue that Holocaust‐based ludic digital media modeled after Papers, Please could explore bystandership and complicity in similarly nuanced and powerful ways, potentially touching on academic Holocaust concepts such as the “choiceless choices” of “the gray zone.” Addressing these topics in ludic historical media could help to bridge the gap between popular and scholarly understandings of the Holocaust in the twenty‐first century.

Teaching Trauma Without Traumatizing


 
 
 Holocaust education is as vital as it is global in scope. However, museums cannot simply present the uninterpreted, vivid trauma of the Holocaust to young children. This challenge is then further complicated as museums must make the learning enjoyable enough that children want to learn it—a seemingly impossible task. To avoid Holocaust fatigue or traumatizing young audiences, I suggest here a triad model with which museum professionals should engage to create a meaningful and educational Holocaust exhibit for children. The triad model is based on participant agency, authenticity, and personal connection and can be seen in examples worldwide. In this article, I will focus on three main exemplars and specifically outline how they include each element of the proposed triad conceptual model in their exhibitions. To further illustrate its importance, I will close with a brief direct comparison to one recent Holocaust exhibit that does not engage fully with all the elements of the triad model and thus is a missed opportunity for youth participants.
 
 

Holocaust Education and Human Rights Advocacy on TikTok

Holocaust Education and Human Rights Advocacy on TikTok

Youthful Platform Commemoration: TikTok as a Frontier for Holocaust Education and Memory

Youthful Platform Commemoration: TikTok as a Frontier for Holocaust Education and Memory

Shoah Education: The Indian Scenario

India represents a country that was neither directly affected nor involved with the Holocaust. As the timeline of the Holocaust overlaps the timeline of the struggle for freedom for the Indian subcontinent, the later events overshadow the former. Holocaust education is neither mandatory nor prevalent in India. Equating the partition of India with the Holocaust and tagging the Holocaust as one of the genocides, represents one of the few misconceptions about the Holocaust in India that often strips off the uniqueness of the catastrophic event. My article describes the present status of Holocaust education in schools and universities. The survey stems from the standard books used in Indian schools and my personal experience as an educator. The article not only articulates the need of creating awareness regarding the Holocaust in India but also traces a few examples, which illuminate the fact that India proved a haven for Jewish refugees during the Holocaust. The need of the hour is to recognize such connections, which would serve as the appropriate entry wedges to create awareness regarding Holocaust education in India.

“Can I Alter the Statement?” – Considering Holocaust Education as a Catalyst for Civic Education in Jewish Day Schools

ABSTRACT This study investigates ideas about the messages of the Holocaust understood by middle school students in Jewish day schools. Findings explore the conceptualizations students have of the Holocaust as a particular Jewish experience, and in what ways they apply its lessons both particularly and universally. Students in two North American Jewish day schools participated in a fall 2017 Holocaust education unit. Most were able to connect to the particular history of the Holocaust and to engage with universal messages. Their responses suggest a need and opportunity to frame Holocaust education more explicitly in the context of democratic civic education.

Holocaust Literature for Children

Recent incidents of book challenges have reinforced the need for libraries to offer Holocaust education for young readers. This article discusses three categories of books for younger readers. Picture books, for children four to eight years old, are centered around a single character and run about 1,000 words. Books for middle readers, those aged nine to eleven, often run 100 − 150 pages and feature a larger case of characters. Finally, books for young adults deal with more mature themes and address adolescent concerns. Books from each category are profiled. The article provides historical context for each book, examine their contents, and highlights popular reviews of each book All books in this bibliography informs younger readers about the Holocaust, and many show how difficult it was for survivors of the Holocaust to return home again.