THE TASK FORCE FOR INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ON , REMEMBRANCE AND RESEARCH – TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY BOOK ANNIVERSARY YEAR – TEN RESEARCH AND REMEMBRANCE EDUCATION, HOLOCAUST ON COOPERATION INTERNATIONAL FOR FORCE TASK THE

Ten year anniversary book

www.holocausttaskforce.org

Ten year anniversary book Produced by The Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research 2009

Editors: Bitte Wallin and Michael Newman

Texts of the countries written by representatives from each member country

Sub-committee members for the Ten year anniversary booklet: Bitte Wallin (), Michael Newman (UK), Evelina Merhaut (), Karel Fracapane ()

Design and layout: Direktör Wigg reklambyrå, Stockholm www.dir.wigg.se

Proofreading: Fiona , The Mocatta Consultancy www.mocatta.org

Printed by: Edita, Västerås Sweden, 2009

ISBN: 978-91-86261-02-3 Ten year anniversary book

3 Contents

Chair’s Message by Ferdinand Trauttmansdorff 7

Congratulatory remarks by former Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson 8

Structure of Task Force 10

History, achievements and future challenges by the professors Yehuda Bauer and Dina Porat 12

The Academic Working Group 16

The Education Working Group 18

The Memorial and Museums Working Group 20

Timeline 1998–2008 by Richelle Budd Caplan, Yad Vashem 22

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Member countries U UCA TI O N Argentina 26 44 62 Austria 28 46 64 30 48 Slovak Republic 66 32 50 Sweden 68 34 52 70 36 54 72

R E 38 56 The 74 MEM BER

France 40 58 A ANC E

Germany 42 60

The ITF – Project Policy by Karel Fracapane 76

RE S EA R C Declaration of the Stockholm H International Forum on the Holocaust 78

5 6 Chair’s Message

The Task Force for International Cooperation on Holo- The main goals of the Austrian Chairmanship are to caust Education, Remembrance and Research (ITF) looks improve ITF’s media outreach by renewing the ITF back on ten successful years. Meanwhile, 26 member website. This will also serve as an open and accessible states still share their commitment to the Stockholm resource for bringing Holocaust education, remembrance Declaration of 2000, including a solemn responsibility and research to the general public. We are, furthermore, to fi ght , ethnic cleansing, racism, Antisemi- keen to deepen the links between the ITF and inter- tism and xenophobia – evils which still scar humanity national bodies with similar objectives, such as the to this day. , the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the Euro- More and more countries wish to join us in our com- pean Union. This will be achieved either by organising mon goal and become full members. Together, we will common events, such as to commemorate the 70th pursue the ITF’s main objectives to ensure political and anniversary of the November 1938 in Vienna, or social leaders’ support for Holocaust education, remem- by concluding and implementing cooperation arrange- brance and research both nationally and internationally. ments, such as we will have with the Council of Europe. By uniting representatives of government, as well as governmental and non-governmental organisations, the The Austrian Chair welcomes the fact that the ITF ITF is well equipped to effectively pursue our objectives. continues to develop the qualities of an international organisation by signifi cantly extending its geographical Some of the world’s leading experts in the fi eld of edu- range and its workload. This calls for structural chan- cation, remembrance and research make up our working ges as well as institutional stabilisation. Some of these

groups and function as a unique network of internatio- changes have already been implemented. The Permanent ED nal cooperation. Through our programmes, teachers, Offi ce in Berlin was established in 2008 and is U UCA TI O

students and people throughout our member countries on its way to become the focal point of the Task Force. N and beyond learn about the Holocaust. Our academics In autumn of 2007 in Amsterdam a new process was conduct research of the highest level. Our efforts to initiated for meeting the new structural challenges to mobilise support for Holocaust memorials have added the ITF. This work continues, and will be developed by to the culture of Holocaust remembrance. Our special future Chairs. This refl ects the ongoing substantial and working groups focus on the genocide against the Roma institutional development that ITF is about to undergo. as well as on the Holocaust and other . Ambassador Thanks to the ITF, present and future generations will Ferdinand Trauttmansdorff,

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learn about the lessons to be drawn from the Holocaust. Legal Counsel of the E Austrian Foreign Ministry. MEM BER

The ITF, by its very nature, is particularly concerned Chairman of the Task Force A ANC E with the diminishing or denial of the Holocaust. Today for International Cooperation we feel that there is a need for further addressing issues on Holocaust Education, of present-day revisionism, , extremism Remembrance and Research (ITF) and crimes against humanity, including genocide. This will require more indepth research, but also a greater acceptance of increased vigilance and political responsi- bility against and revisionist tenden- cies. Holocaust education should be more accessible.

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This calls for broader communication strategies with the S EA R

aim of having Holocaust remembrance generally accep- C H ted as a human rights tool.

7 Congratulatory remarks by former Swedish Prime Min

The process may well have started that evening in However I soon realised that the fi ght against ignorance 1994. I was walking home, spring was in the air and the about the Holocaust, and the values that lay behind it, Stockholm waters glittered beneath the bridges. When I called for an international partnership. I wrote two let- arrived home I turned on the TV to watch the news. The ters on this issue, one to President Bill Clinton and the scenes I saw on the screen that are forever etched other to former Prime Minister . In my own on my memory. From a mountain, the camera zoomed in country, many people, not least in the media, ridiculed on the river below. It might have been a beautiful shot the idea that a Prime Minister of such a tiny country as of an equally beautiful African landscape. But this time Sweden should have the temerity to suggest to leaders the camera lens was taking in something utterly horri- like Clinton and Blair what they should do with their fying. The river water, that at fi rst sight seemed muddy, time. And my alleged presumptuousness was also linked was fi lled with bodies, the bodies of children. We were to Sweden’s less than glorious history spanning the witnessing a horrendous slaughter, a genocide. period before the Second World War and the Holocaust. However the response I received from both these lead- At roughly the same time, the Balkan confl ict caught ers was more than positive. the world’s attention. Not a day went by without reports of rape and mass murder. On 7th May 1998 representatives of the governments of the USA, Great Britain and Sweden met in Stockholm. During that period, the emergence of right wing extre- The starting point was the slogan, “Tell Ye Your Child- mist groups in Europe was beginning to attract at- ren”. The working group that was formed became the tention. We received reports of young people marching starting point for an international Task Force to coor- through various European cities, Stockholm included, dinate the teaching and dissemination of knowledge dressed in brown and wearing boots. They chanted the about the Holocaust. kind of slogans we thought had long since disappeared forever. Professor Yehuda Bauer of the Yad Vashem Institute was appointed as an independent adviser to the group and Following a Swedish survey in 1997 that revealed that his support was invaluable. many school children were not convinced about the Holocaust, I, as Sweden’s Prime Minister, raised the Six months later, in association with a conference in subject in a parliamentary debate. I promised to ini- Washington on Jewish assets stolen at the time of the tiate an information campaign on the Holocaust – what Holocaust, the participating countries adopted a joint had really happened and the values and attitudes that declaration. This called on parents, teachers, political, had led to the Shoah. My aim was for facts about the religious and other leaders to support teachings on the Holocaust to form the platform for a discussion on Holocaust and help keep memories of it alive. democracy, tolerance and the fact that every human was of equal value. The Task Force circle rapidly expanded to include Ger- many, Israel, Poland, The Netherlands, France and Italy. To my great delight, all the parliamentary parties gave their unanimous support to the proposal. The campaign In Washington, in line with this commitment, I invited was named Living History (Levande Historia). As part of the Task Force group and other interested nations to this information campaign, a book was produced with participate in “The Stockholm International Forum, a the title “Tell Ye Your Children” (authors P. Levine and conference on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and S. Bruchfeldt) of which 1 300 000 copies have now been Research”. The time was ripe for an international gathe- distributed in Sweden alone. ring and an expression of our duty to learn from some of the darkest moments in our history. We were on the

8 nister Göran Persson

verge of the new millennium and there was a genuine Please allow me therefore, as we prepare to embark on threat that we would forget about such events. the next stage of the Task Force’s work, to emphasise that the Holocaust will always have a universal signi- Forty-eight states along with various international orga- fi cance. This is precisely why we can all unite around nisations were invited to participate in the Stockholm it as the starting point for our work, irrespective of International Forum, which took place from 26th–28th changing political orientations within the framework of 2000. In addition to its offi cial representatives, a democratic system. each country had the opportunity to include in their de- legations representatives from research and educational In addition to me wishing you every good fortune in communities, staff from museums and archives, NGOs, your continued work with the ITF, I would also like to and other representatives. Representatives of Holocaust include the following challenge: do not dissipate the survivors played a prominent role at the Forum. messages. The more people who come on board, the better. All experiences are valuable. But do not dissi- At the Forum, we sought to gain recognition for the pate the messages. Stick to studying the crimes of the

urgent necessity of combating racism, Antisemitism, Holocaust and the conditions under which its ideology ED U UCA

ethnic hatred and ignorance of the past on the daily could fl ourish. TI O N

agenda of the international community. The impressive response to the Forum, not least the high level political The Holocaust concerns us all and its history has a participation, was indeed a most welcome and encou- clear message for us all. Even though we have left the raging manifestation of international solidarity to join century in which the Holocaust occurred behind us, we forces, as noted in the words of the Stockholm Decla- must continue to study it in all its dimensions, at all ration, “to reaffi rm humanity’s common aspiration for times. We must strive to add more pieces to the jigsaw mutual understanding and justice.” of knowledge; seek to increase awareness of the reasons for it, and to raise awareness of the consequences. No The Forum was a success and led to a further three one must be allowed to stand in the way of this im-

R E international conferences on other closely related and portant work. MEM

urgent themes. It had taken fi fty-fi ve years to join for- BER ces in a common undertaking to keep the memory alive, A ANC E to research and educate people about the Holocaust. We fi nally reached agreement on the Stockholm Declaration, the fundamental platform of the ITF.

I look back on that spring day in Stockholm when we, the representatives of several states, met to jointly show the importance of learning from the darkest mo-

ments in our history. It is fantastic to learn how many RE S states have maintained this promise and how many EA R C H

have since committed to fi ght intolerance and anti- democratic forces based on the lessons of history. As I refl ect I once again see that it was the uniqueness of the history of the Holocaust that proved to be a factor that all of us, regardless of our varied historical expe- riences, could unite around.

9 Structure of TheHoloca

Member Countries: Liaison Country: Argentina Latvia Austria (2008 Chair) Lithuania Belgium Luxembourg Observers: Croatia Netherlands , , Czech Republic Norway (2009 Chair) Denmark Poland Permanent Observers: Estonia Romania Council of Europe, France Slovak Republic OSCE, United Nations, Greece Sweden EU Fundamental Rights Hungary Switzerland Agency Israel United Kingdom Italy United States

10 aust Task Force

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11 History, achievements and fu

The International Task Force for Internatio- As a consequence, Mr. Persson tasked 80 pages. This was distributed – by request nal Cooperation on Holocaust Education, a Minister in his government, Mr. Tage – to a huge number of Swedish households. Remembrance and Research was initiated by Petersen, to investigate the situation in At the same time, the idea was conceived former Swedish Prime Minister, Göran Pers- Swedish education, and make suggestions. to establish an international organisation son, in May 1998. Professor Yehuda Bauer, one of the leading that would expand Holocaust education Mr. Persson was motivated, it seems, experts on the history of the Holocaust and worldwide. Prime Minister Persson wrote by a number of factors. One of them was its implications, was consulted. A delegation to President Bill Clinton and former British his personal experience of visiting the site of Swedish educators and Foreign Offi ce per- Prime Minister Tony Blair to join him in this of the former Nazi concentration camp at sonnel then visited Israel in order to learn venture, and received positive answers. The Neuengamme, near Hamburg, and reading from the experience there. then Director-General of the Swedish Foreign about the Jewish children who were murde- The result was a decision by the Swedish Offi ce, Ulf Hjertonsson, was the person red there. Another was the result of a poll government to set up a special organisation, responsible, and Yehuda Bauer became the conducted among high-school children in the Levande Historia – Living History, to Academic Adviser. A fi rst meeting of the Sweden, which seemed to show a lessened disseminate education about the Holocaust new body took place in May, 1998. Profes- commitment to democratic values and the in the Swedish educational system. A small sor Bauer immediately asked the Swedish spread of doubts whether the genocide of the book, ”Tell Ye Your Children”, was written by government to invite Germany, Israel and in World War Two actually happened. two academics, very successfully compres- Poland to join, as he thought that without sing the history of the Holocaust into some them any international effort at Holocaust

12 ture challenges

education was unthinkable. Germany and changes, was unanimously adopted. a strategy against Holocaust denial which Israel joined in 1998, and the Netherlands, This, the Stockholm Declaration, is the declaration condemns in no uncertain Poland, France, and Italy did so in 1999. By the foundation of the ITF. It explains the terms. The major context of the Holocaust, 2007, another sixteen countries had joined. Holocaust and by adding the Hebrew term namely genocide in general, was pointed In the meantime, Mr. Persson develo- “Shoah”, in brackets after the word “Holo- out as well, the Holocaust being its most ped the idea of an international Forum of caust”, makes clear that the main concern of extreme example. interested governments to discuss Holo- the ITF is to teach about, remember and re- Governments were asked to establish caust education; a Swedish governmental search the genocide of the Jewish people in annual memorial meetings and activities committee was appointed to organise the World War Two. It then goes on to say that designed to remember the Holocaust. Ever Forum, and Yehuda Bauer was invited to also perpetrated a number of since the 2000 Forum, it’s been essential for head the academic committee. Professor Elie other major crimes, thus contextualising the states wishing to join the ITF to commit to Wiesel, the Nobel prize laureate, was asked Holocaust. This opens up the opportunity the Stockholm Declaration. to become the Honorary Chairman of the for the ITF to also deal with the genocide Another basic principle developed over conference. The Forum (as it was known) of the Roma, which took place at the same the last ten years is the demand made of all took place in Stockholm on January 27th– time and at the same or similar locations, member governments to examine their own 29th 2000, and was attended by 23 Heads and was committed largely by the same past history regarding actions or inaction of State or Prime Ministers, and 14 Deputy perpetrators. during the Holocaust. It can be said without Prime Ministers or Ministers from 46 govern- The Declaration then demands the any exaggeration that nobody comes out

ments. A joint declaration was prepared, opening of all archives containing material clean in considering their past, and without ED circulated in advance and, after some minor related to World War Two and the Holocaust, social, collective, self-criticism it is hypo- U UCA TI O N

Photo: M.Korcok

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13 critical to indulge in public declarations the ITF, and are reviewed by subcommittees 1945, Auschwitz was liberated by the Soviet and statements decrying the Holocaust. nominated by the Chairs of the respective Red Army), and to engage in education Governments that are not willing to engage WGs. Only up to 50% of any proposal can be about it the world over. As a result, the seriously in this self-examination cannot be fi nanced by the ITF. In addition, initiatives UN became a permanent observer to the members of the ITF. The ITF plenary hears from the WGs themselves can be considered. ITF, together with other international and two national reports at each of its meetings, Since 2001 the ITF has received 369 inter-governmental organisations, coopera- which present in detail the countries’ efforts project proposals and funded 221 of them. ting and collaborating with the ITF. There is to examine themselves. The main emphasis has been on teachers’ also the prospect of a broader engagement From its inception, the ITF has been seminars, but curricular developments, and of non-ITF countries to deal with the topic, working according to the principle of con- other means of education, commemoration usually in the context of work to prevent sensus, avoiding votes, and trying to bridge and research have also been supported. It is mass atrocities generally. One more result over differences by discussion and compro- diffi cult to estimate the effect of all these was a committee established within the ITF mise. Despite its phenomenal growth, it has efforts especially on the young people who to promote the implementation of the UN managed to keep to this way of working are the target of the ITF’s work, because the decision regarding the commemoration of and indeed the plenaries serve as a venue time that has elapsed – effectively, the last the Holocaust in the member countries on for expressing various, even contradictory, fi ve or six years at most – is too short to that date. opinions in an atmosphere which allows for arrive at defi nite conclusions. However, the Originally, the ITF was intended as a an open exchange of ideas. impressions are overwhelmingly positive. short-lived group of governments supporting The governments provide a political The ITF is also in the process of developing educational and other efforts relating to umbrella, through their delegations, for the its website – an essential tool in spreading the Shoah of the Jewish people. It has now educational and other efforts of the ITF, and its message. grown to be a permanent major organisa- most of the work is carried out by experts, The ITF has developed its own institu- tion. There are more governments seeking educational and others, who are organised tions, consensually, after debates and some- membership, and this is both a blessing and in Working Groups (WGs). times controversies. Chairmanship rotates a problem. The ITF only accepts democratic Over the last ten years, several of these yearly, from government to government, governments for membership, and proce- have been set up, the central one being the and the Chair is responsible for the overall dures have been developed with conditions Educational WG. The others are the Memorial activities of the ITF. Two plenary meetings that have to be fulfi lled in order to join. and Museum WG, the Academic WG, the of governmental delegations, including These and other organisational procedures Communications WG, the Fund WG, and diplomats and experts, are held each year, can be studied by visiting the ITF website. special WGs set up for specifi c, more limited, and these meetings are prepared by a special Another unintended but major result of ad hoc purposes. plenary preparation committee that meets a the work of the ITF has been much closer Most governments appoint two members month ahead of the plenary. The day before cooperation between the major institutions to each WG so the number of individuals the plenary, or early on the same day, heads commemorating and teaching about the involved in ITF work has grown to be very of delegations meet for a last round of dis- Holocaust, such as Yad Vashem in Israel, the substantial. This is very positive, but it also cussions before the plenary meeting. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, creates problems, mainly organisational and Parallel to this, an Academic Advisory DC, the Auschwitz Museum at Oswiecim, fi nancial. All the tremendous work indivi- Committee (AAC), chaired by the Academic the House in Amsterdam, the duals and groups are doing for the ITF is Adviser and comprising the Chairs of the Terezin Pamatnik in the Czech Republic, the fi nanced by the respective member countries WGs – which also rotate - meets to discuss Memorial de la Shoah in Paris, and others; as well as other organisations, NGOs, the work the ITF engages in. The basic parallel to this, hundreds of teachers and institutions and the individuals themselves. principle, which however is fl exible, is that other experts have got to know, appreciate, This work can be summarised under two the special plenary preparation committee and learn from each other. headings: dealing with so-called Project discusses structure and procedures, and the The question is – where is the ITF going, Proposal Applications (PPAs), and working in AAC discusses content. As the Chairs of the and what are the prospects for success- teacher seminars, in museums and places of WGs participate in the special plenary pre- ful work? It seems that there is a good remembrance, and in the academic sphere. paration committee and the Chair and the chance – but no guarantee, of course, that Work on PPAs is closely connected with Secretary participate at the AAC, a balance the Holocaust, the paradigmatic genocide, the funding of the work of the ITF. Every is sought, not unsuccessfully, between the will serve as a warning to all societies. We participating government has to pay in diplomats and the experts. This may sound hope that organisations such as the ITF can Euro30 000 per year. This fund is maintai- cumbersome, but up till now at least it has fulfi ll a major role in spreading education, ned and administered in Stockholm by the been possible to maintain consensus based both on a cognitive and on an emotional Swedish government. This enables the ITF to on these discussions, and a great deal of and moral basis, among larger and larger maintain an offi ce, with a highly qualifi ed work has been accomplished on many fronts. audiences. There are obstacles that have to secretary; and to support PPAs fi nancially. In 2005, Yehuda Bauer resigned his be overcome: fatigue in dealing with the The government of Germany has kindly position of Academic Adviser, and Profes- topic, political problems, educational issues, agreed to host the secretariat in Berlin, sor Dina Porat, the Head of the Stephen and others. But if people are permitted to covering part of the expenses, while the Roth Institute for the Study of Contempo- forget the warning, the danger that genoci- other part is paid by the ITF Fund. Currently, rary Antisemitism and Racism at Tel Aviv des such as the Holocaust can be repeated, the Secretary is Dr. Kathrin Meyer, formerly University, took his place. Professor Bauer will inevitably grow. The ITF is dedicated to Adviser on Antisemitism and Holocaust was nominated to be the Honorary Chairman prevent this. Issues at the OSCE’s Offi ce for Democratic of the ITF. Institutions and Human Rights (before her, A major breakthrough was achieved with Mr. Karel Fracapane fulfi lled that function for the 2005 decision of the General Assembly fi ve years). PPAs can be submitted by bodies of the UN to commemorate the Holocaust and institutions from inside and outside on every January 27th (the day on which, in 14

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15 The Academic Working Group

The Academic Working Group (AWG) was the PPAs came from a broader spectrum of Accessibility of Holocaust-related archives created in July 2000 at the plenary held in countries than before. A certain number of From 2006 to 2008, under the guidance of Berlin. key documents (guidelines) aimed at helping Paul Dostert, the main focus of the working The fi rst Chairman was the academic ad- applicants become acquainted with the group was directed towards the issue of the visor Professor Yehuda Bauer. Professor Da- work of the AWG and its procedures were accessibility of Holocaust-related archives vid Bankier suggested compiling a list of all discussed and eventually agreed. They are in the member countries. Despite generally ongoing research projects on the Holocaust now available on the Task Force website. good collaboration between most of the and Holocaust-related subjects. This list was According to the principles set out in these delegates, some country reports regarding published on the Task Force website. guidelines the following academic projects the status of archives in their country are At the meetings in The Hague in May and are eligible for Task Force fi nancial support: still outstanding. October 2001 the question of the accessibi- • Publication of scholarly books In keeping with a decision taken at the lity of archives was on the agenda. Funding • Translation of scholarly books meeting of the AWG in December research projects was discussed as well. The • Organisation of university-level Holocaust 2007 the next chairs of the ITF will continue same questions were discussed in Paris and studies programmes/courses to work towards the opening of Holocaust- in Strasbourg in June and October 2002. • Documentary fi lms related archives in the Vatican and in North Consensus was reached to send an offi cial African countries. letter to the International Tracing Service in • Archival organisation and access Bad Arolsen. • Ideally, projects should be multilateral, The AWG and EWG joint working group as one of the aims of the Task Force is to The changing nature of the AWG further Holocaust research by stimulating Other AWG initiatives also promoted the creation of a joint working group with the When Juliane Wetzel took over the duty the international exchange of exper- Education Work Group (EWG). This collabo- of Chair of the AWG from Professor Yehuda tise and dialogue between the different rative effort, known as the ‘Special Working Bauer in Washington 2003, the AWG was scholarly and intellectual communities in member states belonging to the ITF. Group on Resistances to Learning and still a relatively small group of participants Teaching about the Holocaust’, was formed (10-12). Only a few academics who speciali- In addition, it has been agreed that insofar in Rome in May 2004. sed in history or political sciences attended as Eastern and Central European countries This working group has, to date, discus- the meetings. Most of the participants were have lagged in research on the Holocaust, sed the new challenges facing Holocaust diplomats from the different ITF member and because funding for such research in education and research in a multicultural delegations. these countries is very limited, the AWG has society. It has, in particular, been concerned During Dr. Wetzel’s three years as Chair elected, as a matter of principle, to give with the problem of teaching the Holocaust of the AWG this changed, and more and priority to requests for project funding ema- to a younger generation that is resistant to more academics with expert knowledge at- nating from countries in this region. learning about it. Even listening to survivor tended the meetings of the AWG. It was a The opening of all testimonies and participating in national rather long and diffi cult process to convince Holocaust-related archives Holocaust remembrance days has become the member states that the AWG not only problematic in some locations. needed academics in general, but also dele- While Juliane Wetzel’s was Chair of the The AWG was also involved in the pre- gates who were able to expertly evaluate the AWG one of the main issues taken up at the paration of the conference “Memory of the different project proposals on Holocaust and biannual meetings of the AWG members was Holocaust: Culture of Remembrance” held Holocaust-related issues. promoting the opening up of all Holocaust- in Vienna in April 2006, and attended by a The input of each member of the AWG related archives. Foremost among these number of ITF members. Lectures were given is important both because each represen- was the archive of the International Tracing by members of the AWG, the EWG and the tative brings special talents to the general Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen. MWG. discussion and because delegates know local As a result of the efforts of the AWG, A compilation of websites in different conditions and affairs as only people from a along with other interested parties, the rules member countries is also at the disposal of specifi c country or region can. In addition, and administration of the archives of the ITS the delegates. there is a lot of work to be shared, not only were changed and this major repository of in relation to the reviewing of projects sub- Holocaust-related material is now fully open Requests for funding to scholarly (and other) research. mitted to the committee for approval and A major part of the work done during the Repositories in three countries have re- funding but also in relation to promoting past ten years by the delegates to AWG has ceived copies of the material at Bad Arolsen, the Task Force’s activities. been connected with reviewing requests for and each country that is a member of the funding (known as PPAs). Out of a total of Guidelines on Task Force ITF may receive a copy of the material upon 106 project proposals submitted to the AWG, fi nancial support for projects request to the authorities. 50 have been approved and funded. Of the Between 2003-2006 the number of appli- remaining 56, 46 were rejected and 10 were cations for project funding increased and abandoned by the applicants. 16 Photo: V. Pfrunner / 1d-photo

Archives at the Shoah Memorial in Paris

Conference on new Holocaust research scholarship by scholars working at all • As part of its obligations, the AWG will After several years of discussions the AWG levels. need to organise a publication sub- committee and establish viable working is planning to sponsor a conference on new • The increased funding of translations relations with a publisher of international Holocaust research each year. The confe- of important books and other research both from major languages into less reputation. rence will be hosted, with fi nancial support well-known languages and from less well- • Continued fi nancial and academic support from the AWG, by the country hosting the known languages into major languages. for the many local initiatives that seek ITF for that particular year. The fi rst such The latter is especially important as it the counsel and professional advice of conference is planned for June 2009 in , brings valuable scholarship not generally the AWG. This includes local museums, Norway. Its program is being constructed by accessible to the wider world of interna- Holocaust Centres, University departments a sub-committee of AWG members, and is tional research. and centres and state organisations. chaired by Dr. Odd-Bjørn Fure of the Norwe- • The continuous effort to assure that all • The need to serve as a medium for

gian Holocaust Centre.

archives and offi cial repositories of mate- the fl ow of important information on RE S The future of the AWG rial in relation to the Holocaust are open Holocaust-related issues between scholars EA R C

and fully accessible for scholarly research. in all the member states of the ITF. H At its meeting in Linz in June 2008 a new • The publication of the proceedings of • The need to be vigilant regarding issues Chairman, Professor Steven T. Katz, was the scholarly conference that it is now of Holocaust revisionism and denial as elected. Among the issues facing the AWG as planning. This will make available the they are manifest inside (and outside) the it goes forward are: research presented at these meetings to member states of the ITF. This concern is • An expansion of its support for scholarly an international audience. consistent with the mandate of the ITF as work in and across borders. This includes set out in its original Stockholm Declara- discussion of new ways of maximising tion. the use of our limited fi nancial resources in the production and circulation of new

17 The Education Working Group

The Education Working Group (EWG) was • Why teach about the Holocaust? The EWG is composed of a maximum of two founded towards the end of the German • What to teach about the Holocaust? people from each member country. As the Chairmanship in early 2001, and its fi rst • How to teach about the Holocaust? number of countries in the ITF has grown, meeting was convened during the Chair- • Guidelines for study trips to Holocaust- this has necessitated a change in the manship of the Netherlands in May 2001 in related and non-authentic sites manner of operation of the EWG. Project Amsterdam. • Preparing : sug- applications are reviewed by reviewing gestions for educators sub-committees which each have three The fi rst meeting of the EWG outside of the members. Major topics that need an intense ITF plenary was in Jerusalem at the Yad These guidelines were completed over the exchange of ideas are discussed in these Vashem Institute, September 11-13th, 2001. course of the next several years and are sub-committees which then report back to Nine countries sent representatives: Austria, recommended for use in teacher training the entire EWG. At present there are three Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Israel, Poland, courses in member countries and beyond. All working sub-committees in the EWG: roma Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United available translations can be found on the genocide sub-committee, special challenges States. Task Force website. sub-committee, the Holocaust and other genocides sub-committee. The fi rst Chairs were Richelle Budd Caplan Another function of the EWG is to evaluate and Shulamit Imber from Israel. The elected project applications for ITF funding in the The EWG’s work is ongoing throughout the chair revolves yearly between the member area of Holocaust education. Although the year and also meets outside of the regu- countries: prime area for funding has been teacher lar ITF meeting schedule. During those training, the EWG has also recommended meetings, committee members may visit • Richelle Budd Caplan and Shulmit Imber, funding for a variety of Holocaust educa- Holocaust sites and institutions where Israel tion projects, including student projects. projects have been funded. The fi rst of such • William Shulman, USA The guidelines of the EWG are the basis for meetings took place in Budapest (2003) and • Paul Levine, Sweden evaluating these proposals. In 2008, the have since then been held in (2006), • Paul Salmons, United Kingdom EWG introduced a ‘sunset rule’ which limits Zagreb (2007) and Paris (2008). A visit to • Karen Polak, The Netherlands the funding for any particular project to four is planned in 2009. • Claude Singer, France years. This is to encourage project proposers • Wolf Kaiser, Germany to seek alternative sources for funds after As the Task Force expands in size and in scope, the work of the EWG increases enor- • Yvonne Schuchmann, Hungary the seed money provided by the EWG is no mously. The major challenges it faces are to • Monique Eckmann, Switzerland longer available. Given the limited amount of funds available in any given year, this expand Holocaust education and prioritise the projects it funds. The fi rst meeting was devoted to establis- enables the EWG to support new projects hing the goals of the working group and delineating guidelines for its operation and for Holocaust education in general. The EWG developed a rationale and decided to establish fi ve sets of guidelines: Photo: USHMM

Hall of Names, Yad Vashem 18 Photo: Yad Vashem

ED U UCA TI O N

19 The Memorial and Museums

The Memorial and Museums Working Group The stated aims of the MMWG are to: educational programmes and the erection (MMWG) forms one of the three focal points of monuments - forms the main part of the • collect information on memorials, memo- of the ITF. Its role is to emphasise the issue rial museums and Holocaust remembrance work at the meetings of the MMWG. of remembrance as one of the overall aims days and to establish databases as a At recent meetings, initiatives were set of the ITF. foundation for this work up to strengthen communication between The work of the MMWG is focused on • explore how the preservation of memorials the ITF Working Groups; for example the forms of cultural remembrance that seek may be ensured in perpetuity MMWG and the EWG organised a joint meet- to anchor the Holocaust in the collective • promote communication and exchange ing at the Linz Plenary in 2008, where repre- memory of contemporary and future socie- between memorial sites and museums sentatives of memorials and Jewish museums ties. Particular importance is attached to • encourage the use of memorial sites and in Austria presented information about their memorials at historic sites of the Holocaust, institutions for professional engagement, educational programmes. memorial museums as “cultural sites” of training and development As with the Academic and Education memory and remembrance, and the imple- • encourage refl ection on the relationship Working Groups, central to the work of the mentation and form of national Holocaust between memorial sites and the culture of MMWG is reviewing and discussing Project remembrance days. commemoration Proposal Applications (PPAs). Although The principal purpose of the MMWG is to • make recommendations to the Task Force not exclusively, the MMWG aims to support help the Task Force mobilise support and on how governments and institutions projects that deliver lasting memorials in expertise for memorials at historic sites of should direct their attention on major countries facing severe fi nancial constraints. the Holocaust and related sites of memory issues concerning the preservation of Websites “Memorial Museums” and commemoration (memorial museums, existing Holocaust memorials, as well as and “Cultures of Remembrance” monuments), in keeping with the Stockholm to sites that are not yet marked Declaration. • support and assist activities concerning One of the MMWG’s key achievements has The MMWG is charged with collecting and memorials at the request of other working been the development of two websites crea- providing information on memorial muse- groups – especially on the issue of educa- ted by the Topography of Terror Foundation ums and memorial sites, as well as on the tional programmes at memorial sites - and (Berlin) with the support of the MMWG. The education programmes currently on offer support liaison projects website “Cultures of Remembrance – a Net- at memorials and museums in the member • support and assist activities involved in work” provides a basis for a dialogue across states of the ITF. the organisation of Holocaust remem- borders about different kinds of remembran- As well as their professional competence brance days. ce and commemoration. Brief overview texts accompanied by scholarly essays present the and experience in the fi eld of memorial si- The presentation and discussion of cultures of remembrance in many different tes, museums and memory culture, members projects concerning memorials, memorial countries, especially the ITF member states. of the MMWG can provide in-depth know- museums and activities in Holocaust re- The website can be found at www. ledge of the history of and recent forms and membrance - in particular the conception of cultures-of-remembrance.net/WebObjects/ trends in Holocaust remembrance in their new exhibitions, questions of preservation, individual states. WN.woa/wa/Commemoration The website “Memorial Museums” provides a worldwide overview of the most important

Photo: The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust UK memorials, monuments, museums and institutions that commemorate the victims of National Socialist terror. The site includes data on museums and research and edu- cational institutions that conduct work in this historical fi eld. It also presents brief historical information and a description of the activities of each institution, directions on how to reach the sites as well as contact addresses. The web address is www.memorial-muse- ums.net/WebObjects/ITF Through these websites the different historical contexts and the development and reception of the sites of memory become evident. They show the connections between remembrance cultures and the development of memorial sites in the respective countries.

20 Working Group

Holocaust Memorial Day Photo: Johan A. Nesgaard Photo: Herinneringscentrum Kamp Westerbork Over the last few years, January 27th, the anniversary of the liberation of the con- centration camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau, has become established internationally as a Holocaust Memorial Day. In many of the ITF member states this day has been designated as a national remembrance day. One of the MMWG’s sub-committees has responsibi- lity for Holocaust remembrance days. This sub-committee provides information on the ceremonies, educational programmes and in the member states – should be drawn Vienna in April 2006 www.oeaw.ac.at/kkt/ the different dates of national Holocaust on even more in the future to further the archiv/work/w_200604.pdf. remembrance days in each of the member aims of the ITF. These include increasing Future plans include annual conferences, states. This information is based on a survey implementation of the memory of the workshops and other forms of cooperation of the activities of the ITF member states Holocaust in social cultures of remembrance, and communication (for example, expert and collected through a Holocaust remembrance strengthening international cooperation academic networks). The aim is to ensure day questionnaire. This documentation ena- between memorials and memorial museums sustainable exchange between scholarly re- bles international comparison and exchange in the member states (and beyond) and search and Holocaust remembrance. The new about the forms of remembrance on this integrating the MMWG and the ITF into the questions which arise from concrete work day at an offi cial level (state commemo- academic network in the fi eld of Holocaust- at the historic sites of Nazi crimes against rations), in educational programmes (in related memory studies. For this reason two humanity - for example, the preservation schools) and in civil society (the activities new sub-committees have been set up: one and renovation of buildings and objects, the of NGOs). Through comparison and examples for exchange programmes and the other to design of memorial sites and exhibitions, of “best practices”, the aim is to encourage develop an annual MMWG conference. the integration of the site into educatio- remembrance initiatives in each country, In this way, the MMWG also intends to nal programmes – will also open up new in particular with regard to involving a develop its role as an interface between perspectives and provide new impulses for wider public and young people in Holocaust academic research in the fi eld of Holocaust academic research into the historical sites of remembrance. memory and the practical fi eld of memory the Holocaust. Through the MMWG’s work, a unique work at memorial sites and museums. A This may also support one of the main international network has been established fi rst step has already been taken with the tasks of the MMWG: to support and advise in recent years that not only exchanges conference, “Overlapping Histories – Confl ic- governments on the implementation of information, expertise and experience of

ting memories”. A separate conference, “The policies related to Holocaust remembrance R

the cultures of remembrance and of memory E Holocaust and the Cultures of Remembrance and to give incentives to innovative projects MEM work in Memorials and Memorial museums in in Central and ”, was organi- within the fi eld. BER

ITF member states, but also makes this in- A ANC sed by the Austrian delegation of the ITF in

formation accessible for educational projects E

and remembrance work.

Main focus of future work of the MMWG Photo: dpa Picture Alliance, 21.11.2008 The main focus of future work will be on strengthening networks within the ITF Working Groups and the national delega- tions, and on utilising the expertise of the MMWG members for work at memorial sites. The data collected by the MMWG on the organisational structure of memorials and museums, on the form of educational de- partments and programmes at memorial sites and memorial museums and on Holocaust remembrance days can be used to facilitate international comparison and orientation toward best practices in the fi eld of Holo- caust remembrance. This expertise of the MMWG – a unique international network of academic scholars and experts from memorials and museums

21 Timeline 1998–2008 Compiled by Richelle Budd Caplan, International School for at Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, Israel

1998 for an International Day of Remembrance; a intention to host a conference that would declaration on archival openness and a de- “fi gure prominently on the ITF agenda” in May 7, 1998 claration on promoting Holocaust education. late 1999 or early 2000. ITF is established in Stockholm through the Conference calls were organised among the initiative of former Swedish Prime Minister fi ve member countries every two weeks in 1999 Göran Persson. In conjunction with the an effort to coordinate efforts and review March 8-9, 1999 Stockholm meeting on the Holocaust and progress prior to the next meeting. “Tell Ye Your Children” of the Living History Fourth meeting of the ITF held at the British December 3, 1998 Project, Persson proposed to former British Foreign and Commonwealth Offi ce in Lon- Prime Minister Tony Blair of the UK as well Third working group meeting of the ITF held don. Eight national delegations were present as former US President Bill Clinton that their at the United States Holocaust Memorial at this ITF meeting, including new member counties join an effort to foster internatio- Museum in conjunction with the Washington states: The Netherlands, Poland and France nal cooperation on disseminating informa- Conference on Holocaust-Era Assets. (observer status). tion about the Holocaust. During this meeting, the following decla- This two-day meeting included discussions Government delegations from the USA, UK ration was issued: “Holocaust education, about creating an endowment fund and a and Sweden held their fi rst talks in the remembrance and research strengthen proposal for fi eld missions (later to be com- presence of Professor Yehuda Bauer. He was humanity’s ability to absorb and learn from monly referred within ITF circles as “liaison asked to become an independent academic the dark lessons of the past, so that we can projects”). The fi rst proposed fi eld mission advisor to this new international body. ensure that similar horrors are pilot outreach project was to be done in At the conclusion of this meeting, it was repeated.” cooperation with the Czech Republic. The declaration also noted that “we are agreed to “collaborate closely with NGOs and June 25, 1999 others active in disseminating knowledge committing our countries to encourage Fifth meeting of the ITF held in about the Holocaust” as well as to “focus parents, teachers, and civic, political and attended by eight delegations (France was international cooperation on Holocaust religious leaders to undertake with renewed an observer). The meeting agenda included a educational activities, public activities, vigour and attention Holocaust education, detailed discussion proposed by the delega- testimonies of survivors, to fi nd proper ways remembrance and research, with a special tion of the Netherlands on liaison projects. to reach out to young people, to launch a focus on our own countries’ histories.” Other The fi rst invitation to the Stockholm Inter- global survey on Holocaust education to be countries were called upon to strengthen national Forum on the Holocaust, January presented in national reports and coopera- their efforts in these fi elds and to underta- 26-28, 2000 was circulated among meeting tion on how to use the Internet in connec- ken new ones where necessary. participants. tion with these activities.” A declaration on archival openness and ac- It was decided that decisions taken by the cess was also issued, calling upon govern- July 1999 ments to join the ITF “in endorsing the ITF would be done in consensus. An editorial group for ITF information importance of full archival openness, and projects was established, chaired by Wesley September 25, 1998 in undertaking to work toward the goal of Fisher of the USHMM. In effect, this was the Second working group meeting of the ITF making all documentation bearing on the fi rst-ever working group established under held at the United States Holocaust Memo- Holocaust and the fate of Nazi-confi scated the ITF umbrella. rial Museum (USHMM) in Washington DC. In assets available to researchers. The adoption addition to Sweden, the UK and USA, two of December 31, 1999, as a target date to October 6-8, 1999 new delegations also participated in the meet this goal will reinforce the commitment “Phenomenon Holocaust”, an international meeting: Germany and Israel. of humanity to learn from the history of this conference held in Prague and in Terezin, Chairmanship of the ITF, now fi ve member century as we enter a new millennium.” was attended by members of ITF delegations states, was passed from Sweden to the USA. The fi rst product of cooperation under the and the ITF academic advisor. The working group agreed that the focus of ITF, an International Directory of Organisa- Former Czech President Václav Havel addres- the Task Force should include remembrance tions in Holocaust Education, Remembrance sed the conference participants, and fol- and research in addition to education, so and Research was distributed at this meet- lowing these proceedings the Czech Republic adopted the full formal title of Task Force ing and subsequently made available on the became the fi rst liaison project of the ITF on International Cooperation on Holocaust ITF website. This was compiled under the (lead country, The Netherlands). Education, Remembrance and Research. leadership of the United States and Sweden There was agreement on a set of deliverables with assistance from Israel and Germany. October 13-14, 1999 to be presented at the Washington Confe- Enlargement of the ITF was discussed in Sixth meeting of the ITF organised by the rence on Holocaust-era assets, including detail since countries such as the Nether- Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Yad a directory of organisations involved in lands, France, Poland, Italy as well as others Vashem, and held in Jerusalem in con- Holocaust education; an insert to the Swe- had expressed interest, either offi cially or junction with the Second International dish book “Tell Ye Your Children”; a guide informally, in joining. Conference on Holocaust Education at the to archival material; a set of suggested At this meeting, Sweden announced its International School for Holocaust Studies at Holocaust education guidelines; a proposal Yad Vashem. 22 As agreed by consensus under the UK junction with a visit to the former Nazi con- French chair in 2002, was asked to become Chairmans, this conference for educators was centration camp Buchenwald. The suggestion a fellow of the ITF and continue his work held under the auspices of the ITF. Repre- to establish a memorials working group was under the US Chair. In 2006, Fracapane’s sentatives from nine countries attended this proposed during these proceedings. title was revised, and he became the Execu- two-day meeting, including a representative By the end of 2000, daily communication tive Secretary to the ITF Chair. Fracapane from the Italian Ministry of Education. between ITF delegates was conducted via continued in this capacity, relocating on By this time, eight additional countries had email via the ITF listserves (administrated an annual basis, until June 2007 under the expressed interest in liaison projects with by the USHMM). Czech Chairmanship. ITF member states, including: Argentina May 11- 14, 2003 (lead country, USA); Lithuania (lead country, 2001 UK); Latvia (lead country, Sweden); Romania ITF working group and plenary meetings, February 1, 2001 (lead countries, Israel, France) and Slovakia including visit to USHMM. (lead country, Germany). At this meeting of ITF delegates in Berlin, The decision was taken to establish an SIWG During this meeting, it was also decided it was decided to admit Austria as the tenth (Strategic Implementation Working Group), that the Chairmanship would be extended member country of the ITF as well as esta- including a former ITF Chairs, academic to one year rather than rotating every few blish an Education Working Group (EWG). advisor and chairs of ITF working groups in an effort to better prepare plenary sessions months. Due to the upcoming Stockholm March 2001 Forum proceedings, it was decided that and steer the ITF into the future. Discussions were held concerning the fi rst Sweden would chair the ITF from December Luxembourg became a member of the ITF. project proposal application (PPA) to the ITF 1, 1999 – February 28, 2000. It was agreed Fund, concerning a teacher-training seminar September 11, 2003 that Germany would chair the ITF from for Lithuanian and Polish teachers in Krakow. First meeting of the SIWG (Strategic Imple- March 1, 2000. This was the fi rst program supported with mentation Working Group), including former 2000 funding from the ITF endowment fund. ITF Chairs, academic advisor and chairs of ITF working groups. May 2-5, 2001 January 26-28, 2000 Meeting of ITF delegates in Amsterdam in December 1-3, 2003 The Stockholm International Forum on the conjunction with the Amsterdam Conference ITF liaison working group meetings and ple- Holocaust was held, bringing together high- on Remembrance coordinated with study nary session take place in Washington DC. ranking political leaders and offi cials from trips to Westerbork, Anne Frank House and Norway becomes a member of the ITF, and more than forty countries to meet with civic ED

other authentic Holocaust-related sites in Professor Bauer announces that he would U UCA and religious leaders, survivors, educators, the Netherlands. like to begin a process to fi nd his successor TI O

historians and others who have dedicated N as ITF academic advisor. their work to promote Holocaust education, September 11-13, 2001 New ITF logo was created. commemoration and research. First-ever three-day meeting of the Educa- Nobel Prize laureate served as tion Working Group of the ITF in Jerusalem 2004 the forum’s honorary Chairman and Profes- organised outside of ITF plenary sessions. sor Yehuda Bauer was the senior academic Suggested ITF guidelines for educators were June 6-9, 2004 advisor to the forum. formulated for the fi rst time at this meeting. ITF working group meetings and plenary ses- The Stockholm Declaration, drafted by ITF Later other meetings of the EWG, outside of sion take place in Rome. delegates, was signed by participating plenary, were conducted in Budapest (2003); An international seminar in memory of the countries at the closing session of this con- Vilnius (2005); Zagreb (2007); and Paris well-renowned author and Holocaust survi- ference. A copy of the declaration may be (2008) and Bratislawa (2009). vor, Primo Levi, was organised in conjunc- R E found on the ITF website at www.holocaustt- tion with this meeting by the ITF chair. MEM

October 23-24, 2001 BER askforce.org. Denmark and Latvia became members of the A ANC Meetings of ITF delegates in The Hague. A ITF. E In addition, at the ITF delegates meeting representative from the Council of Europe within the framework of this internatio- attended an ITF plenary session for the fi rst December 12-16, 2004 nal gathering in Stockholm, the Swedish time as an observer. ITF working group meetings and plenary ses- Ministry of Foreign Affairs suggested that it sion take place in Trieste. At this meeting, would oversee the newly established ITF en- 2002 Switzerland and Romania joined the ITF. An dowment fund. From 2000-2005, the annual observer from OSCE/ODIHR participated in June 24-26, 2002 pledge of each member state was approxima- ITF meetings for the fi rst time. tely US$25000. Working group and plenary meetings take place in Paris. 2005

April 10-11, 2000 The Czech Republic, Lithuania and Argentina RE S became members during these proceedings. June 26-30, 2005 EA Meeting of ITF delegates in Berlin under Ger- R C H man Chairmanship. A visit to the former Nazi ITF working group meetings and plenary October 15-18, 2002 concentration camp Sachsenhausen was also session take place in . A discussion organised for the meeting participants. ITF meetings in Strasbourg in conjunction about the urgent opening of the ITS (Inter- with a conference, “Teaching about the national Tracing Service) archives was led by July 26, 2000 Holocaust and Artistic Creation” coordinated the ITF-subcommittee on the accessibility First meeting of the Academic Working Group in collaboration with the Council of Europe. of the ITS – all Holocaust related holdings in Berlin, chaired by Professor Yehuda Bauer. Hungary became a member of the ITF. (ISAIAH) on Bad Arolsen. September 25-26, 2000 Pressure by ITF member states on the ITS, 2003 including three ITF declarations over a Meeting of ITF delegates in Weimar in con- Karel Fracapane, who worked under the 23 period of a year (June 2004- June 2005) 2007 Membership to ITF by year contributed to the opening of the Bad Arol- sen archives. June 10-13, 2007 • Sweden – 1998 At this meeting, Professor Dina Porat was ITF working group meetings and plenary • USA – 1998 appointed as the academic advisor to the session take place in Prague. It was decided • UK – 1998 ITF. In addition, discussions took place in by consensus that the permanent secre- • Germany – 1998 plenary regarding changing member states’ tariat would be established in Berlin. The • Israel – 1998 annual pledge from US dollars to Euro. By Fundamental Rights Agency of the European • The Netherlands – 1999 2007, member states contribution to the ITF Union (FRA/EU) became an observer to the • Poland – 1999 fund was Euro 30 000 per year. ITF. The Chair issued a declaration on the • France – 1999 importance about teaching the genocide of November 1, 2005 • Italy - 1999 the Roma and Sinti. • Austria – 2001 UN Resolution 60/7, highlighting the work During this meeting, Spain offi cially became • Czech Republic – 2001 of the ITF, was passed. a liaison country to the ITF and Canada and • Hungary – 2002 Slovenia became observer countries. The Me- November 13-16, 2005 • Lithuania – 2003 morials Working Group (MWG) was renamed ITF working group meetings and plenary ses- • Argentina – 2003 the Memorials and Museums Working Group sion take place in Krakow, including a study • Luxembourg – 2003 (MMWG). tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau. • Norway – 2003 Belgium, Croatia, Greece, and Slovakia November 1-2, 2007 • Denmark – 2004 become members of the ITF. Special Working Group on New Challenges to • Latvia – 2004 The ITF Chair issues a press release expres- the ITF met in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. • Switzerland – 2004 sing concern about the situation of Darfur • Romania – 2004 to Juan Mendez, special UN Adviser on the December 2-7, 2007 • Croatia – 2005 Prevention of Genocide. ITF working group and plenary sessions in • Greece – 2005 This was the fi rst ITF meeting that Profes- Prague, including study tour of Terezin. • Slovak Republic – 2005 sor Dina Porat attended in her capacity as Estonia became a member of the ITF and academic advisor to the ITF. Professor Bauer Ireland became an observer country. Dr. • Belgium – 2005 became ITF Honorary Chairman. Kathrin Meyer was nominated as the execu- • Estonia – 2007 tive secretary of the ITF. • Spain – 2008 2006 ITF Chairmanships by year May 24-25, 2006 2008 ITF working group meetings and plenary 1998 May – September, Sweden; March 11, 2008 session take place in Budapest. This was the Chairman: Ulf Hjertonsson fi rst time United Nations representatives ITF Secretariat established with a ceremony September – December, USA; attended ITF plenary meetings as observers. in Berlin, presided by the German Foreign Chairman: Stuart E. Eizenstat During these meetings, it was decided to Minister, members of ITF delegations and 1999 January – June, UK; change the name of the Information Working other dignitaries. Chairman: Jeremy Cresswell Group to the Communication Working Group. June 15-18, 2008 September – November, Israel; Chairman: Shmuel Ben Shmuel December 3-6, 2006 ITF working group and plenary sessions in 2000 December 1999- February 2000, ITF working group meetings and plenary Linz, including study tours of Mauthausen Sweden; Chairman: Ulf Hjertonsson sessions take place in Budapest. The deci- and Hartheim. 2000 As of March 1, Germany; sion to create a permanent secretariat was December 14-17, 2008 Chairman: Albert Spiegel adopted by consensus. 2001 Netherlands; Chairman: Rienko Wilton During this meeting, a discussion regarding ITF working group and plenary sessions take followed by Frederick Racke a press release concerning Iran President’s place in Vienna. The decision is adopted to 2002 France; Chairman: Norbert Engel statements on the Holocaust was held. The establish an ad-hoc intersessional mecha- followed by Patrick Amiot declaration, released through its chair, was nism to adress the questions of funding 2003 USA; Chairman: Randolph Bell issued on January 5, 2007. policy. followed by Edward O’Donnell Jr. General obligations of countries interested Spain became a member of the ITF. 2004 Italy; in becoming members to the ITF were adop- As of 2008, application to the ITF Fund have Chairman: Giorgio Franchetti Pardo ted. Serbia became an observer to the ITF. been received from more than 25 countries across the globe. Overall, the countries that 2005 Poland; Chairman: Daria Nalecz have benefi ted most from ITF funding are 2006 Hungary; Chairman: Balint Magyar from Eastern Europe. Approximately 400 2007 Czech Republic; Chairman: Milos Pojar project proposals have been received by the 2008 Austria; various ITF working groups since 2001. More Chairman: Ferdinand Trauttsmansdorff than half of all of the project proposals are 2009 Norway reviewed by the Education Working Group. 2010 Israel

24 ITF Working Group Chairs Education Working Group 2001 Shulamit Imber and Richelle Budd Caplan, Israel 2002 William Shulman, USA 2003 Paul Levine, Sweden 2004 Paul Salmons, United Kingdom 2005 Karen Polak, The Netherlands 2006 Claude Singer, France 2007 Wolf Kaiser, Germany 2008 Yvonne Schuchmann, Hungary 2009 Monique Eckmann, Switzerland Academic Working Group 2000-2002 Yehuda Bauer, Academic Advisor Juliane Wetzel, Germany 2003-2005 Chair 2006-2008 Paul Dostert, Luxembourg 2008 Steven Katz, USA Memorials and Museums Working Group (formerly Memorials Working Group) 2002 Stephen Smith, United Kingdom 2003 Thomas Lutz, Germany 2004 Teresa Swiebocka, Poland 2005 Heidemarie Uhl, Austria 2006 Dirk Mulder, The Netherlands 2007 David Marwell, USA

2008 Magdalena Smidova, Sweden ED U UCA

Communications Working Group TI O

(formerly Information Working Group) N

2000-2001 Wesley Fisher, USA 2001-2003 Julie Hock, USA 2003-2006 Michelle Gross, USA 2007 Bitte Wallin, Sweden 2008 Hugo Poliart, Belgium Task Force Fund Working Group 2003-2004 Jan Ahlberg, Sweden 2006-2008 Katarina Kristensson, Sweden

R E MEM BER A ANC E

RE S EA R C H

25 Argentina

The promotion and protection of human rights are an in- Argentina has been a full member of the ITF tegral policy of the Argentinian Government. We feel that since 2000. Since then we have implemented policies and programmes to support Holo- Holocaust remembrance and education are linked to the caust education, remembrance and research. need to guarantee memory, truth and justice; so we reite- The Argentinian delegation that attends the rate our commitment to the Stockholm Declaration of 2000. plenary meetings includes representatives of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Educa- tion, Justice, Security and Human Rights , ”The Argentinian Republic takes its commitment towards together with representatives of NGOs. the ITF very seriously and several areas of the Government are involved in this important task in a permanente dialo- gue with the civil society.” Ambassador Alejandro Dosoretz Head of Delegation

EDUCATION Educating remembrance means The Seminar: “The Shoah as a key event of teaching respect for human rights, and strugg- “Teaching the Holocaust is the XXth Century: Contributions for an educa- ling against discrimination and intolerance. The- a fundamental element to tional agenda of the present time” was held at refore, the Ministry of Education has set up April the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of 19th, the Day of remembrance of the Warsaw help new generations learn Education and the Buenos Aires Shoah Museum. uprising, as the Day of Cultural Diversity. how to live together” Its goal was to promote the progressive The fi rst cooperation project in the frame- Juan Carlos Tedesco, inclusion of the topic of the Holocaust in work of the ITF, involving the National Ministry National Ministry of Education the teaching of the world’s and of our own of Education, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, country’s recent history. It was addressed to the National Secretariat of Human Rights and government offi cers in charge of the design of the NGO members of the local ITF chapter took the curricula of the 23 Argentinian provin- place on August 8th and 9th 2007. ces and teachers, working both at Teachers’

REMEMBRANCE It is the responsibility of the In compliance with General Assembly Resolution constitutional institutions of the Republic to 60/7, since 2006 the National Government has ”Survivors teach us the carry out the collective exercise of remembrance organised a central remembrance act. The event importance of giving testi- to teach current and future generations the is organized by National authorities, such as the consequences of illegal violence and terror. Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Jus- mony so that future genera- Therefore, every year there are several Holocaust tice, Security and Human Rights, the Minister of tions know the history and remembrance activities organised by the Federal Education and the National Secretary of Human preserve the memory” and Local governments and by civil society Rights, together with foreign ambassadors, civil organisations. society organisations and . Anibal Fernández Minister of Justice, Security and Human Rigths

RESEARCH By a 1992 National Decree, Argen- The documentation related to the Second tina declassifi ed all documentation related to World War period that can be found in this ar- Nazi war criminals. Currently the archive of chive consists of diplomatic reports of national the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International and international German policies, visa and Commerce and Worship allows access to those immigration records, extradition requests and documents without any restriction. seizure of German property. The Archive can be contacted by e-mail: [email protected].

Minister of Education visits the Shoah Museum.

26 Argentina and the ITF: the local chapter • the Mutual Israelite Argentine Association “I wish to reiterate our strong commitment (AMIA) Argentina, as the only Latin-American coun- try in the ITF, has the responsibility to gene- to fi ght Holocaust denial. I believe that it is • the B’nai B’rith rate conscience for the progressive inclusion through Holocaust education, remembrance • the Simon Wiesenthal Centre of the topic of the Shoah in the discus- and investigation that civil society will under- • the Argentine Judeo Christian Confraternity sions among the MERCOSUR and Associates stand what happened and together say ’never countries. Indeed this would enable the ITF again’” • Superior Council of Catholic Education to enlarge its work and infl uence beyond the Jorge Taiana, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Argentine Episcopal Conference ITF member countries, in accordance with International Commerce and Worship • the Delegation of Israelite Argentine the United Nations Resolution on Holocaust, Our Holocaust-related programmes and ac- Associations (DAIA) passed in 2005. tivities are developed through a Permanent • the Holocaust Museum of Buenos Aires Consultative National Board formed by three Accordingly, Argentina has submitted and Ministries and several Non Governmental • Generations of the Shoah Argentina co-sponsored resolutions on the topic of the Organisations. The Presidency of this Board • the Coordinating Meeting of Associations Holocaust at the different international fora. is organised through a rotation system of Private Education among the Government areas involved. • the New Rights of Man Association The President has the task of coordinating • the Israelite Survivors’ of the Nazi Perse- the meetings where the Board organises cution Association, Sherit Hapleitah. Argentina’s activities. Currently, the local chapter of the ITF is composed of the above-mentioned three State organisations working in collaboration with the following organisations:

Training Institutes and at the Curriculum area The National Ministry of Education works of Social Sciences. Moreover, representatives of through the Federal Council of Education, the Ministries of Education of the Mercosur and which includes the Ministries of Education of Spain attended as special guests. all Argentinian provinces, in order to distribute The local chapter of the ITF is currently materials on the Shoah. working on a proposal for the Federal Education Council which entails the production of mate- rials, the construction of a national network of governmental and non governmental institu- tions working on the Shoah, and the develop- ment of training programmes for teachers.

Survivor David Galante giving his testimony.

Holocaust remembrance act January 2008.

“The constant presence of the Holocaust in our spirits is necessary to continue the endeavours to fi nd the necessary weapons for our struggle to preserve the human condition” Eduardo Luis Duhalde, National Secretary of Human Rights

27 Austria

Austria considers it a great honour and challenge to be The prominent experts and high ranking diplo- mats in the Austrian ITF delegation signify the entrusted with the ITF Chairmanship in this special year of importance that our country attaches to this or- remembrance: seventy years ago, the Nazi troops invaded ganisation. Austria’s active role in the ITF is the expression of a revised approach to our past, Austria. Even before they crossed the border, Austrian Nazis which Austria has developed since the 1980s. had already initiated mass arrests, abuse and murder. These Ambassador Ferdinand, Werner Dreier, Trauttmansdorff _erinnern.at_ events resulted in the so called “” to the “Third Ministry for European and International Affairs, Yariv Lapid, Reich” with all its well-known terrible consequences. Chairman of the ITF 2008 Mauthausen Memorial Hannah M. Lessing, Evelina Merhaut, Only eight months later, the November against National Fund National Fund Thomas Michael Baier, Barbara Schätz, Austria’s Jewish people were carried out with particular Federal Ministry for European Federal Ministry fervour. Chairing ITF under these circumstances requires a and International Affairs of the Interior Martina Maschke, Heidemarie Uhl, special engagement, which Austria is committed to fulfi l. Federal Ministry for Education, Austrian Academy the Arts and Culture of Sciences Hannah Lessing, Brigitte Bailer-Galanda, Gerhard Documentation Archive of Baumgartner, Head of the Austrian ITF delegation Historian Secretary General National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism

EDUCATION Education in contemporary history The Austrian state specifi es the core cur- teacher training. In order to gain a more for many years practically skipped the 1930s and ricula of different types of schools. Every cur- comprehensive response the Federal Ministry of the period of World War Two. It was only in the riculum for history teaching and for citizenship Education, in the year 2000, founded the or- 1970s that, for the fi rst time, education on Na- education has to address National Socialism ganisation _erinnern.at_ which is substantially tional Socialism and the Holocaust was formally and the Holocaust. supported by the National Fund of the Republic introduced in the curricula of Austrian schools. Teachers are trained in universities and in of Austria. Special emphasis is being placed on The last two decades have marked a signifi cant universities of applied sciences. As universi- in-service-training, development of educational intensifi cation of efforts to improve Holocaust ties in Austria are autonomous, there is no material and support services (www.erinnern.at). Education, which have mainly been sponsored national curriculum for teacher training. The Each year, many students visit Austria’s me- by the Federal Ministry of Education. challenge for the Federal Ministry of Education morial sites, in particular Mauthausen, as well therefore lies in promoting and facilitating the as the Jewish Museum in Vienna. Furthermore integration of Holocaust education into regular several NGOs are active in Holocaust education.

REMEMBRANCE The discussion on Austrian of the have been taken smaller places. In Graz the , de- memory is mainly characterised by two different offi cially as well as privately: for example the stroyed in 1938, was reconstructed and handed historical views. After 1945 the Victim Myth National Fund of the Republic of Austria for over to the Jewish Community. Furthermore it was established under reference to the Moscow Victims of National Socialism/General Settle- is planned to re-conceive and to renovate the Declaration, since the so called Waldheim Affair ment Fund was established in 1995 and since permanent Austrian exhibition at Auschwitz (see below) in 1986 the recognition of the Aus- 1996 the National Commemoration Day for the Memorial. trian complicity in Nazi crimes is admitted. Victims of National Socialism is marked on May The Jewish Museum Hohenems tells about Today there is common consensus that Aus- 5th, the Day of Liberation of the Mauthausen the confl icting forces of Jewish life and tria has to bear a share of moral responsibility Concentration Camp. experience in the middle of Europe: Diaspora, for the actions committed by Austrians during In 2000 the Holocaust Memorial in Vienna migration and persecution, tradition and mo- the time of the National Socialist dictatorship. was unveiled and memorials for victims of the dernity, transnational networks and local roots As a result, various initiatives for remembrance Holocaust have also been created in many between Austria, Germany and Switzerland – in

RESEARCH Though fi rst research on the research and remembrance particularly on the history and contemporary history as well as by Holocaust and National Socialist persecution in occasion of the 50th anniversary of the “An- several independent institutes, e.g. the above Austria was undertaken by the Documentation schluss” in 1988. A further decisive develop- mentioned Documentation Archive of Austrian Archive of Austrian Resistance as early as in ment was marked by the establishment of the Resistance. the 1960s, it was only in the second half of Austrian Historical Commission in 1998, which Unions of victims of National Socialist the 1980s that research on Holocaust became carried out thorough research on the looting of persecution, like the Association of Roma established in Austrian historiography. property during National Socialism and restitu- and Sinti, memorial organisations such as the The paradigm shift was eventually caused tion and indemnifi cation after 1945. “Gedenkstätte Hartheim” or the Mauthausen by the debate on the war-time past of former Research on the Holocaust as well as on Na- Memorial carry out their own research or com- UN-Secretary General Kurt Waldheim during his tional Socialist persecution of other population mission research. campaign for presidential elections in Austria groups, such as Roma and Sinti, is being carried Almost all research in Austria is publicly in 1986, which was followed by intensive out by various Austrian university institutes for fi nanced. The Austrian National Fund has an

28 Austria’s Roma and Sinti population, which before 1938 had numbered 12 000 people, was nearly completely annihilated by Nazi persecution. Most of the 130 Roma settlements were razed tothe ground and 90 percent of their inhabitants perished in the “porraimos” (‘the great devouring’).

After Austrian police forces and public administration offi cials started registering Roma and Sinti in special “Gypsy” lists in the 1920s, the National Socialists deported able- bodied men and women as forced labourers to work camps and concentrentation camps such as Dachau, Buchenwald, Ravensbrück and Mauthausen. The children and elderly, who had such become a burden to the social welfare system, were fi rst deported to a central “Gypsycamp” in Lackenbach and later to Polish Ghettoes and camps such as Lodz, Chelmno and Auschwitz-Birkenau. The ”memorial” at Judenplatz in the city center of Vienna.

Amongst the most important are the Documen- The Memorial Site Hartheim Castle with tation Archive of Austrian Resistance and the the memorial to the victims of Nazi euthana- “Verein Gedenkdienst”. sia and the exhibition “Value of Life” offers In the past years a shift is noticeable in the special educational programs. They all deal portrayal of Holocaust and National Socialism with general ethical matters that are of topical towards telling the human stories of victims, interest: What is the value of one life? Is there but also in critically addressing the Austrian “unworthy” life? What opportunities and thre- share of perpetration and by-standing. History ats do modern genetics bring? The educational textbooks are accordingly reviewed by the programmes have been developed especially for Ministry of Education. This is an encouraging different age groups. start but many publications still need to be Survivor Rudi Gelbard with students. revised. Photo Elisabeth Streibel, Krems the light of destruction and reconstruction. Although remembrance in Austria has be- come an integral part of the European culture of Holocaust remembrance, the exposure to the after-effects of the Austrian post-war myth of victimisation theory continues to be a challenge for the present and the future: the principal duty still is to prime, in the political culture and the collective memory, the awa- reness of Austrian participation in Nazi crimes. Roma settlement Unterwart, 1930s Burgenländische Landesarchiv important role in this, and also subsidises projects not only to the benefi t of victims of National Socialism, but also in order to pro- mote academic research on National Socialism and on the fate of its victims. Since the 1990s research has been under- taken on aspects of Austria’s dealing with her National Socialist past: the situation of victims of National Socialism regarding compensation and restitution as well as the judicial persecu- Mauthausen”Todesstiege” Memorial, in the Memorial Todesstiege Mauthausen, (Stairs of former Death) tion of war criminals. Jewish ghetto of Eisenstadt, concentration camp - Photo: BMI/Fotoarchiv der KZ- 1930s Burgenländische Landesarchiv Gedenkstätte Mauthausen made by Stephan Matyus

29 Belgium

”The Shoa’s lasting memory is fate as much as a duty. It is The national delegation has been headed the fate of every witness: the survivors, the relatives of the by Deputy Director General for Political Affairs, Mr. R. Delcorde, since 2007. The victims, their close friends... They cannot forget. But memo- delegation includes also Mr. W. Adriaens, Di- rector of the Jewish Museum for Deportation ry is not only their lot; it is the lot of every one of us: this and Resistance in ; Mr. L. Saerens, dark page of the past century is engraved for ever in the historian and researcher at the Centre for Historical Research and Documentation on book of our history. We simply cannot turn the page.” War and Contemporary Society; Mr. H. Poli- art, from the Prime Minister’s chancellery; Yves Leterme, Belgian Prime Minister Mr. R. Herbert, from the German-speaking Speech for the 65th anniversary of the Uprising community; Mr. H. Van Heeswijk, from the – 65th anniversary of the 20th convoy Mechelen-Auschwitz Flemish community; and Mr. F. Livin from the French-speaking community The date of admission of Belgium to ITF is the November 15th, 2005. National commemoration day: : January 27th is called the “Remembrance Day of the Genocide committed by Nazi Germany”. Many commemorative events are also held on the 8th of May, World War Two Victory. Jewish population: 65000 in 1939 35 000–40 000

EDUCATION Much progress has been made in 2005–2006 celebrated the 60th anniversary of Holocaust education in recent years. In our the liberation of the . federal system, education policy is a compe- In order to avoid an unforgivable oversight and tence exercised autonomously at the level of the to make sure everyone would learn a necessary French, Flemish and German-speaking com- lesson from this, the “Schools for Democracy” munities. This autonomy and the fact that each pilot project was started. This initiative led community may thus have its own approach youths through notions like identity, respect, does not prevent any school from teaching the participation and openness to the world, history of the Shoah, through history, literature, concluding by two main visits: the Nazi camps ethics or religious classes. sites of Breendonck and Auschwitz. Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme, speech for the Commemoration of the 65th anniversary of the

REMEMBRANCE By Government Decree of Decem- Commemorative events related to war are More than 30 monuments in Belgium are ber 2004, Belgium designated January 27th as regularly organised throughout the country dedicated to the remembrance of the victims “Remembrance Day of the Genocide committed on three main levels. The Federal Government of the Shoah. Among the best-known is the by Nazi Germany”. The remembrance ceremony is in charge of the commemoration, on the National Monument to the Jewish Martyrs in in Auschwitz on January 27th 2005 was attended 8th of May, of the soldiers who fell in the two Anderlecht, that was unveiled by H. M. King by H.M. King Albert II and Prime Minister world wars and in humanitarian actions of the Baudouin more than thirty years ago. ‘Les Verhofstadt. In 2006 Belgium, in its capacity Belgian army afterwards. On the same day, the Territoires de la Mémoire’ in Liège adopts an as Chairman in Offi ce of the OSCE, organised an Ministry of Defence dedicates a great com- educational view geared towards the future. OSCE Holocaust Remembrance Day in memoration to the Unknown Soldier and to The main goal is not solely about the past, but to which representatives of all 56 participating the Liberation. There are also many local level how to use the knowledge of history to develop States were invited. commemorations, often with the presence of a critical mind leading to a more tolerant and military units and music bands. human model.

RESEARCH Compared to their colleagues in make a new study of the Jews Defence Com- was a result of cooperation between the Bar neighbouring countries, Belgian historians did mittee, a resistance organisation founded in Ilan University and the Ceges/Soma. Also, not focus on the issue of the persecution of 1942 by leftist Jewish circles. This mission in the 1990s, a lot of research was done on Jews until recently. In the 1970s, research on coincided with research by the Klarsfelds on assistance by non-Jewish persons to Jews. the persecution of Jews in Belgium took a slow the responsibility of the German SS in the This resulted in several publications and dis- start. The Ceges / Soma (Centre for Histori- persecution of Jews in Belgium. With the help sertations with a focus on assistance to Jewish cal Research and Documentation of War and of Maxime Steinberg, this resulted in a trial children. Contemporary Society), was founded as late as against former Judenreferent Kurt Asche. In July 1997, at the request of the Jewish 1969. The increasing interest in scientifi c circles community, the Belgian government created The impetus came from two angles. In 1975 for the persecution of Jews culminated in an the Study Commission that was to examine the former Belgian-Jewish Resistance fi ghters international symposium held in Israel in 1989, the situation of the assets of the members of asked Belgian historian Maxime Steinberg to “”. The symposium the Jewish community of Belgium, stolen or

30 “Our country joined the International Task bodies are working in cooperation with NGOs “Righteous among the Nations” Force for Holocaust Education, Remembrance on Holocaust-related projects: the Natio- 1443 Belgian citizens have been awarded and Research. This allows us to exchange nal Institute for Invalids of War, Veterans the title of “Righteous among the Nations” educational materials and examples of good and Victims of War (INIG) has developed for having saved the lives of thousands of practices to help young people not to let activities which preserve and remember the Jews. In the darkest nights of , some them selves be temted by the missleading Holocaust, other Nazi crimes and acts of Re- men and women from all walks of life and attractiveness of stereotypes, prejudice and sistance. The Centre for Equal Opportunities religions did not surrender to the temptation racism. It must incite them to think about and Opposition to Racism has launched a of evil. They responded to the call of frater- the fundamental freedoms, rights and duties pilot project aiming at mapping, developing nity, solidarity and justice. Listening only to of democracy.” and consolidating actions in the fi eld of their hearts and their consciousness, at the Yves Leterme, Belgian Prime Minister democratic education through the study of risk of their own lives, they refused to take Speech for the 65th anniversary of the Warsaw the historic reality of the Second World War part in the implacable tragedy that hit the th th Jewish people. These men and women took Ghetto Uprising – 65 anniversary of the 20 in Belgium (with an emphasis on Holocaust risks to accomplish this precept: “Love your convoy Mechelen-Auschwitz and Resistance). My country will support neighbor as yourself”. They have not only “As the head of the Belgian delegation to all the efforts of the chairmanship of the saved lives, but also the human dignity and the Task Force for International Coopera- Task Force aimed at involving the European the honor of their compatriots. Their acts tion on Holocaust Education, I can clearly institutions in the implementation of the are the incarnation of the Talmudic precept: confi rm Belgium’s commitment to the prin- Stockholm Declaration.” “The one who saves a life saves the whole of ciples of the Stockholm Declaration. Those Raoul Delcorde, humanity”. principles are enforced through the Belgian Deputy Director General for Political Affairs legislation and educational programmes. Head of Delegation to the Task Force At the federal level two main government

The ambition of the “Schools for Democracy” According to Mrs. Simone Veil, former project was to put together three groups of President of the European Parliament, there 200 schoolboys/girls in the 6th year of primary are two main Antisemitic threats hanging over school and three groups of 170 students in the society: revisionism and a less spectacular one, fi nal year of high school. The students came more insidious and therefore more serious: the from a very wide range of schools in order to diffi culty of teaching Shoah history at school. build up tolerance and good citizenship. The This is why the “A Classroom of Difference” educational purpose was to invite students program was launched, with a fi nal seminar for to make a link between history and the moral teachers from the three Belgian communities at choices with which they are personally confron- Yad Vashem in Marc. From 22th to 30th March 2008, the Jewish Museum of ted with. Deportation and Resistance invited Belgian educa- tion representatives on a study travel on “education of remembrance” at Yad Vashem.

The Jewish Museum for Deportation and Resistance in Mechelen is located in the former Dossin Barracks, once called “the Waiting Room of Death” due to the central role it played in the deportation of more than 24 916 Jews and 351 Gypsies to Auschwitz in 1942–1944. Plans for the construction of a new museum, the Memorial and Documentation Centre for Holocaust and Human Rights in Mechelen, are making good progress. Finally, the JMDR is in Resistance Memorial at the National charge of the exhibition project of the Belgian The children’s room at the Jewish Museum Monument to the Jewish Martyrs of Belgium wing in Auschwitz. for Deportation and Resistance in Mechelen. abandoned after the Second World War (the tion of Jews. In 2003 the Belgian government by the Nazis; the Belgian diamond trade and so-called Commission on Jewish Assets). The complied with this request. The mission was the Jewish educational system during the research on the theft of Jewish possessions in entrusted to the Ceges/Soma. The title of the occupation; Belgian ‘Jew hunters’ and the Belgium was completely innovative. In July report-book (2006) gave a clear answer to the re-establishment of the Jewish community in 2001, the report on the study of the theft of question: “Docile Belgium”. Belgium after World War Two. Jewish assets was presented. Since 2000, theses and monographs were In the course of the study on the stolen published on: the escape of Jewish deportees Jewish assets and the collaboration of the aut- from the XXth convoy and Jewish members of horities, more and more voices were heard in the Resistance; the assistance to Jews (Jewish the Jewish community proposing an in-depth children) and post-war problems of the return study of the likely participation of the Belgian of these children to their community; the authorities in the persecution and the deporta- “Association of the Jews in Belgium”, founded

31 Croatia

In remembering the victims, we remind new generations Before the Second World War there were that respect for moral values, rule of law, appreciation and 25 000 members of the Jewish community in the area of the present-day Republic of tolerance towards others and that which is different and, Croatia, and slightly over 5 500 survivors li- ved to see the end of the war (M. Švob, Jews above all, the protection of those who are weaker and dif- in Croatia, vol. I, 2004). In Croatia, three ferent, is the foundation of the survival and advancement dates are tied to the commemoration of the anti-fascist movement and remembrance of of every democratic society. Remembering and honoring the victims of fascist terror: The Day of Holo- caust Remembrance and Prevention of Crimes the victims of an historic tragedy is an opportunity to against Humanity (January 27th ), The Day of stress the dangers of Antisemitism, exclusion, intolerance, Remembrance of the Breakout of Prisoners from Jasenovac Concentration Camp (April political oppression, radicalism and extremism, regardless 22nd ) and the anti-Fascist Movement Day of where they come from. Democracy’s victory over totali- (June 22nd ). tarianism is the victory of the values embedded in modern Europe and modern Croatia. Dr. Ivo Sanader Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia

EDUCATION Although since World War Two prevent Antisemitism, intolerance and any crime different US Holocaust Museums including the pupils and students have learned about the against humanity. Jewish Foundation of the Righteous in New Nazi and Ustasha regimes in History curricula in Holocaust education was additionally en- York, as well as Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, and primary and secondary schools and universities, hanced by the 2003 Decision of the Ministry of in different Council of Europe member states. teaching was signifi cantly enhanced with the Education and Sports to establish the Day of The Ministry of Science, Education and Sports adoption of the National Programme for Human Remembrance of the Holocaust and the Preven- and The Education and Teacher Training Agen- Rights Education in 1999. It defi nes the aim tion of Crimes against Humanity which calls for cy, in co-operation with different international of teaching about the Holocaust as not only the commemoration of January 27th and cross- organisations have developed, distributed to to learn about and preserve the memory of the curricular teaching on the topic. schools and made available on The Ministry’s period of unprecedented suffering but also to Since 2004, around 500 teachers have been website (www.mzos.hr) additional teaching refl ect on what each individual should do to trained at national (on January 27th), regional materials on the topic of the Holocaust: and international seminars and some 150 at

REMEMBRANCE In 2002 the Jasenovac Memo- New forms of education and museum The work of the new Memorial Museum and rial Area focused on preparing a permanent presentation were achieved due to interna- Education Centre in Jasenovac has a basic exhibition and Educational Centre which was tional cooperation and through collaboration scientifi c approach: completed in 2006. Together with the Ministry of Croatian experts, and this means that the • to educate and prevent mass crimes against of Culture and the Ministry of Science, Education Jasenovac Memorial Area honours the victims, humanity and Sports the ITF organised two workshops in giving them their dignity and identity in the • to enable people to learn about the genocide which the concept of the museum exhibition new permanent exhibition of the Memorial committed in Jasenovac, about the Holocaust was presented and agreed upon on at an inter- Museum. The exhibit focuses on the affi rmation and suffering national level, including how victims and crimes of life and on increasing awareness among visi- • as a starting point in acquiring knowledge should be represented, and how educational tors, particularly among school children, about in the fi eld of human rights, non-violence, programs tied to Ustasha crimes in Jasenovac the fragility of human life against a frenzied peace, cultural diversity, democracy and the should be conducted. ideology. rule of law.

RESEARCH The most signifi cant issues discussed 2” (presented at the AWG session in Prague in and several Croatian universities as well as by the AWG cover the state of Holocaust-related December 2007), present an important overview Jewish communities. The Jasenovac Memorial material in archival holdings in the public of the fi eld. Area Public Institution catalogue “Jasenovac archives of member countries, the issue of ac- Important resources for Holocaust researchers Memorial Site”, was published in 2006 on the cessibility to public archives and the availability to be consulted in Croatia are the Croatian Sta- occasion of the opening of the new permanent of funds for interested researchers. Consequently te Archives: (www.arhiv.hr/hr/teme/holokaust. exhibition in November of the same year and countries were asked to prepare national reports htm) as well the Research and Documentation contains relevant information on the Ustasha on the above issues and two Croatian reports: Center CENDO: (www.cendo.hr). regime in State of Croatia. It “Report on the Holocaust related Research in There are several research and acade- also contributes to broadening knowledge on Croatian Public Archives” (presented at the AWG mic institutions which have contributed to the period. A number of publications in the meeting in Prague in June 2007) and “Holo- Holocaust research, among them the Croatian fi eld should be mentioned, such as:“Croatia: caust Related Archives in Croatia – Report No. , Croatian Institute of History, In Memory to Holocaust”, published by the

32 Croatia began its cooperation with the Task Foundation for the Righteous (USA), Univer- Members of delegation of Republic Croatia: Force in 2001. In November 2005, during sity of Southern California Shoah Foundation Head: Mirjana Bohanec Vidovid (Ministry of the Chairmanship of the Republic of Poland, Institute for Visual History and Education Foreign Affairs and European Integration), the Republic of Croatia became a full mem- (USA), Anne Frank House (The Netherlands) AWG: Ivo Goldstein (University of Zagreb), ber at the plenary session in Krakow. and numerous other institutions in countries CWG: Robert Skenderovid (Croatian Institute Acquiring full membership of the ITF was that are Task Force members. for History), EWG: Alida Matkovid (Ministry a great acknowledgement for the Republic of This cooperation has increased the num- of Science, Education and Sport), Loranda Croatia for all efforts that it is undertaking ber of projects tied to research, remem- Miletid (Education and Teacher Training in fostering democracy, tolerance and the brance and education about the Holocaust, Agency), MWG: Nataša Jovicid (Jasenovac fi ght against Antisemitism. which is evident from an ever-increasing Memorial Area Public Institution). With its membership of the Task Force, number of annual project proposals from the the Republic of Croatia has signifi cantly ad- Republic of Croatia that apply for co-fi nan- vanced its activities in the fi eld of research, cing with the Task Force. remembrance and education about the We are confi dent that our participation in Holocaust. Through projects in the fi elds of the Task Force for International Cooperation research, museology and education, strong on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and cooperation has been established between Research will continue to have a positive institutions in the Republic of Croatia and effect on promotion of human rights and Yad Vashem (Israel), the United States democracy in the Republic of Croatia. Holocaust Memorial Museum (USA), Jewish

• ITF Guidelines for Teaching about the Holo- • Lessons based on survivors’ video testimonies, caust, 2005, the Shoah Foundation Visual Institute, 2008 • Teaching about the Holocaust, a resource • Teaching materials on Antisemitism, the book for educators, USHMM, 2005, Anne Frank’s House Museum, and OSCE two • Guidelines on how to commemorate the sets of teaching materials on Antisemitism, Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust, Yad 2007, 2008. Vashem and the OSCE, 2006 • Posters, the stories on the Righteous among the Nations: “Traits that Transcend” and the manual for teachers, the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, New York, 2007 International seminar Zagreb-Jasenovac January 2007

Here, future generations of young people should The Ministry of Culture is fi nancing the increase their awareness of the consequences reconstruction of the “Petrova gora” Memorial of neglecting human dignity, and with this Area, the main Partisan hospital “Petrova gora” knowledge build a different world. in Vojnid and other monuments. The recon- The Ministry of Culture and the Jasenovac struction of in Rijeka, Varaždin, Memorial Area is preparing a preliminary propo- Dubrovnik and Vukovar is being cofi nanced, sal for the plan to change the exhibition in the while local governments are in-part responsible pavilion of the former Yugoslavia in Auschwitz for maintaining Jewish cemeteries. Museum Birkenau MM, and of staging their own national exhibitions covering the World War Two and the exhibition linked to the tribulations on the Holocaust are fi nancially supported, along with territory of the Independent State of Croatia activities tied to the publishing of texts on 1941-1945. these two topics. Jasenovac Memorial Area

Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia archival holdings compiled after World War and the Croatian State Archives in 2000 and Two on cultural and historical objects and “The List of Names of the Victims of Jasenovac monuments as well as the The Cooperative Concentration Camp 1941-1945” published in Agreement between the US Holocaust Memorial 2007 by the Jasenovac Memorial Area. Museum and the Central Archives of the Repu- With the aim of gaining a broader insight blic of Croatia, signed in 1995, have certainly into Holocaust research in Croatia and the contributed to the aims of the AWG and above world, the Croatian Government has, especially all to the role of the ITF and the Croatian Go- after acquiring full membership in the ITF, vernment in supporting tolerant societies. even more strongly encouraged and fi nancially supported international cooperation as well as exchange of researchers. The older available

33 Czech Republic Educational activities about The Shoah began at the Terezín Memorial in the period prior to 1989. In 1989 an independent education department was established and by the beginning of 1993 was already able to offer its fi rst programmes. Over time, a range of age and knowledge-level appropriate programmes were developed. In 2002 the Czech Republic became the fi rst post-communist country member of the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holo- caust Education, Remembrance and Research (ITF). Ph Dr. Jan Munk, CSc; Director of Terezín Memorial.

The performance of the Brundibár opera in the Attic Theater of Magdeburg Barracks.

EDUCATION The information gained through Teaching documents for basic schools Teaching documents for secondary schools working with ITF helped in the preparation of a (Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports) (Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports) new, more wide-ranging project for the further The Ministry has issued the Framework Curricu- The existing curricular documents for various education of Czech teachers. Seminars began lum for Basic Education. Based on this, schools types of secondary education have been deve- to be held under the title of “How to Teach the develop their own documents. The topic of the loped on the basis of the Standard of Secondary Holocaust”, employing the talents of staff of the Holocaust is part of the subject area Man and Technical and Vocational Education and the Terezín Memorial, the Jewish Museum in Prague Society. This subject area aims to provide pupils Standard of Education in secondary schools. and the Museum of Romany Culture in Brno. with the knowledge and skills necessary for their Standards focus on understanding the negative The main approach is to encourage the creative active involvement in society. An important effects of racial, national and religious prejudi- spirit of individual teachers. part is prevention of racial, xenophobic and ces and intolerance, and on recognising their extremist attitudes. consequences and associated dangers.

REMEMBRANCE Terezín Memorial Remembrance Activities – events Each year the Memorial (in co-operation with the Federation of Jewish Communities and the Terezín Initiative - international association of former prisoners of Terezín Ghetto and other concentration camps) organises many events, including a gathering on the day of remem- brance for the victims of the Holocaust and Nazi persecution (Yom Hashoah, Ceremony to Meeting Centre was opened in remember the fi nal execution of prisoners from Former president The Czech Rep. Václav Havel the reconstructed Magdeburg Barracks the Small Fortress, The Terezín Commemoration, at the Terezín Commemoration

RESEARCH Research and Scholarly Activities Commanders, and the postwar fate of the • Collection of documents obtained from all the This kind of activity continues to be provided individual SS-offi cers. Focus will also be given state district archives in the Czech Republic by the Department of History which will keep to the Ghetto Self-Administration as well as the on the Jewish population deported to the focusing its historical research on the repressive relations among the various prison communities Terezín Ghetto between 1941 and 1945. facilities in Terezín and Litomerice during the from different countries in the Terezín Ghetto. • Collection of materials on the fate of German Nazi occupation. This will encompass systematic Other research topics will include specifi cation Jews from the border regions annexed by research in domestic and foreign archives, while of the numbers, posts and further destiny of Hitler Germany imprisoned in the Terezín fostering contacts with Czech and foreign insti- some specifi c groups of inmates, as well as the Ghetto. tutions and individuals studying these issues. following: • History of the Police Prison in the Specifi c Reasearch Activities • Elaboration of registration sheets listing the Small Fortress. Jewish inhabitants in the former Protectorate Research into the history of the Terezín Ghetto • And many others... – clarifying the role of the SS-staff, the Camp of Bohemia and Moravia.

34 Educational Department in Terezín In 2008 Terezín Memorial acquired a new Memorial and Jewish Museum in Prague fully equipped facility with 21 computers for The Educational Department of Terezín Me- interactive education measures. morial (ED) has developed special program- The underlying concept behind the mes that concentrate on the most tragic pe- work of the ED remains the same: to make riod between 1939 and 1945, the complexity clear to young people the malignancy and of which is variable depending on the age results of racism, but also to teach them group, level of education and length of stay to understand that themes of interpersonal of the visitor. relationships, tolerance and human dignity The number of ED members and collabo- in the context of racial equality can never be rators has increased substantially, and the sidelined. The activities have been prepared range of programmes and events offered has in close co-operation with the Ministry of also broadened. Education, Youth and Sports and supported In 1997 a Meeting Centre was opened in by the Ministry of Culture and Ministry of the reconstructed Magdeburg Barracks. This Foreign Affairs. featured new study and assembly spaces and Besides the Memorial, The Educational accommodation for 44 people. This is vital and Cultural Centre of the Jewish Museum in to the effective organisation of seminars, Prague has been a part of such activities (ie: educational stays and research support for through project Lost Neighbors). young people and teachers from both the Czech Republic and abroad. New Education Centre for Interactive Studies

Educational activities of Educational activities of partners abroad at the Auschwitz and Ravens- Terezín Memorial for pupils and students Terezín Memorial for teachers brück Memorials. The programme culminates in Since 1993 the Terezín Memorial has been ITF co-operation laid the foundations for a a fi nal fourth stage – a ten day seminar at Yad devoting itself to educational programmes for long-term system of teacher training on the Vashem. elementary school pupils and secondary school Holocaust. This system comprises several stages. Over 1 500 teachers from various types of students. Every year the ED organises 50-100 The fi rst is the aforementioned three day semi- schools across the Czech Republic have atten- one-day and 50 longer seminars for Czech nar on “How to Teach the Holocaust”. Having ded seminars as part of this programme. schools, complete with visits to exhibitions, completed this seminar, teachers are able to at- lectures, debates with Holocaust survivors, tend the annual, four-day international seminar workshops and independent creative activities. on “The Holocaust in Education”. The third stage In 2007, foreign students came to attend 30 seminars are organised in collaboration with one-day and 28 longer seminars. commemoration Kever Avot and Publications many individual acts of remembrance). During the last ten years publication activity Terezín Memorial Remembrance Activities of the Terezín Memorial increased. To remember – Collections and Exhibition the World War Two victims Memorial published All the permanent exhibition and also collection 65 books, CDs and DVDs (Catalogues, Memorial activities of the Terezín Memorial are focused Papers, Textbook Holocaust, Culture Against on remembrance of the World War Two victims. Death, Terezín in the ” of the Since the Czech Republic became a member of Jewish Question” 1941 - 1945, documentary ‘A the ITF’s new permanent exhibition in Ausch- town marked by a tragedy’). witz, as well as the Prayer Room from the time of the Ghetto, have been opened to the public. Independent work of teachers at the seminar

…”A grave among graves, who can tell it apart, time has long swept away the dead faces. Testimonies, so evil and terrible to the heart, we took with us to these dark rotting places. Only the night and the howl of the wind will sit on the graves’ corners, only a patch of grass, a bitter weed before May bears some fl owers...” Jaroslav Seifert

35 Denmark

All States are obliged to keep alive the memory of the The Danish delegation Holocaust. We must learn from the past. The atrocities Denmark became a member of the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust committed during the Second World War against innocent Education, Remembrance and Research in June 2004. The Danish delegation consists of civilians - children, women, men – stand forever as the representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Af- underlying rationale for the need for international coopera- fairs, the Ministry of Education and the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS) for tion among States in promoting a safer and more peaceful Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Members of the delegation are: world. Denmark believes that keeping alive the memory of • Mr. Arnold de Fine Skibsted, Human Rights the Holocaust through education, research and commemo- Ambassador, Ministry of Foreign Affairs • Mr. Emil Hother Paulsen, Deputy Director, rative activities is an important way to teach future gene- Human Rights Offi ce, Ministry of Foreign rations about fundamental human rights, and the necessity Affairs. • Mr. Henrik Tauber, Chief Consultant, to observe and protect them everywhere. Ministry of Education • Dr. Cecilie Felicia Stokholm Banke, Arnold de Fine Skibsted Senior Researcher, DIIS Ambassador, Head of the Danish delegation • Ms. Solvej Berlau, Head of Section, Education and Information, DIIS

• Ms. Stine Thuge, Head of Section, Education and Information, DIIS • Mr. Otto Rühl, Educational Consultant, DIIS

EDUCATION Various educational activities are The educational activities related to Auschwitz The overall idea is to familiarise the students related to the marking of Auschwitz Day in Day further contribute to the effort of bringing with the ethical and political challenges in the Denmark. Under the auspicies of the Ministry the subject into the classrooms. Since 2003, fi eld and to provide them with insight into the of Education, seminars are offered to high when Auschwitz Day was marked for the fi rst dynamics of genocide. In order to illustrate school students around the country alongside time in Denmark, high school students have had the complexity of genocide with impacts on educational websites available for secondary the opportunity to participate in seminars and many aspects of society, Auschwitz Day has and high schools. Other educational materials learn more about the Holocaust and other geno- each year a new thematic focus. In past years, are produced and teacher-training seminars are cides. In the weeks leading up to 27th January, themes such as “Rescuers and Bystanders” and offered to Danish teachers. Teaching about the seminars are arranged in the larger cities of “Perpetrators” have defi ned the discussions. Holocaust is not mandatory, but the Holocaust Denmark. Each year 2 000 high school students Also the processes leading to genocide and the is a vital part of the general curriculum on World participate in workshops where the Holocaust aftermath of genocide have been themes for War Two. and other genocides are discussed. discussion. In 2008, the theme for Auschwitz

REMEMBRANCE In Denmark, Holocaust remem- and ordinary , in which the majority of brance has largely been part of the general Danish Jews managed to fl ee to safety in Swe- commemoration of the years of occupation. The den. The rescue operation has been portrayed national commemoration has focused on the as a symbol of resistance and humanity and has fallen freedom fi ghters of the Danish resistance been marked as part of the commemoration of movement. The remembrance culture surroun- liberation. In October 2003, 60 years after the ding these victims includes numerous monu- rescue, the Jewish community initiated a major ments, memorial stones as well as other sites of commemorative event where, among others, memory. As for the fate of the Jewish population members of the royal family as well as high in Denmark, commemoration has been focused ranking politicians participated. This memorial was erected in 2008 to commemorate on the rescue operation in October 1943, carried Jewish and Communist prisoners deported by ship out with the help of the resistance movement during WW2 to concentration camps around Europe

RESEARCH In the history of the Holocaust, The myth of the inherent democratic Danish refugee coming from Denmark (See Hans Kirch- Denmark has a special standing because of the spirit as the primary factor for saving the Jews hoff & Lone Rünitz 2007/2005; Cecilie Felicia unique rescue operation in October 1943. Yet, has long been rebuffed and today we have a Stokholm Banke 2005 and Vilhjalmur Örn the favourable image of Denmark as a kind of more nuanced picture of what happened in Vilhjálmsson 2005). safe haven for Jews has gone through changes October 1943. Added to this more nuanced picture is during the past decades. New research focusing The Danish rescue was, and still is, uni- new research about the Danish deportees in on a less fl attering side of Denmark’s history que. But we know more about what made it Theresienstadt, which is now becoming more during the occupation has addressed the pre- possible, as shown by among others Hans integrated into Danish historiography (Sil- viously pristine image and has fuelled renewed Kirchhoff, Sofi e Lene Bak, Vilhelm Topsøe and via Goldbaum Tarabini Fracapane 2006; Hans controversy about the hitherto widely accepted Isi Foighel. We also know more about how it Sode-Madsen 2003). Finally, over the last 10-15 ‘policy of cooperation’ with the occupational was to be a Jewish refugee, both in Denmark years, the history and public conception of forces. as a fl eeing German Jew, and in Sweden as a Denmark’s role during the Second World War has

36 Commemoration awareness about the Holocaust and other Since 2003 Denmark has commemorated the genocides in schools, high schools and uni- The Danish Rescue In October 1943 around 7 000 Jews from victims of the Holocaust on 27th January – versities and in the public at large. Denmark managed to escape the Holocaust the annual Auschwitz Day. Various remem- We should promote Holocaust education and fl ee to Sweden. With the help of fi sher- brance activities aimed at the public are in a comparative way in schools and other men, local people, the Jewish congregation, organised by local municipalities. Alongside educational institutions in order to motivate friends, neighbours, colleagues – as well as these activities the Ministry of Education – students to assume a personal responsibility the resistance movement at large - most of in cooperation with DIIS - is hosting a series driven by the spirit of democracy, human the Jewish population in Denmark avoided of seminars for high school students about rights and tolerance. And we should work for the upcoming deportation by the Nazi oc- the Holocaust and other genocides. Every democratic and tolerant societies without cupiers. In the history of the Holocaust, the year, the Minister of Education approves prejudices and racism. Thus, being united Danish rescue is considered an extraordinary the plans for coming activities. By giving with other European countries and with the example of a national community that stood his consent to the activities of the annual international community, Denmark’s com- up against the Nazi oppressors. Instead of remembrance day Mr. Bertel Haarder, the memoration of the Holocaust is an important collaborating with the Nazis and handing Minister of Education, wishes to improve element in our work for peace, justice and over the Jews, Danes organized a quick, and the awareness of the Holocaust among unity among nations, as well in our support very effi cient, escape for the Jews in Den- Danish students and the principle that for the International Criminal Court as a fun- mark. This rescue operation was, and still is, never to forget what the past can teach the damental institution in the development of considered to be a unique achievement and future. Thus, Auschwitz Day is dedicated to international law and the promotion of the a light in the horrors of the Holocaust. In a national perspective, the rescue operation commemorate the victims and support the rule of law in international relations. is largely seen as an integrated part of oc- survivors, to promote education and public cupational history during the Second World War. The rescue was an act demonstrating Danish autonomy and resistance towards the Nazi occupation.

Day was “Sites of Persecution”, and in January 2009 the “Rescue” was the focus. DIIS, Department for Holocaust and Genocide Studies

Each year in January, 2 000 high school students from around Denmark participate in the Auschwitz Day seminars

Much less focus has been given to the approx- At the event in 2005, the Prime Minister, Mr. Auschwitz Day focuses on different genoci- imately 500 Jews who were arrested by the Nazis Anders Fogh Rasmussen, on behalf of the des to obtain a better insight into why they are and deported, mainly to Theresienstadt. The government and the Danish State, gave an committed and how they can be prevented. On primary day of commemoration is 4th May. On offi cial apology for having handed over Jewish the naming of the day, the former Chief , the eve of 4th May 1945 the message of libera- refugees to the German occupational power. Mr. Bent Melchior, stated the following: “The tion was announced throughout Denmark. After Most of these refugees perished in Nazi camps. term “Auschwitz” has gained universal mea- the war, this date has been marked in different Following the Stockholm Conference in 2000, ning. Really, it encompasses all forms of mass ways across the country both at the offi cial the Danish government established a national murder, ethnic cleansing and atrocities against and private level. The main event is a memorial Day of Holocaust and Genocide Remembrance – people, whose only crime is to be born into or ceremony in Mindelunden where members of the Auschwitz Day. having joined the ’wrong’ group.” resistance were executed. DIIS, Department for Holocaust and Genocide Studies been revisited by a new generation of historians and journalists. New publications on the role of the Danish industries’ business relations with Nazi Germany, the use of slave-labourers and the role of the agrarian sector during the war have contributed to an understanding of how complex and sometimes also contradictory his- tory is (See Claus Bundgaard Christensen, Niels Bo Poulsen & Peter Scharff Schmidt 1999; Steen Andersen 2003; Joachim Lund 2005). DIIS, Department for Holocaust Each year in January, 2 000 high school students from around Denmark participate in the Auschwitz Day seminars and Genocide Studies

37 Estonia

From the very beginning of its existence, the Internatio- Offi cial name: Republic of Estonia nal Task Force (ITF) has been a substantial forum for the Area: 45 227 square km Capital city: Tallinn presenting and exchanging of experiences and best practi- Population: 1 364 million ces concerning Holocaust education, research and remem- Jews in Estonia In 1926, Jewish cultural autonomy was declared brance. Estonia regards cooperation with this organisation according to the Act of Cultural Autonomy for Ethnic Minorities. This gave the right of self- as being of the utmost importance as it gives us a good determination in cultural matters. In the 1930s, opportunity to learn from the experiences that have already there were over 4 300 Jews living in Estonia. With the Soviet occupation of Estonia in 1940, been acquired by other member states and to use Estonia’s Jewish cultural autonomy, in addition to the ac- tivities of Jewish organisations, was terminated. experience to give added value to the implementation of 414 Estonian Jews (10 per cent of the Jewish the organisation’s common objectives. community) were deported to Siberia in the course of the mass-deportations of June 1941. During the German occupation (1941–1944), Aino Lepik von Wirén, the Nazis murdered approximately 1 000 Jews Head of the Estonian delegation to ITF; who had failed to fl ee Estonia. In addition, Ambassador of the Republic of Estonia to the State of Israel approximately 13 000 Jews from other parts of Europe were transported to Nazi camps in Estonia where most of them perished.

EDUCATION The Holocaust is part of the Esto- about tolerance”, took place in 2004. At the Estonian- or Russian-language printed material, nian school curriculum, dealt with in connection second seminar that was held in 2005, the as well as a CD-ROM and DVD containing rele- with the events of World War Two. The subject teachers delivered their ideas on the structure vant illustrative material. is taught in grades fi ve and nine, and, in detail, and content of the new teaching materials. As It encompasses all the information that a at the secondary school level, as part of the a result, the teaching materials were prepared teacher needs to deal with Holocaust issues in Estonian and modern history course. for the beginning of 2007. The material was school history lessons, and for commemorating In order to increase the general awareness composed in the framework of the cooperation the Day of Remembrance. and understanding of the Holocaust, the Mi- project of the Estonian History Teachers As- In February 2008, a follow-up seminar on nistry of Education and Research has organised sociation and Living History Forum of Sweden the teaching materials took place in Tartu. international seminars in Estonia. and it was fi nanced by the Estonian Govern- Teachers, authors of the materials and the The fi rst seminar, dealing, specifi cally, with ment and ITF. representatives of Yad Vashem and Swedish the Holocaust and tolerance, “How to teach The packet includes 150 pages of, either, Living History Forum participated.

REMEMBRANCE In August 2002, the Government sentatives of the Estonian Jewish community of Estonia declared the 27th of January to be the being present. The Day of Remembrance serves Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holo- to declare Estonia’s clear condemnation of all caust, as well as of all victims of crimes against atrocities that took place, on the territory of humanity. On this day of national dedication, Estonia, during World War Two and afterwards. the offi cial Remembrance Ceremony takes place And to also declare that we are committed to at the site of the World War Two Nazi concentra- the maintaining and further developing of an tion camp at Klooga. educational system in which an understanding The speech to commemorate the victims of of the history of the Holocaust is an integral the Holocaust is traditionally presented by a part of our young people’s view of the world. member of the Government, with various high The Ministry of Education and Research pro- The memorial stone in the site of state offi cials, the diplomatic corps, and repre- vides materials, as well as advice, to schools the Klooga concentration camp

RESEARCH After regaining our independence, tion, description, and evaluation of the events The Commission decided that its investiga- Estonia has tried to thoroughly investigate and that took place in Estonia 60 years ago. In tions would focus upon crimes against huma- document all crimes against humanity, which its defi nition of crimes against humanity, the nity committed during three distinct historical have, at some point, been committed in Estonia. Commission decided to proceed from Article periods: In 1998, the Estonian International Commission 7 of the Statute of the International Criminal 1. The occupation of Estonia by Soviet forces in for the Investigation of Crimes Against Huma- Court of Rome. As President Meri has summed 1940–1941. nity was established in order to investigate all up the work of the Commission: “It is our goal, 2. The occupation of Estonia by the forces of crimes of this nature that had been commit- our endeavour, to prevent the repetition of such Nazi Germany in 1941–1944. ted, on the territory of the Republic of Estonia, crimes in the future… the work of this Com- 3. The second Soviet occupation of Estonia during the Nazi and Soviet occupations. mission refl ects our common conviction that beginning in 1944. The Commission is not a court of justice, but, we cannot build a free and democratic future above all, a body established for the detec- without facing up to the past.”

38 Estonia and the ITF Latvia’s Ministry of Education, Yad Vashem of Currently, the Jewish community in Estonia Estonia’s cooperation with the ITF was Israel, the Imperial War Museum of the U.K., consists of about 2 000 people. In March established in 2002, when Estonia applied and the Latvian History Teachers’ Associa- 1988, the Jewish Cultural Society was esta- to participate in ITF liaison projects. In the tions have also supported us substantially in blished in Tallinn. After the restoration of course of the teacher training seminars, the course of our cooperative activities with Estonia’s independence in 1991, the Jewish organised in cooperation with the ITF and the ITF. Cultural Society was reorganised and the the Living History Forum, in August 2004 Estonia became a full member of the Jewish community was established in 1992. and 2005, Estonian history teachers received ITF in December 2007, at the ITF Plenary The Tallinn Jewish School was re-opened invaluable knowledge about how to com- Meeting in Prague. Estonia has appointed in 1990, being the fi rst school for a prehend and teach the history of Holocaust. its representatives to the ITF’s working national minority to be established in the In 2005, we established a formal liaison groups. The Estonian delegations to the ITF restored Republic of Estonia. relationship with the ITF. The aim was to have consisted of the representatives of The new synagogue in Tallinn was opened develop long-term cooperation with its Task the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry on 16th May 2007. Force. The most noteworthy and effective re- of Education and Research, the Ministry of sult of our cooperation, so far, has been the Culture, the Estonian Foundation for the production of Holocaust teaching materials Investigation of Crimes Against Humanity, that are based on the guidelines established and the Council of the Jewish Community of by the ITF. Estonia. Estonia’s partner countries in the ITF liai- Needless to say, an essential precondi- son project were Sweden, Israel, Latvia, and tion for fruitful international cooperation is the United Kingdom. Our partner organisa- broad-spectrum cooperation at home. tions - the Living History Forum of Sweden,

Since 1998, our teachers have also been par- ticipating, regularly, in relevant training cour- ses at Yad Vashem, and in the United States. In summer 2008, the biggest delegation so far – a delegation of 20 teachers and a historian from the Estonian Foundation for the Investigation of Crimes Against Humanity – participated in a training course at Yad Vashem.

Estonian teachers in the training course at Yad Vashem in summer 2008 concerning the activities that might be under- Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, has taken on that day. created a joint committee for the implementa- Memorials tion of the project “Holocaust Markers in Esto- In recent years, several memorials have been de- nia”. In 2005, the fi rst fi ve memorial stones were dicated to the commemoration of the victims of dedicated. At the moment, work is in progress the Holocaust. The fi rst memorial to commemo- for establishing two new memorial sites, and for rate the Jews that were exterminated in Estonia renovating two existing ones. in 1941-1944, was unveiled, in 1994, in Klooga, on the territory of a former Nazi concentration camp. The Estonian Ministry of Culture, with the participation of the Estonian Jewish Commu- nity, and the United States Commission for the The new synagogue in Tallinn, opened in May 2007

Simultaneously with the Commission the and the Nazi occupation of 1941-1944, has In addition to the report, the historians Estonian Foundation for the Investigation of been completed. In 2006 it was published in of the Foundation have participated with Crimes Against Humanity was founded, which English, in book format. This approximately Holocaust- related research papers at various has organised research and prepared thema- 1 350-page volume “ESTONIA 1940-1945: international seminars and conferences. The tic reports to the Commission. The Estonian Reports of the Estonian Commission for the Commission and the Foundation concluded its historians researched different crimes against Investigation of Crimes against Humanity”, activities in 2008. Estonia will continue to humanity and war crimes. The Holocaust includes 8 Holocaust- related research papers conduct research into the crimes committed by related topics constituted a substantial part that were carried out by the Foundation. Parts the Nazi and Communist regimes in Estonia and in the Foundation’s work during the period of the book are available through the Internet to draw appropriate conclusions about what 1999-2006. (www.historycommission.ee). The report about happened. The report dealing with the fi rst phase of the the second Soviet occupation was published in Soviet occupation of Estonia, in 1940-1941, 2008.

39 France Photo: V. Pfrunner / 1d-photo Following the defeat of France in June 1940, Alsace-Lorraine was annexed and France was divided into an “occupied zone” and a “free zone” placed under the authority of the Vichy government led by Marshal Pétain, a prominent fi gure in World War One. A government in exile was established at the same time in London by General de Gaulle. It made efforts to rally the Resistance against the German occupants and the collaboratio- nist government.

During the war, some 350 000 Jews were li- ving in France. Over half of the Jewish com- munity was made up of foreign nationals. The fi rst Antisemitic measures were carried out by in the occupied zone. The Vichy Regime issued a “Jewish Statute” in October 1940, which gradually turned Jews into second rate citizens. An Offi ce for Jewish Affairs was created in 1941 to

The Wall of Names at Shoah Memorial, Paris

EDUCATION In France, the teaching of the acknowledgement of the specifi c nature of the The work of the government is currently Holocaust is mandatory in the school curricu- genocide of the Jewish people in World War primarily carried out by the Ministry of National lum. It is taught in history class at three levels: Two and towards accepting it as a fully-fl edged Education, and the major private national insti- at ages 10 and 11, ages 15 and ages 17 and 18. episode in France’s history. In 1995 acknowled- tutions, fi rst and foremost the Shoah Memorial It is also taught in other subjects such as phi- gement by President Jacques Chirac of France’s / Center of Contemporary Jewish Documenta- losophy, literature and language, German, and responsibility in the genocide against the Jews tion and the Foundation for the Memory of the at times, music. The teaching of the Holocaust was an important milestone. It refl ected France’s Shoah, which provides fi nancial backing for has however undergone many changes since the determination to lay the foundations for deep many actions undertaken in France. The Shoah end of World War Two. It is only since the 1980s understanding of the mechanisms which were Memorial gives lectures to school groups, of- that education has evolved towards a gradual able to produce genocide while supporting insti- fers dozens of school visits to historic sites, tutions tasked with teaching the Holocaust. particularly Auschwitz, and provides courses for

REMEMBRANCE It took France many decades to However, documentation work was already un- the remembrance of six million Jews killed by agree to take initial steps to preserve Holocaust derway. It began in 1943 at the Center of Con- the Nazis. It provided the foundations for the memory and recognise the specifi c nature of the temporary Jewish Documentation where, headed Memorial of the Shoah, which today represents Jewish genocide, thereby renouncing the Gaul- by Isaac Schneersohn, evidence was secretly the largest Holocaust education and research list tradition which considered Vichy as an epi- compiled on the persecution of Jews in France. centre in Europe. sode that was unrelated to France’s history. The This evidence would be used in justice system It was only in the late 1960s that the deported people themselves saw it fi t to take on work, from the to modern- history of deported Jews as such was a subject the duty of remembrance, especially those in the day cases. After World War Two, Schneersohn of public debate. The attitude of the Vichy Amicale d’Auschwitz group who unveiled its fi rst decided to build a Tomb of the Unknown Jewish government during the Occupation began to be monument at Père Lachaise Cemetery in 1949. Martyr, whose fi rst stone was laid in 1953. It examined and denounced. The lists of convoys was the fi rst memorial in the world devoted to of deported people were published by Serge

RESEARCH When the Stockholm Conference of (“aryanisation”, restitutions, local gathered, and when the ITF was founded, aspects…). The Shoah is now an entire part of research dealing with the Shoah in France French history and memory, with its darkest and already had entered a new era, with political more positive sides (entrance of the Righteous turning points since 1995 and the full recogni- into the Panthéon in 2007). tion of French responsibility in the persecutions on French soil. Since then, academic or free lance research has been dealing with French aspects of the destruction of European Jewry, and contributed to the international debates

40 implement Antisemitic measures, including d’Hiver (a stadium) or sent to the Drancy French Jews’ nationality. This did not pre- the confi scation of property and companies internment camp, to then be deported. In vent deportations from continuing. In 1942, belonging to Jews. Jews were also required the summer of 1942, some 42 500 Jews were some 42 500 Jews were deported to Nazi to wear a badge with a yellow arrested in the two zones and deported East. extermination camps, approximated 17 000 by a German edict in 1942. On 11th November 1942, the free zone was in 1943 and 16 000 in 1944. Arrests of foreign Jews began in 1940 and invaded and German and Italian occupation In total, approximately 80 000 Jews were by the end of 1941 over 8 000 Jews were was extended to the whole of France. Many deported from France. A quarter of the being held in internment camps administe- Jews sought refuge in the Italian zone until Jewish population in France had disappeared red by French authorities. September 1943 and the surrender of Italy. at the time France was freed and General de The nomination of , an Others attempted to escape to Spain and Gaulle marched victoriously through Paris. advocate for more extensive collaboration, Switzerland. Many people managed to hide as head of the government in April 1942 thanks to Resistance networks or actions Jacques Huntzinger Ambassadeur en mission marks a stepping up of repression policy. on the part of the Righteous among the Délégué pour la France au Groupe d’Action French Police agreed to collaborate more Nations. As a result, three quarters of the international pour la Mémoire de la Shoah actively in the arrests in exchange for more French Jewish population were saved despite independence. It was also the beginning of active collaboration on the part of the deportations to concentration and extermi- government. nation camps. Increasingly unpopular, the Vichy Regime The Vel d’Hiv round-up took place on 16th encountered diffi culties and in 1943, in the and 17th July 1942 and nearly 13 000 foreign wake of French people’s growing protests Jews including women and children were ar- when the deportations began to include rested in Paris and brought to the Vélodrome French citizens, Laval refused to revoke

teachers every year in all regions in France and Also, many other institutions, museums and Photo: V. Pfrunner / 1d-photo several European countries and for other groups memorials, such as the Maison des Enfants such as recently recruited police offi cers, young d’Isieu and the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire du judges, and even journalists and librarians. The Judaïsme, and dozens of associations are Shoah Memorial also offers many education helping to support Holocaust education by workshops and develops a wide array of tools guiding school visits and providing courses for meeting specifi c needs of teachers and students teachers. at all levels. An example is the well-known Web site for young children www.grenierdesarah.org helping primary school children learn about the The permanent exhibition of the Shoah Memorial, genocide of the Jewish people. Paris

Klarsfeld and the Association of Children of anti-Jewish persecutions in World War Two. As Internationally, France has backed the Task Jews Deported from France, which tracks the a result, a Study Mission on Spoliation of Jews Force for International Cooperation on Holo- French and German people responsible for in France was set up and a Foundation for the caust Education, Remembrance and Research deportation. Memory of the Shoah was established in 2000 since its inception, assuming its chairmanship In 1993, President François Mitterand to support education, history research and in 2002. It has been particularly involved in established a National Day of Commemoration remembrance. This gradual acknowledgement the Council of Europe, sponsoring in 2002 the of Racist and Antisemitic Persecutions, to was based on a number of legally-binding creation of the Day of Holocaust Remembrance which the Righteous among the Nations who legislative acts and has been coupled since the and Prevention of Crimes against Humanity. helped save three quarters of the French Jewish 1980s with a major overhaul of school curricula More recently it backed the creation of the UN- population would be associated in 2000. In and more interest in preserving the places designated International Holocaust Remem- 1995, President Jacques Chirac recognised of remembrance and building new museums brance Day. the responsibility of the French State in the throughout France. Photo: V. Pfrunner / 1d-photo Photo: V. Pfrunner / 1d-photo Photo: V. Pfrunner / 1d-photo

Information about victims of the deportation can be The Children Memorial in the permanent exhibition, Archives from the Center of Jewish Contemporary search in the databases of the Shoah Memorial, Paris Shoah Memorial, Paris documentation, Shoah Memorial, Paris

41 Germany

Recognising that young people in many countries no longer The German delegation seemed to know much about the Holocaust, Sweden ten Germany believes cooperation between people from a range of professional back- years ago launched an initiative for greater cooperation on grounds is of great value. Its ITF delegation therefore includes government offi cials, Holocaust education. Accordingly, it invited the governme- experts and civil society representatives: nts of Israel and Germany, the two countries with the most • Ambassador Dr Benedikt Haller, Federal Foreign Offi ce – Head of Delegation extensive educational programmes in this area, to join this • Dr Wolf Kaiser, House of the Wannsee endeavour. Germany gladly responded to this call and was Conference • Mr Thomas Lutz, Topography of keen to share its own experience as well as to work with Terror Foundation • Dr Robert Sigel, State Agency for Civic and learn from others. These past ten years have been a Education of Bavaria, representative of period of fruitful cooperation that we hope will continue in the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the the future. Länder (federal states) • Dr Juliane Wetzel, Center for Research Dr Benedikt Haller on Antisemitism, Technische Universität Ambassador-at-Large, Head of the German ITF delegation, Federal Foreign Offi ce, Berlin. Federal Republic of Germany Photo: dpa Picture Alliance, 21.11.2008 EDUCATION Germany knows the magnitude of its responsibility for the worst crimes in European history and strives to come to grips with this legacy. If there is anything Germany can share from its own experience, it is this: facing up to the grim truth of what took place is the only path to reconciliation. A past that is not examined fully and honestly will remain a burden for the future. Responsibility for school education lies with the governments of Germany’s 16 Länder or federal states. On the subject of the Holocaust, A group of students visiting the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin

REMEMBRANCE Germany conserves over 2 000 perpetrators, since presenting the reality of Nazi 1990, civil society and government cooperated memorial sites bearing witness to the horrors crimes is intrinsic to any remembrance work. The on creating a Memorial in Berlin dedicated to perpetrated by the Nazi regime. Approximately memorial sites are today an integral component the murdered Jews of Europe. It now serves as 200 of these are deemed of national importance, of Germany’s political culture. Remembrance a place of information and refl ection also for including former concentration camps such as of the Holocaust and the Nazi rule of terror is the many visitors to the German capital. Buchenwald, -Belsen and Oranienburg. recognised and fi rmly established as a national 27th January, the day Auschwitz was liberated However, smaller sites where books were burned responsibility (see www.memorial-museums.net). by Soviet troops, is the national day of remem- or Jews went into hiding or where euthanasia Germany has chosen to concentrate on con- brance for the victims of the Nazi regime. Every or deportations took place also receive special serving and presenting to the public authentic year a special ceremony is held in the German attention, since these, too, enhance histori- sites of Nazi terror. That is why there is no Bundestag attended by representatives of all cal understanding. They include sites ranging central Holocaust museum in Germany. Howe- branches of government. from cemeteries to venues associated with the ver, when German reunifi cation was achieved in 9th November 1938, the “Night of the Pog- Europas, Gunter Lepkowski, 2005 Photo: Stiftung Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden RESEARCH Holocaust research has made stand survivors’ perspectives. A great variety of considerable progress and historians now have autobiographical literature now exists, which access to a broad range of reliable resources and constitutes an important source for research. expertise. Holocaust research today covers all Findings based on access to archives in Central aspects of this complex historical period and is and Eastern Europe have contributed to much very different from what it was forty years ago, outstanding work on Holocaust research. when its main focus was the perpetrators and Scholars such as Wolfgang Benz in Berlin, Nor- how the Holocaust could have come about. bert Frei in Bochum/Jena and Ulrich Herbert Over the past twenty years German historians in Freiburg have motivated young historians have increasingly turned their attention to the to explore new research directions. This has Holocaust victims themselves, seeking to learn resulted in seminal publications by Götz Aly, The ”Room of Names” with projections of victims’ more about their individual fates and under- Christian Gerlach, Peter Longerich, Dieter Pohl names for individual commemoration

42 OSCE Antisemitism Conference in Berlin, mony held under the joint auspices of the Photo: Federal Foreign Offi November 2004 Federal Government and the Central Council The OSCE Antisemitism Conference was at- of Jews in Germany, Chancellor Angela Mer- tended by over 900 experts, (policy-makers, kel warned against complacency in the face researchers and practitioners) from more of racism and Antisemitism and highlighted

than 60 countries; as well as 150 NGOs. This the importance of moral courage and civic ce, 11.03.2008 turnout showed the determination of the responsibility. Never again, she emphasised, Organisation’s 55 participating states to must Antisemitism and hatred be allowed combat Antisemitism. any place in Germany or Europe as a whole. The Conference reached consensus on a ITF Permanent Offi ce, declaration categorically condemning all acts Stresemannstrasse 111 in Berlin motivated by Antisemitism or other forms of In 2007 the ITF accepted Germany’s offer religious or racial hatred. The document also to host its Permanent Offi ce. The Offi ce is included a commitment to promote appro- located on the premises of the Topography priate educational programmes. of Terror Foundation. Hence the city where ’Time passes – Responsibility does not’ – the Holocaust was once conceived and the 70th anniversary of the Night of planned has now become an important base the Pogrom for the organisation dedicated to Holocaust In schools, churches and local communities remembrance and refl ection. Foreign Minis- Foreign Minister Steinmeier at the inauguration of all over Germany a large number of events ter Steinmeier gave a speech at the opening the ITF Offi ce in Berlin on March 11th 2008 were held to commemorate the Night of the ceremony on 11th March 2008. Pogrom on 9th November 1938. At a cere-

however, school curricula throughout Germany museums. On-site educators and special projects Teachers are encouraged to use not only are very similar. At different stages the Holo- ensure that pupils derive maximum benefi t from textbooks but also a variety of educational caust must be covered extensively in history such visits. materials available from government bodies and civics and may also feature in German Every year several hundred thousand people and NGOs – including DVDs and other literature, religion or ethics classes. Aspects visit internationally renowned institutions media – focusing on primary sources. With of Holocaust history may also be dealt with in such as the concentration camp memorials at a view to improving Holocaust education, biology, art and music classes. The Standing Dachau, Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen, the teacher training institutions, state agen- Conference of State Education Ministers, a House of the or the Topo- cies and memorials also organise seminars member of Germany’s ITF working group, is graphy of Terror Foundation. Smaller local or for teachers. All educational actors are responsible for curriculum coordination. regional memorial sites are also very important increasingly aware of international best Schools are encouraged to organise visits for they give visitors vivid insights into the practices. to memorial sites, documentation centres and persecution and deportation of Jewish families in their own neighbourhood. rom” or “Night of Broken Glass”, was a further Photo: dpa Picture Alliance, 14.11.2008 feel that walking over the stumbling stones milestone in the systematic persecution of means stepping on victims’ names and thus Germany’s Jewish community. On the annivers- dishonouring their memory. Others cherish ary of this day commemorative events are held the plaque as as a highly visible means of all over the country. paying tribute to former neighbours who In over 300 German cities artist Gunter met such a violent end far from their home Demnig has made remembrance part of the city. cityscape with commemorative brass plaques known as ”stumbling stones”. These small golden tablets bearing the names of Holocaust victims are embedded in the pavement in front of their last place of residence. Some critics Stumbling Stones – neighbours remember and Thomas Sandkühler, to name but a few. A The Freie Universität is the fi rst institution in Photo: Marion Rossner new generation of books and encyclopaedias Europe to provide access to the Visual History aimed at a wider public document recent Archive with more than 52 000 video testimo- research fi nding. nies on persecution during the Holocaust. As In their new series “Der Ort des Terrors”, an increasingly important resource for future editors Wolfgang Benz and Barbara Distel generations of researchers, the Visual History present the results of a large-scale project on Archive can since 2008 also be consulted at concentration camp historiography. the Center for Research on Antisemitism of the Since 2006 the Freie Universität Berlin has Technische Universität Berlin. been cooperating with the Shoah Foundation ”Fallen Leaves – Shalechet”: One of fi ve ”voids” Institute for Visual History and Education at created by Daniel Libeskind at the Jewish the University of Southern California (USC). Museum Berlin

43 Greece

The Greek delegation. Greece, a participant in the Stockholm ”International Fo- The national delegation consists of a range rum on the Holocaust” that met in the year 2000, is com- of offi cials of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and National Education and of an NGO: mitted to the Declaration that was issued, which contains • Ambassador Alexander Philon, the guidelines for the work of the International Task Force. Head of the Greek delegation • Photini Tomai-Constantopoulou, In the spirit of this Declaration, a number of measures in Minister A’, Director of the Service of Diplomatic Archives national legislation, adopted by the Parliament, activities • Dr. Anastassia Kyrkini – Koutoula, of remembrance of the Holocaust and amendments in the Counsellor of the Pedagogical Institute • Dr. Zanet Battinou, Director of curricula of its teaching, have been taken in the recent ye- the Jewish Museum of Greece ars. The experience gained during the last few years as well • Dr. Vassilios Ritzaleos, as a growing interest in these issues augurs well for further Historian in the State Archives progress in this fi eld. Alexander Philon Ambassador and Head of the Greek delegation to the ITF

EDUCATION In this very important fi eld, Greece of Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem in July • Greek teachers have participated in training both trains educators and teaches young pupils. 2006 and July 2008. seminars organised by the Jewish Museum of In this regard, the following activities have • Greek representatives attended the ICHEIC Greece and the Ministry of National Education been held: program for Holocaust Education in Europe at and Religious Affairs with the assistance of • A 3-day seminar organised by the Ministry of Yad Vashem (February 2007), the Workshop of the ITF and international specialists. The National Education in Thrace for educators of the Council of Europe “The Remembrance of seminars have created a network of teachers primary and secondary schools on the subject the Holocaust and of the Roma Samudaripen” who follow developments in the methods of of: “Holocaust, Racism, Xenophobia” (May (Budapest, July 2008), the 6th International teaching the Holocaust at all different levels 2007). Conference on the “Holocaust and Education, from the 6th grade of primary school (at the • Greek teachers attended a special seminar for Teaching the Shoah, Fighting Racism and age of 12) up to the 3rd grade of Senior High Greek educators at the International School Prejudice” at Yad Vashem (July 2008). School (at the age of 18). The subject of the

REMEMBRANCE By Law 3218 of the Greek These events are attended by religious, Parliament, adopted unanimously and publis- political, academic and other personalities, hed in the Government Gazette No 10, issue as well as diplomatic representatives. Foreign 27/1/2004, the 27th January is established as a guests and survivors have also participated in Remembrance Day for the Holocaust Victims and the ceremonies. There is also important par- Heroes. Remembrance ceremonies take place in ticipation by the public. In conjunction with Athens, organised by the Central Board of Je- the ceremony, the Jewish Museum of Greece wish Communities of Greece and the Prefecture presents every year a relevant exhibition at of Athens, Thessaloniki organised by the Jewish the venues while at the same time it offers a Community and the Prefecture of Thessaloniki Minister D. Bakoyannis addressing fortnight of educational programs and activities and in other cities. the ceremony of 2008, 27th January, for school groups. at the Athens Megaron Hall.

RESEARCH Greece has played a signifi cant role Authorities. The recent eagerness of the inter- • A four-day conference organised by the Net- in the release of the Bad Arolsen Archives. As national community to support the initiative work For The Study Of Civil Wars in collabora- a member of the Bonn Agreement (1955) the taken by the Czech government to revitalise tion with Yale University entitled ”Holocaust Greek delegation participates in all conferences the interest for the restitution of the cultural as Local History” (University of Macedonia, held by the presiding country presenting new assets to the countries they belong to creates Thessaloniki, June 2008). initiatives in creating a solid legislative fram- optimism for the Greek request. Here are the • Presentation of fi ve documentary fi lms on ework to help access to the Bad Arolsen fi les. recent research activities of the academic com- Greek Jews organised by the Group for the Greece is also interested in repatriating the munity and scholars in Greece: Study of the Jews of Greece (Byzantine Archives of the Greek Jewish Communities loo- • Presentation of papers on the Holocaust by Museum of Thessaloniki, February 2007). ted by the Nazi occupation forces that are held three well-known European scholars of Holo- • Presentation at the European Parliament of since the end of World War Two in Moscow. In caust issues, at the University of Macedonia a publication with Christian, Muslim and this regard, it is negotiating with the Russian in Thessaloniki. Jewish monuments of Xanthi, published by the Diocese of Xanthi in 2005 (June 2008). 44 In January 2009 and for the entire year, Greece, as President of the OSCE is expected to undertake initiatives and measures in combating racism and Antisemitism. The Greeks have always resisted the debasement represented by racism. All the Constitutions of Greece, from the very fi rst Provisional Constitution of Epidaurus in 1822, enshrined the principle of freedom in the choice of religion and the performance of religious du- ties. In this respect, and due to the strong bonds that connect the two peoples, Greek and Jewish, since antiquity and later when the government of Eleftherios Venizelos fi rst came out to call for the setting up of a Jewish state in 1917, four months before the Balfour Declaration, Greece played an important role in this particularly turbulent Photograph taken during the offi cial visit of the President of the Hellenic Republic Mr. Karolos Papoulias and the international environment. President of Israel Mr. Moshe Katsav to the city of Thessaloniki to pay tribute to the Jewish Martyrs and Heroes Mo- nument surrounded by pupils of the city (February 2006). They are accompanied by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Th. Kassimis and the President of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki Mr. D. Saltiel.

Holocaust is included in the curriculum for Nazis, together with schoolbooks and other the examinations at the end of the school educational material that have been revised year. Furthermore, pupils from several schools by the Pedagogical Institute, are included as undertake special projects on the Holocaust teaching materials. During students’ work- and, in particular, on the teaching of local shops projects are based on original material. history with reference to Jewish life and re- Furthermore, theatre performances, photo ligion, the contribution of Jews to the social exhibitions and visits to synagogues are part and political life of Greece, and of course of these activities. The Pedagogical Institute the Holocaust. Classic works, like the “Diary has been revising schoolbooks according to of Anne Frank”, or works of Greek authors the guidelines established by the ITF and such as Yiorgos Ioannou referring to the recent research using up-to-date teaching In a classroom for young educators led by the Jewish prosecution of the Jews of Thessaloniki by methods. Museum of Greece and the Ministry of National Education.

Greek television and other media have de- tration camp in barrack No 18. The construc- • M. Matsas, President of the voted lengthy programmes and articles to the tion of the memorial is still in progress. Jewish Museum of Greece Holocaust. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also published • H. Kounio, survivor of the Holocaust and This year, and until March 2009, the Jewish this year a photo album book, edited by Ph. member of the Jewish Community of Thes- Museum of Greece organises the exhibition Tomai – Constantopoulou “Greeks in Auschwitz- saloniki “Jewish Neighborhoods”. Moreover, since 2005 Birkenau”. The members of the Greek commit- • G. Koutsodimitris Director of the Technical the Mayor of P. Psychicon has celebrated the tee for the Auschwitz memorial are as follows: Services of the MFA Chanukah. • Ph. Tomai – Constantopoulou, • the Greek Ambassador to Warsaw In respect to the memory of the victims of Head of the committee • M. Glezos, representative the Holocaust, Greece has signed an agreement • M. Konstantinis, of the National Resistance Movement with Polish authorities to create a memorial to President of the Central Jewish Board honor Greek victims at the Auschwitz concen- • fi lm director P. Voulgaris.

• 4th international conference on the Ladino • Presentation of new research on the Jews of language (Thessaloniki, October 2008). Greece in the framework of the Master’s pro- • Participation in the international conference gram in History at the University of Thessalia ”Beyond Caps And Forced Labour: Current (Volos, April 2008). International Research On Survivors Of Nazi • Meeting of Israeli and Greek historians (Uni- Persecution” (London 2006). versity of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, February • Conference in Kastoria entitled ”The Jews 2008). of Kastoria” (Technical University of West Macedonia, October 2008).

From the last visit of Greek offi cials to the memorial in Auschwitz, February 2008.

45 Hungary

During the Hungarian Chairmanship, the The Hungarian government has assumed responsibility for main aim was to further cooperation with what happened during World War Two and its collabora- member countries, to further the enlarge- ment of the ITF, to lay the grounds for the tion with the Nazi government. It is facing its own history. establishment of a permanent secretariat. It was very important to strengthen the Close cooperation with international organisations is vi- cooperation with other international organi- tal for Hungary, therefore it became a member of the Task sations like the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE/ODIHR), the Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Educa- United Nations, the Conference for Jewish Material Claims against Germany and the tion, Remembrance and Research in 2002 during the French Council of Europe. Chairmanship, and chaired the organisation in 2006. Hungary approached strategically important countries from the South-European region to attend the plenary meetings. As a conse- quence, some of these countries later gained observer or membership status. In this period of time the Sub-Committee on the “Roma Genocide” was established to further education and research in this topic.

EDUCATION It might be diffi cult today for our We understand that the responsibility for We consider that it is our responsibility to youngsters to understand what happened during what happened must be borne by Hungary’s po- remember and to say in a loud and clear voice World War Two and to realise that it was not the litical leaders, its intellectuals and a signifi cant that the tragedy that took place in 1944 and private operation of a small band of criminals, segment of its society. It was not our sin, but 1945 was the result of the complicity, envy, but that it was rather the climax of a lengthy we – as a nation – are obligated to confront cowardice, sinfulness and evil will of thou- process. The programmes of the Holocaust it. There is no collective guilt here. Nor does sands of people. We cannot base our study of Memorial Center aim at helping individuals it make any sense to talk in such terms. The the past on a refusal to remember and on new understand these events. descendants of people who lived 60 years ago lies. We must, therefore, tell what happened in cannot be held responsible for what happened then, but personal responsibility still exists.

REMEMBRANCE The Hungarian government is committed to furthering education, research and remembrance of the Holocaust. The establish- ment and offi cial opening of the Holocaust Me- morial Centre in 2004 gave us the opportunity to own a place of remembrance and memorial. Since its existence, the centre has established a strong educational programme and closely cooperates with the institutions of the member countries of the ITF.

RESEARCH In the summer of 1849, Bertalan of our national war. The declaration of equal Szemere, Hungary’s Prime Minister, threw his rights is the necessary outcome of our birth as political, intellectual and moral weight behind a nation. When we apply this principle to the conferring equal rights on Hungarian Jewry: members of the Mosaic faith, we are not only “There is no religious community that has fulfi lling our fundamental civic and human obli- not produced heroic fi gures who have fought gations; we are also awarding them the prize in our struggle for liberty and which has not they deserve for their patriotism.” produced victims of that struggle. However, you will fi nd it very diffi cult to think of any religious community that could match the Jews in loyalty and in strenuous efforts on behalf

46 this country 64 years ago. We must tell future generations that, more than six decades ago, Hungarian citizens persecuted, humiliated and murdered other Hungarian citizens because of an evil and groundless ideology. This must be done so that words of intolerance and defama- tion will never lead to the slamming of freight car doors ever again.

47 Israel The State of Israel’s connection with the mission of the ITF is especially poignant and meaningful. Our country conti- nues to grapple with its history and continuity in the sha- dow of the Shoah, and we are most fi rmly committed to the Stockholm Declaration (2000). The context of teaching and commemorating the Holocaust in Israel, the national home of the Jewish people in which the majority of Holocaust survivors chose to settle after the Second World War, is very different than teaching about this diffi cult and complex subject matter in any other country. Avner Shalev Co-Head of the delegation of Israel to the ITF Aviva Raz Shechter Co-Head of the delegation of Israel to the ITF Hall of Remembrance, Yad Vashem

EDUCATION Since 1982, a minimum of 30 hours It is also important to note that the Holo- In Israel, aspects of Holocaust awareness of Holocaust studies, as part of the discipline caust is often taught from a variety of disci- and commemoration are present throughout of history, has been mandated in all state plines in schools, such as classes on literature, the entire year, though heightened on Yom Israeli high schools by the Israeli Ministry of history, music, drama, foreign languages, art, Hashoah. Many Israeli youngsters participate Education. Usually taught in the eleventh and philosophy and others. Since the Holocaust is in study trips to Poland regulated by the Israeli twelfth grade, history teachers mostly devote part of Jewish history and Israeli history, and Ministry of Education. Overall, despite the pas- between twenty to thirty classes on this topic, its commemoration is an integral part of the sage of time, Israeli youth are very interested and a question related to the history of the national calendar, aspects of this subject are in learning about this subject. Holocaust has become an integral part of the often addressed in many different educatio- Holocaust-related non-governmental history matriculation exam given to high school nal settings and contexts. Many Holocaust organisations throughout Israel have made students. Since 1999, the Holocaust has become survivors are invited to relate their personal teacher-training a top priority. Yad Vashem, the a recommended part of the junior high school experiences to pupils, educators and soldiers. Ghetto Fighters' House, Beit Terezin and other curriculum as well.

REMEMBRANCE The State of Israel does not have immediately after the war ended, Holocaust the Ghetto Fighters’ House, Massua, Beit any authentic Holocaust-related sites on its Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day (Yom Terezin, Yad Mordechai (named in honor of soil. However, the State of Israel has absorbed Hashoah) in Israel only became institutionalised Mordechai Anilewicz, a leader of the Warsaw approximately 300 000 Holocaust survivors, and in the 1950s. Since 2005, the State of Israel has Ghetto Uprising), as well as many others. Yom therefore the Holocaust is an integral part of also marked January 27th, and many events are Hashoah is a national day of commemoration in Israeli society and culture. Countless numbers of organised by Holocaust-related organisations Israel. It is a solemn day, beginning at sunset Holocaust-related memorials (non-authentic si- in conjunction with the international day of on the 27th of the Jewish month of Nisan and tes) have been erected throughout the country. commemoration in memory of the victims of the ending the following evening, according to Awareness, documentation and commemoration Holocaust. the traditional Jewish custom of marking a about the Holocaust began even before the Holocaust education and museum/memo- day. Places of entertainment are closed and State of Israel was established in May 1948. rial centers have been established across the memorial ceremonies are held throughout the Although memorial ceremonies were conducted country as well. For example, Yad Vashem, country. It is important to note that there is

RESEARCH Courses on various aspects of the colleges and preparatory programs for those stu- Aviv University, as well as others are publishing Holocaust have been taught in all major Israeli dents who seek a teaching certifi cate. Over the research reports, articles and books related to universities by world-renowned scholars such as years, hundreds of Holocaust-related doctorates Holocaust studies every year. Professors Yehuda Bauer, Yisrael Gutman, David have been written under the direction of leading The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs has Bankier, Dan Michman, Daniel Blatman, Dalia academics in their fi eld. Moreover, academic established a department for combating Antise- Ofer, Otto Dov Kulka, Dina Porat, Saul Friedlan- centers such as the International Institute for mitism and promoting Holocaust remembrance der and others. At the Institute for Contempo- Holocaust Research at Yad Vashem; the Arnold and its staff work closely with non-govern- rary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Leona Finkler Institute of Holocaust Re- mental organisations, research institutes and and other Israeli universities, many graduate search at Bar Ilan University; The Vidal Sassoon scholars in Israel and abroad. students have concentrated in Holocaust stu- International Center for the Study of Antisemi- dies. In addition, courses on the Holocaust are tism; the Stephen Roth Institute for the Study also taught every semester in almost all Israeli of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism at Tel

48 View of Holocaust History Museum, Yad Vashem

Hall of Names, Yad Vashem

Holocaust-related organisations coordinate teacher-training seminars, design pedagogical Refl ecting on Studies at Yad Vashem: tools and develop age-appropriate techniques. Now it is in our hands to Educational resources in a plethora of foreign use and share what we have languages, such as lesson plans, sample cere- monies, maps and guidelines, have been deve- learned in this seminar with loped and are readily available on a number of teachers and students in websites of Israeli Holocaust organisations. our communities.

International Youth Congress at Yad Vashem, 2008 high national media coverage of the special The following morning, a two-minute siren is events that take place on this day. The central sounded throughout the entire country. For the ceremonies, in the evening and the following duration of the siren, work is halted, people morning, are broadcast on national television. walking in the streets stop, cars pull off to the Marking the start of the day - in the presence side of the road and everybody stands at silent of the President of the State of Israel and the attention in reverence to the victims of the Prime Minister - dignitaries, survivors, children Holocaust. of survivors and their families, gather together with the general public to take part in the memorial ceremony at Yad Vashem.

Valley of the Communities, Yad Vashem

Yad Layeled, Children’s Museum, Catalogue of Massua, Tel Yitzchak International Forum at Yad Vashem, 2005 Ghetto Fighters’ House

49 Italy

“Shoah remembrance will never fade away from the hearts Date of entrance into ITF: 1999 of the Italian and European people. New research keeps in- Chairmanship: 2004 National commemoration: 27th January creasing the awareness and knowledge of perhaps the most Events: 27th January: • Ceremony in the Quirinal. The President of appalling tragedy in European history” the Italian Republic, in the presence of the Giorgio Napolitano, President of the Italian Republic highest State Authorities, pays a tribute to Shoah rescuers and awards a prize to the Italy has been a member state since 1999 and held the young winners of the annual MIUR-UCEI competition. Chairmanship in 2004. During that year member states • Ceremonies at the Chamber of Deputies and grew to 20, thereby enriching working groups with the at the house; • Ceremonies at local Municipalities, at presence of new expertise. Two international seminars were schools and universities; organised: the fi rst one with a focus on Primo Levi; the • Ceremony at “Risiera di S. Sabba” and at the Italian Transit Camps. second one focused on confronting the challenges facing 24th March: • Commemoration at Fosse Ardeatine (Rome), Shoah education in multicultural societies. The Italian where a mass execution was carried out by Chairmanship was a great opportunity to make the ITF re- Nazi German occupation troops. All year round: cognised throughout Italy. Lectures, book presentations, exhibitions. Mrs Anna Piperno, Jewish population: 1938: 45 000; 2008: 30 000 Inspector general MIUR, HoD

EDUCATION Since Italy joined the ITF, Holocaust As far as students are directly concerned, an January as the Italian Remembrance Day. education has been boosted and emphasised at annual competition has been taking place since The Italian Chairmanship (2004) was a great national and local level. This is why the ITF Ita- 2001, “I giovani ricordano la Shoah” (Young occasion to make the ITF’s work known throug- lian delegation is located at the Ministry of Edu- people remember the Shoah), which has been hout Italy. Key documents were translated into cation, University and Research. Both teachers organised by MIUR (Ministry of Education, Uni- Italian and published on booklets and on the and students, from every level of education, have versity and Research) in cooperation with UCEI MIUR website. Teachers and students showed become increasingly interested in this issue. Ini- (Union of Jewish Italian Communities). This a great interest in them. Italian initiatives tially teacher training had been promoted at the competition is increasingly successful, since the were supported by the Prime Minister’s Offi ce, national level, later it has been developed mostly number of participants is growing and the qua- the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry at regional and local level. Teachers organise lity and originality of their work is improving. of Education, University and Research, by the themselves in networks in order to facilitate the It has been set up to implement the Italian law Union of the Italian Jewish Communities and exchange of information and best practices. (see Factbox n. 2) which designated the 27th by scholars and experts.

REMEMBRANCE The Remembrance Day was • A Shoah Museum is going to be opened in designated for the 27th January by the Italian Rome. Government through a specifi c law (L. 211 20 • A project was approved to open another July 2000, published above) It was a very ef- national museum on Jewish heritage and fective initiative, not only because it establis- Shoah in Ferrara. At the moment, documents hed a national day of remembrance, but also and exhibitions on Shoah are to be found in because it helped raise awareness about such an local Jewish museums. awkward issue as the Shoah. From that moment, • The “” and the “Fer- many events have taken place and many studies ramonti” camps are visited more and more by have been carried out in schools and univer- teachers, students and others. sities. Mass media pay great attention to this The Risiera commemoration. di S. Sabba”

RESEARCH The teaching of the Shoah history and literature is often present as a topic in Universities all over Italy. Students often tackle this topic in their dissertation theses. Roma Tre University has set up an internatio- nal Second Level Master’s Degree on Education on the Shoah (history, remembrance, philo- sophy, literature, art, religion, psychology and social sciences). This degree, run by Professor David Megh- nagi, is the fi rst of this kind to exist in Europe. A group of teachers in Yad Vashem A group of researchers Teachers from the most eminent American,

50 Law n. 211 – July 2000. Art.1. The Italian Republic recognises the 27th of January, [..] as the ‘Memorial Day’ to remember the Shoah [...] the racial laws, the Italian persecution of its Jewish citizens, Italian citizens who suffered deportation, imprisonment and death, as well as those, even in various fi elds of action and political allegiances, opposed the genocide project and saved lives of others and protected victims of persecution at the risk of their own lives. Art. 2. On the occasion of the ‘Remem- brance Day’ [...] ceremonies, initiatives, and meetings [...] are to be organised [...] in order to refl ect upon what happened to the Jewish people, the Italian soldiers and politicians deported to the Nazi camps so that we preserve in the future of Italy the memory of a tragic, obscure period in the history of our Country and in Europe [...] Italian Chairmanship, Dec. 2004. Plenary Session in Trieste.

The results of the two international seminars provided on materials and teaching methods. A book was written and published on behalf promoted during the Italian Chairmanship Best practices and students’ works are also of the Ministry of Education, “La lezione della by the Ministry of Education, University and published on the site. Shoah”, in 2008. Research (on Primo Levi and on the teaching In 2005, 25 teachers from all over Italy took The Italian Ministry of Education is com- of the Shoah in multicultural societies) were part in a seminar held at Yad Vashem. On that mitted to a better system of monitoring and spread among Italian teachers through publica- occasion a network of Shoah teachers was set recording the large number of research and tions and meetings. up in each region, to ensure the lessons of the education initiatives regarding the Shoah car- A webpage “Scuola e Shoah” (“Schools and Shoah reach every single school. ried out by local authorities, municipalities and Shoah”) was created within the Ministry of In 2007–2008 two training seminars regarding schools, and to better link them to ITF work at Education’s offi cial website. This page provides Holocaust education took place and involved, for the international level. information about activities carried out at the fi rst time, about 400 new appointed principals. national and local level, and suggestions are

• In order to allow a better comprehension of the Shoah, through student visits in concen- tration and extermination camps, teacher seminars were held together with Italian speaking guides from Poland, Germany, Austria. The aim was to provide guides with an accurate knowledge about Italian history with regard to the Shoah, which also serve pupils’ and students’ educational needs. This successful experience has also been repeated Holocaust Remembrance Day 2008. Holocaust Remembrance Day 2007. The winners of recently. President Giorgio Napolitano with the competition “The young remember the Shoah“ Rav. Elio Toaff and Rav. Riccardo di Segni. are awarded a prize by President Giorgio Napolitano.

European and Israeli universities have delivered Given the importance of this initiative, this A training project has been set up invol- their lectures here. Among the teachers: Master’s Degree has been carried out under the ving schools from three Italian regions: Lazio, Wolfgang Benz, Valerio Marchetti, Marcello auspices of MIUR (Italian Education, University Tuscany and Piedmont. Pezzetti, Michele Sarfatti (history teaching), and Research Ministry), CRUI (Italian Uni- Another project, called “Adotta un ricordo” Reuven Feuerstein (psychology and treatment), versities Rectors Conference), the ITF Italian (“Adopt a memory”), has been carried out Yehoshua B. Abraham and Oz Amos (literature), delegation, the City of Rome, and the Union of during the last four years. This teaching pro- Dina Porat, Shlomo Avineri and Eugene Schoen- Italian Jewish Communities. posal is aimed at promoting memories passed feld (philosophy and sociology). Students usually serve their apprenticeships across generations and history reconstruction. The aim of the degree is to provide a high at Yad Vashem and at the Kibbutz Lohame Almost 800 students took part in this initia- quality training for teachers and educators on Haghetaot. tive. There is an increasing level of cooperation the most relevant issues in current research between Universities and schools. and on political, religious and cultural debates.

51 Latvia

Presentation of exhibition “Children Draw and Write About Holocaust and Discrimination” President of Latvia Valdis Zatlers and fi rst Lady, Rabbi Menachem Barkahan of the religious community “Shamir” and Minister of Foreign Affairs Artis Pabriks

EDUCATION Study of the Holocaust forms part Task Force. Numerous materials for teachers have LAHT participates in cooperation with of the compulsory history curriculum in Latvia’s also been prepared, such as the handbook, A Latvia’s History Commission through the schools, as well as study programmes in the his- Controversial History, published by the Latvian organisation of joint seminars. The Commission tory of culture, civics and politics. Questions on Association of History Teachers (LAHT). In col- contributed to the organisation of the seminar the topic are included in school examinations. laboration with the Swedish Institute and the in October 2002. Run by specialists from Latvia Several books on the Holocaust and the USA Embassy in Riga, LAHT organises regular and Sweden, the goal of the seminar was to history of the Jewish community in Latvia are seminars on Holocaust education for teachers share the experience of teaching about the presently available for use by students. The in Latvia. LAHT coordinates visits by teachers Holocaust between several schools in Latvia publication of the book, “Tell Ye Your Children”, from Latvia to the USA under a teacher-training and Sweden, develop practical approaches to a book on the Holocaust in Europe 1933–1945 programme, and sent teachers to the Yad Vas- teaching the subject matter, inform about by Paul A. Levine and Stephane Bruchfeld, was hem International School of Holocaust Studies in recent developments in Holocaust research in the result of cooperation with the International Jerusalem in 2003. Latvia, and show participants the memorials

REMEMBRANCE In the framework of the Baltic On December 9th, 2003 the Latvian govern- as an archive of Jews who perished during the Mass Graves Project nearly 200 memorial places ment adopted a decision to erect a monument period 1941-1945. The project is a unique vir- were identifi ed in Latvia. Currently there have to Zanis Lipke and others who saved Jews in tual memorial to the Latvian Jewish Community been 134 memorials or memorial plaques placed. Latvia during World War Two. This monument is of that time. Memorial sites dedicated to victims of the in the area of the national Holocaust memorial The signifi cance of Holocaust are being built or restored by the at the ruins of the burned Choral Synagogue Holocaust Memorial Day in Latvia Latvian Jewish community, municipalities and in Riga. On 4th July 1941 in Gogola Street, Riga the other local authorities. More memorials and On June 2nd 2008 a unique project “Names Choral Synagogue was burned to the ground memorial plaques are planned to be placed in and destinies” was presented by the Centre of with people locked inside it. Since October 1990 2009. Judaism at the University of Latvia. The project Latvia holds a commemoration event for the It has been estimated that the work of comprises a website that contains information Jewish victims of genocide on the site of the marking all memorial sites will be completed in on former Jewish communities of Latvia as well synagogue. The event addresses the genocide the coming few years.

RESEARCH There was no Holocaust research Commission of Latvia under the aegis of the is to study the issue ”Crimes against Humanity during Soviet rule in Latvia (1944-1991). The President’s offi ce in 1998. Its fi rst task was the Committed in the Territory of Latvia under Two victims of the Holocaust were subsumed under investigation of crimes against humanity com- Occupations, 1940 - 1956”, as well as to orga- the rubric ”Nazi murder of peaceful Soviet mitted during the Soviet and Nazi occupations nise the production of the fi nal report on the citizens,” usually with unsubstantiated and in the limited time span from 1940 to 1956. A theme. Only a few of the members of the Com- highly infl ated numbers. Research in the West sub-commission was established to deal specifi - mission are directly involved in the research of was mainly based on accounts of survivors and cally with the Holocaust. the theme - major work is being implemented court cases against Nazi criminals. Only after In the years since it began its work, a great by approximately 25 professional historians. regaining independence in 1991, could Latvian amount of basic research has been carried The task involves work for several years. historians begin to assess the situation and out and consensus has been reached on many The Commission actively publishes its make use of documentation available locally. aspects previously distorted by both Nazi and research fi ndings and conference papers in a Detailed Holocaust research was given a major Soviet misinformation and propaganda. series of volumes entitled Symposium of the boost with the establishment of the Historians’ Currently the main task of the Commission Commission of the Historians of Latvia. The 52 During the Soviet regime in Latvia questions professional historians have been implemen- nation of Jews in Latvia’s towns during the and discussions about the past were silenced ting such work. For the last ten years the summer and autumn of 1941, which was one or forbidden. Therefore, only after full resto- academic research on Nazi-occupied Holo- of the fi rst such research projects carried out ration of independence, could Latvian people caust Latvia was marked by such signifi cant in the whole of Europe. express themselves freely about all aspects publications as one exploring the extermi- of their history. Interestingly enough, prior The Commission also fi nished the combined to restoring Latvia’s independence, on 19th volume on Jews’ rescuers, which showed that September 1990 the Parliament of Latvia more than 400 inhabitants of occupied Lat- (Supreme Council of Latvia at the time) via had taken the risk saving Jews and more adopted a declaration about the condem- than 100 had helped in other ways either by nation and prohibition of Genocide and providing food or shelter. So far the Commis- Antisemitism in Latvia, which was followed sion has published 23 volumes and is still by Latvia’s signifi cant work in Holocaust continuing its research. Currently Professor research, remembrance, education and the Aivars Stranga is a member of the Commis- fi ght against modern forms of Antisemitism. sion and delegate to the AWG of the ITF. In 1998 the President of Latvia established the Commission of the Historians, the main Gints Jegermanis Ambassador, Head of the Latvian delegation task of which was to research the crimes Head of the Board of the Jewish Communities in Latvia against humanity committed in the territory Arkadijs Suharenko, President of Latvia Valdis Zatler of Latvia under two occupations during the and fi rst Lady, lay fl owers at the Žanis Lipke Memorial period of 1940 to 1956. Approximately 25 on 4th July the Holocaust Remembrance Day.

erected in memory of the Holocaust in Liepaja. of Foreign Affairs in collaboration with the A key tertiary education and research institu- Museum ”Jews in Latvia” was opened in 2001 tion in relation to the Holocaust is the Centre in Riga. The exhibition has been touring Latvia for Judaic Studies, established in 1998 by the since the beginning of 2002. The exhibition University of Latvia (UL). The Centre offers includes the history of the Latvian Jewish com- courses to UL students on both the history of munity from the 16th century to the beginning the Jewish community in Latvia and the Holo- of the 20th century; the Second World War; caust, and engages both Latvian and foreign the Holocaust; rescuers of Jews in Latvia; and scholars in research into selected topics. current state policy in relation to Holocaust re- As a part of the project ”Latvia’s Jewish search and commemoration. It can be regarded Community: History, Tragedy, Revival”, an as the fi rst attempt to take a concise look at exhibition prepared by the Latvian Ministry the history of the Latvian Jewish community Memorial at the mass killings place in Rumbula from its origins. against the Jewish people by the Nazi regime as Remembrance and Lessons”, the aims of which the culmination point of evil. It is emphasised were to raise awareness, promote discussion on that the Holocaust has caused irreversible chan- sensitive historic issues, and combat modern ges in Latvia, leaving deep scars in collective forms of Antisemitism. and individual memory. The commemoration event is always attended by the highest government representatives, diplomatic corps and Jewish communities. The commemoration event is often linked to a certain educational or political event. In 2006 the commemoration event was linked with Žanis Lipke Memorial and the names of Saviours of an international conference “The Holocaust: the Jewish People of Latvia on the place the burned Great Choral Synagogue sixth volume, published in 2002, included as the 4th volume of the Symposia series in (2002). In addition, it assisted with the documents from the Commission’s conference 2001. Also in that year, the Commission pu- organisation of the 4th international conference ”Deportation of 14th June 1941: Crime against blished the booklet ”Latvia’s Jewish Commu- ”Jews in a Changing World”, held in Riga in Humanity”, held on 12th-13th June 2001 in nity: History, Tragedy, Revival” by Leo Dribins, November 2001, followed by a conference on Riga. The eighth volume, ”The Issues of the Armands Gutmanis and Margers Vestermanis, 12th-13th June 2003. Entitled ”Latvia under Holocaust Research in Latvia”, is a collec- with the cooperation of Latvia’s Ministry of the occupation of Nazi Germany, 1941-1945”, tion of papers presented at an international Foreign Affairs. which focused not only on events in the Baltic seminar, held in Riga on November 29th 2001, The Commission has organised a number region, but also sought to defi ne similar and as well as the latest research on the Holocaust of international seminars and conferences, contrasting features of Nazi occupation policy in Latvia. including ”Latvia in World War Two” (1999), in Latvia and other European states. An addi- The fi rst research in Latvia on the history of ”The Issues of Holocaust Research in Latvia” tional aim was to provide researchers with new Antisemitism, ”Antisemitism and Its Expres- (2000), and ”The Soviet Occupation Regime theoretical concepts and specify directions for sions in Latvia” by Leo Dribins, was published in the Baltics: Policy and Its Consequences” further research. 53 Lithuania Jews have lived in Lithuania since the Middle Ages. During 700 years they have become an inseparable part of Lithuani- an society, having enriched the country’s economy, culture, science and education. It is diffi cult to imagine how Lithua- nian society would appear today, how colorful it would be, if the biggest catastrophe of the 20th century had not oc- curred. About 200 000 Lithuanian Jews perished during the

Holocaust. We must remember that and learn painful history Lithuanian Army 3rd infantry unit. lessons, know and understand the reasons of this tragedy Soldiers of Jewish origin. Alytus 1926. and do everything that such events would newer shadow human history again. Memory of the innocent victims must be preserved, heroes praised and perpetrators condemned. Mr. Ronaldas Racinskas Executive Director of International Historical Commission

EDUCATION Holocaust education reached new educators and ITF representatives. Cooperation Holocaust in classes by applying modern methodological, pedagogical and organisational agreements on implementation of this program educational methods, organise conference, level in 2002 then Lithuania became full mem- were signed between International Historical seminars, discussions on human rights and ber of ITF and International Historical Commis- Commission, Yad Vashem and other institutions. historical themes, commemorate victims of sion initiated preparation and implementation The implementation of the program is carried Holocaust, visit and look after the cemetery of comprehensive National Program on Holo- out in four major directions: and memorial places. caust and Tolerance education. Initiative was 1. Development of the Holocaust ant Tolerance 2. Comprehensive training of present and future presented and discussed during international Education Network. Today network consists teachers. Training programs are specially conference ”Holocaust in Lithuania in the Focus of 56 Tolerance Education Centers (TEC) in designed for teachers-multiplicators and of Modern History Education and Justice”. New secondary schools, NGOs and museums. TEC other teachers. Training includes seminars in qualitative approach was positively received by arranges educational activities for schools Lithuania and abroad and cower vide spec- internationally recognised Holocaust scholars, and local communities: teach about the trum of question: Jewish history, Antisemi-

REMEMBRANCE National Holocaust Remem- hundreds of students all around tionally sensitive and brance Day – September 23rd – was adopted by Lithuania every year participate value-oriented attitude of the Parliament in 1994. This tragic historical in the commemorative events young Lithuanian genera- day every year receives special attention from showing respect for the victims tion towards the history state offi cials. Anniversary of liquidation of of Holocaust. These public of the native country. Vilnius ghetto in 1943 is usually marked by remembrance actions every year Museums ceremonies in Paneriai with presence of state had different symbols (yel- There are two major muse- leaders, special Parliamentary sessions and other low butterfl y, sunfl ower, hand, um exhibits in Lithuania remembrance events. stone) and emphasis, but same devoted to the Holocaust. Beside that, on the initiative of Interna- strategic goal – contribute to Students - participants of public tional Historical Commission and with active the formation of the objective remembrance action ”Stone of the past” participation of TEC dozens of schools and and critical as well as emo- September 23rd, 2008.

RESEARCH During Soviet occupation Lithuania Much more professional Holocaust research Best Lithuanian and international scholars and its society were cut off from Western Europe become possible in 1998 after the establish- conducted fundamental research: prof. L.Truska and the process of restoration of historical justi- ment of International Historical Commission and Dr. V.Vareikis analyse preconditions of ce. County ant its scholars could not participate with internationally recognised historians the Holocaust and Antisemitism in pre war in historical, legal, and political debates. Just on board and involvement of best Holocaust Lithuania; very precise and in detail accurate after re-establishment of independence genuine scholars. The large scale, comprehensive and research by Dr. A.Bubnys on Holocaust in Holocaust research become possible. Historians intensive research was directed to examine in Lithuanian province and role of the Lithuanian opened new tragic pages of our history and details the process of persecution of Jews in police battalions in extermination of Jews; disclosed for many years neglected facts about different periods of Nazi occupation, number of collective work of Prof.S.Suziedelis and Dr. genocide of Lithuanian Jews. victims and with special emphasis to the role Ch.Dieckmann on presecution and mass murder of institutions and local population as perpet- of Lithuanian Jews during summer and fall of rators and/or calibrators in the Holocaust. 1941. These research works based on available

54 From the fi rst days of Lithuanian indepen- In 1998 by the decree of the President Period of 2002 - 2008 dence political leadership of the country, of Lithuania International Commission for • 56 Tolerance and Holocaust education centers due to the fact that during Soviet occupa- the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi • 65 seminars and conferences tion Holocaust as the genocide of the Jews and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania • 115 teachers-multiplicators passed 2 weeks was neglected, pay special attention to (further - International Historical Commis- long training in Yad Vashem the appropriate preservation of historical sion) was established with task to conduct • more then 2000 teachers attended Holo- memory, commemoration of the victims, objective research and to fi ll in the existing caust seminars and education of new generation. By the gaps in the history of Lithuania as well as • nearly 1500 teachers are involved in the declaration of 8th May 1990 “Regarding the to stimulate the process of historical justice tolerance education activities Genocide of the Jewish Nation in Lithuania and educate society by disseminating gene- • 56 teachers – multiplicators received the During the Nazi Occupation”, adopted by the rated information and various educational status of Consultant of Education about Parliament, the Republic of Lithuania has initiatives. Holocaust. pledged to ensure the commemoration of the New impulse was given in year 2000 then • since 2002 about 150 schools and 8500 victims of the genocide of the Jewish nation Lithuania jointed ”Stockholm Declaration” students actively take part in comemora- and to fi ght any manifestations of Antise- and Government approved fi rst National tion of the National Holocaust Day mitism. Soon lessons on the Holocaust were Holocaust Education Program. It encompas- • since 2003 international Tolerance Day is included as mandatory subject of the school sed a very large area of activity: teaching celebrated; about 100 schools and 8000 history programs for the grades 5, 10 and about the Holocaust, commemoration and students involved • more than 100 school projets initiated and 12. September 23rd was declared the national museum activities, academic studies and compleated Holocaust Remembrance Day. publishing of books. • the survey of students’ attitudes showed In 2002, Lithuania became a full member that students from Tolerance centers have of International Task Force. better knowledge of history, higher level of responsibility, tolerance, culture of remembrance

tism and Nazi ideology, between two world materials (posters, maps, CDs, etc.) wars, ghettoization, ”fi nal solution”, reaction 4. Initiation and coordination of the secondary of the world, methodology of teaching the school project activities by providing them Holocaust, fi eld trips, elements of modern with necessary knowledge in preparation, fun- educational science, and educational manage- ding and implementation of school projects. ment. In 2007 after having special testing arranged 3. Preparation of national curriculum including by International Commission and Department of methodological guidelines, teaching material Education 56 teachers – multiplicators received and recourse books for teachers and students. the status of Consultant of Education about The package will consists of the educational Holocaust.Certain parts of the program were program, didactic, the list of recommended supported by ITF. historical and fi ctional literature, visual Teachers-multiplicators during seminar

The Vilnius Gaon Jewish State Museum was Kaunas’ IX Fort Museum also is a symbol of worth to mention Sugihara museum in Kaunas. re-established in Vilnius in 1989. In 1990, a the remembrance of the Holocaust victims. 202 Holocaust sites are established in almost permanent exhibition ”Catastrophe” on the There in 1941-1944 the Nazis murdered about all areas of the country. Plagues in remembran- history of the Holocaust in Lithuania was 50 000 Jews. ce of the Holocaust victims are put in the most opened. There is a branch of the museum in Pa- Museum receives about 100 000 visitors mass murder sites. neriai memorial - the site of the greatest mass every year; students comprises 60 per cent of On the initiative of the International His- murder of Jews In Lithuania during Second WW. them. torical Commission visits to the museums and Museum receives more than 20 000 visitors Beside these two major exhibits there are fi eld trips to the places related to the Jewish per year; many of them are students who visit regional museums in Kedainiai, Utena, Siauliai, life before war and places of mass murder of museum as a part of organised school groups. Panevezys and other towns and part of their Jews during the Holocaust are integral parts exhibition is devoted to the Jewish life and of teacher training programs and educational their tragic fate during the Holocaust. Also activities for students.

archival documents from Lithuania, Germany, United States, Israel, Latvia, , present us the comprehensive picture of the Holocaust in Lithuania. They gives as the num- ber of approximately 190 000 Lithuanian Jews killed during the Holocaust, 8 000 to 10 000 Polish Jews and 6000 Jews from other parts of Europe. Research results are widely used for educa- tion purposes in teachers training seminars and Signing the cooperation agreement between Inter- Members and experts of International Historical history classes for students. national Historical Commission and Yad Vashem on Commission discuses complicated issues Holocaust education and research.

55 Luxembourg

Luxembourg is the smallest member of the Task Force on In 1930 the Jewish community numbered International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remem- about 1 000 members, 700 of whom were Luxembourg citizens. brance and Research, just as it was the smallest ally during In 1938 the number of Jewish refugees increased considerably. In May 1940 4 000 World War Two. Notwithstanding size, Luxembourg’s popula- Jews lived in Luxembourg. During the tion endured sufferings above the average of other Western German invasion of Luxembourg some 1 800 Jews escaped to Belgium and France. An- European countries. 1.9 % of the population lost their lives other 1 340 could leave Luxembourg as they had visas for overseas countries. due to occupation and war. 1 300 Jewish people – men, Eventually 1 300 Jews, who were deported women and children – died; representing some 35 % of the either directly from Luxembourg or later from France and Belgium, died in the Jewish population living in Luxembourg in 1940. extermination camps. Only 79 survived their deportation. We are convinced that the victims of the Shoah, together with Rabbi Serebrenik founded the Congre- gation Ramath Orah in New York in 1942 the other victims of national-socialist aggression, will always together with those refugees from Luxem- bourg who had reached this city. In 1945 be remembered. The Luxembourg people will not forget. most of them returned to Luxembourg. After diffi cult years the Jewish commu- Paul Dostert, nity refl ourished, built a new synagogue Head of Delegation. and numbers today 1 200 members.

EDUCATION Until 1975, there was no need for occupational policy in Luxembourg and the Teacher training was organised on a regular special education on the subject of the Holo- sufferings of the population, including a special basis with experts from Belgium and France. caust, because it was still alive in the memories chapter on the Shoah. In 2004 Latvian teachers were invited for of the survivors of the concentration and exter- This booklet, written by Luxembourg histori- teacher training in Luxembourg. mination camps. In the early eighties, however, ans, was published in a single edition of 10 000 The history curricula of secondary schools it became more evident that the memory was and distributed to all students aged 15 and include teaching the Shoah. The subject is fading due to the manifold deaths of survivors. older. In those days the fi rst journeys to concen- touched upon as well in literature, civic and The then Minister for cultural affairs, Robert tration and extermination camps were organised. religious education. All teachers are encoura- Krieps, himself an inmate of the concentration From then on regular journeys to Auschwitz ged to concentrate on this subject according to camps of Hinzert and Natzweiler, started a fi rst and other places where the Shoah had been their own interest or the pupils’ requests. education program, which consisted of the implemented have been organised for young publication of a small booklet on the German people.

REMEMBRANCE In 1969 a memorial commemo- memoration is organised at that monument by Commemorative plaques have been placed rating the deportation of our Jewish citizens to the NGO “Comité Auschwitz-Luxembourg”. at those locations where synagogues once the extermination camps in Eastern Europe was In 2002 the Government decided to make stood in Luxembourg-City and Esch/Alzette inaugurated at “Fünfbrunnen” in the presence of National Commemoration Day on October 10th, before their destruction. Synagogues in those Grand Duke Jean and members of the Govern- the same day as the “Day of Remembrance of places where the Jewish community has been ment. This former monastery had been chosen the Holocaust and prevention of crimes against destroyed during the Shoah are under the pro- by the Gestapo to isolate the Jews from society. humanity” created by the Council of Europe. tection of the local administrations and used Deportation was made easy by the fact that the Commemorations in schools have taken place for cultural purposes. monastery was situated along a railway line. from October 2003 on. In 2007, this specifi c Some 680 Jewish citizens were deported from commemoration day was rescheduled to Ja- that secluded location to the extermination nuary 27th, in accordance with a decision taken camps. From 1991 onwards, every year a com- by the United Nations in November 2005. Photo: CDRR RESEARCH As a general rule Luxembourg’s Some regional research is ongoing, but a archives are open for research after a 30 year general scientifi c overview is lacking. We hope period. All documents pertaining to the Shoah that the newly created University of Luxem- are now open. Microfi lms of the documents in bourg can take the lead in this fi eld of research the National Archives have been given to the Luxembourg does not have a National Holo- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and caust Museum but the Shoah is part of the two Yad Vashem to facilitate international research. main museums on World War Two: A special commission was created by the • the “Mémorial de la Déportation” located government to work on the confi scated Jewish in a former railway station in Luxembourg- assets and questions of restitution and com- Hollerich Luxembourg young people accompanied by Charles pensation. The fi nal report will be published in • the National Resistance Museum at Esch/ Goerens former Minister of Defense (2003), hono- early 2009. Alzette (under re-construction) ring the victims in Auschwitz

56 Photo: CDRR

World War Two takes a very special position Since the end of the war, commemoration of in the memory of the Luxembourg people as the victims has been a permanent commit- the German occupation and the ensuing de ment in all successive Governments’ policies. facto annexation confronted all citizens with In 1946, the authorities declared October the existential question of the survival of a 10th as the National Remembrance Day for free and independent country in the future. all victims, offi cially named the “National Day of Solidarity”. Ever since, this Comme- A large majority chose to resist the German moration takes place year by year in every claims and intentions and many were ready town and village of the Grand-Duchy. The to eventually sacrifi ce their lives for the main commemoration ceremony is organised freedom of their country. Ever since the in the capital and gathers the Grand Duke, creation of the Grand-Duchy in 1815, this the Prime Minister and other members of the was the fi rst time that Luxembourgers died Government, religious and civil authorities for their country. The commemoration and as well as survivors and their families. remembrance of the events and sufferings of the victims of World War Two are considered While we see a decline in commemoration as fundamental elements of our indepen- in other European countries, the commit- dence and our free existence in a peaceful ment to commemorate is still very strong in Europe. Luxembourg. The monument at Fünfbrunnen Photo: CDRR Photo: CDRR Photo: CDRR

Students from Luxembourg with Latvian teachers in Luxembourg survivors in Auschwitz Luxembourg students with survivors in Auschwitz Photo: ©Photothèque de la Ville de Luxembourg Photo: SIP Photo: SIP

Commemoration in Fünfbrunnen 2005. Religious and civil authorities attend The destruction of the synagogue Jean Asselborn, Minister for Foreign affairs the commemoration in Fünfbrunnen in Luxembourg city in 1943

”Musée de la Déportation” inaugurated in 1996 National Resistance Museum inaugurated in 1958

57 Netherlands

The Netherlands has a long tradition when it Photo: NAC. comes to com- Photo: Dirk Spits. Photo: AFF Basel CH /AFS Amsterdam NL. memorating the Second World War. Every year the fallen are remembered – soldiers, resistance fi ghters, victims of civil confl ict, and those who died during the war in the former Dutch colony of East India. Since the 1970s the Holocaust has become increasingly prominent in this regard. More than 100 000 Dutch Jews (out of 140 000 in total) were murdered during the war. This terrible tragedy continues to prompt many questions; how could this happen in the Netherlands? Puck Huitsing MA MCM Director Victims and Remembrance of the Ministry of VWS

Anne Frank 1941 Photo: NC 4 en 5 mei EDUCATION The Netherlands Government includes World War Two and the Holocaust in particular into its national teaching curriculum. The subject is taught in every type of school. The Government also has a project policy whe- reby organisations can submit proposals on how to support teachers in this area. Every year 1.2 million euro is made available in funding. Public information policy is always looking for connections with the present to highlight the contemporary signifi cance. Much of the teaching material is designed to provoke H.M. Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands on May 4th 2008 Auschwitz Monument, Amsterdam. Photo: Allard Bovenberg © AFF Basel CH / AFS Amsterdam NL REMEMBRANCE The moment for remembrance in the Netherlands is 4th May, Remembrance Day, when Her Majesty the Queen lays a wreath at the National Monument on Dam Square in Amsterdam. A two minute silence is observed throughout the country. Several other events are also held, such as the commemoration of the Holocaust on 27th January. This is usually atten- ded by the President of the House of Represen- tatives and a member of government.

Guestbook Dutch Auschwitz Pavilion.

Apart from its research and teaching tasks, the RESEARCH The Netherlands Institute for War CHGS provides post-graduate courses and fulfi ls Documentation (NIOD) was founded in 1945. a specifi c public function in relation to the Following the Stockholm Declaration, the Centre Holocaust and other genocides. In recent years for Holocaust and Genocide Studies (CHGS) for example, experts from the Centre have parti- was set up. Here research specifi cally related cipated in public discussions in the Netherlands to the Holocaust is carried out. NIOD and the concerning Bosnia and the Armenian genocide. CHGS staff teach at the University of Amster- The government has also been investing in the dam. International cooperation is a priority Erfgoed van de Oorlog (‘Heritage of War’) pro- when it comes to research, and there are close gramme, providing 22 million euros in funding. ties between the CHGS and sister institutes in The biggest challenge here is how to tell the Scandinavia. The Anne Frank House in Amsterdam story when there are no surviving eyewitnes-

58 Commemorative events countries by sharing their experiences. This Photo: Daniël Bouw. The Netherlands Government helps organise is why the Netherlands are engaged in pro- commemorative events, fi nancing Remem- jects in Bosnia and Ukraine. But apart from brance Day, memorial centres, historical being there to help, the Netherlands are research and educational projects. Comme- there to learn. Awareness of the Holocaust morative events are only possible if there in the Netherlands is strongly focused on the is close cooperation between NGOs and the events that took place in our own country; Government. The Netherlands Government the Holocaust outside the Netherlands, the focuses a great deal of attention on coope- sheer magnitude of the drama, is less well ration between specialists with the relevant known. expertise and government bodies. At a time when the world seems to be The Netherlands is an original signatory getting smaller, it is extremely important to to the Stockholm Declaration, and has been realise that what happened in the Nether- a member of the Task Force for Internatio- lands was part of a bigger story. The ITF is nal cooperation on Holocaust Education, an excellent platform for getting to know Remembrance and Research (ITF) ever since. one another, exchanging and comparing It is important that ITF member countries methods, and putting shared knowledge to adopt a collective view on the possible good use. forms of commemoration for the Holocaust and consider how they can help other

Wall of Remembrance

discussion. Policy also focuses on providing education in the 14-15 year age group, and the Photo: Daniël Bouw. supplementary materials, one such example international angle are the policy priorities. being ‘The Quest’, a book in comic strip format Several projects have been planned: a trip to developed by the Anne Frank Foundation, and Ravensbrück for secondary teacher training fi nanced by the Government. Thanks to ITF college students, projects at teacher training contacts, this book is now being translated colleges for primary education, the comic strip into German and Polish. format already mentioned, and exhibitions Monitoring is important here. How much about Sobibor (to be held at Westerbork) and does the average Dutch person know? What the Ukraine (to be held at Vught in 2009). areas should be given special attention, and what are the appropriate target groups? At present teacher training, junior secondary

Permanent reminders are present in the form of and Theresienstadt, and the Dutch pavilion in memorial centres fi nanced by the Government: Auschwitz has been refurbished. The Nether- at Amersfoort, Vught, and Westerbork, for lands is currently working with Israel, Poland example. Location is important. The Anne Frank and Slovakia on the realisation of a memorial House draws more than a million visitors a year, at Sobibor, where 34 000 Dutch Jews were most of them visitors from abroad. killed. Places in other countries where Dutch people died are also of great importance to the Netherlands Government. In recent years mo- numents have been unveiled at Bergen-Belsen

Hollandsche Schouwburg on May 4th.

Photo: Ralph Prins. ses anymore. This is why the emphasis is on preserving as much of the available material - and unlocking as many of its secrets - as possible; recording the accounts of eyewitnes- ses, preserving historical records, photos and fi lms, and building websites where everyone can fi nd the information they are looking for. An excellent example of this is the national photo bank Image Bank WW2 (www.beeldbankwo2. nl), where more than 200 000 photos from 18 different archives can be freely accessed. Westerbork Monument in Memorial Center Camp Westerbork.

59 Norway

Before the Second World War, Norway’s Jewish population Norway and the Jewish community numbered 2 100 people of a total population of three mil- • Under the Norwegian Constitution of 1814 Jews were not allowed to enter the King- lion. In all, 771 Norwegian Jews were deported to extermi- dom of Norway. The Norwegian Parliament repealed this paragraph in 1851. nation and concentration camps. Only 34 survived. Today, • Between 1852 and 1880 Jews arrived in about 1500 Jews live in Norway. Norway in small numbers, mainly from Denmark and northern Germany. Between “The mentalities and stereotypes that led to the Holocaust 1880 and 1920 approximately 1200 Jews came to Norway from Eastern Europe. have not gone away. They re-emerge in new forms and in • In 1892, the fi rst Jewish community, The Mosaic Religious Community, was founded new places. We all have an obligation to fi ght Antisemitism, in Christiania (now Oslo). In 1905 the racism and all ideologies that exclude groups of people and Mosaic Congregation in was established. spread hatred. In the ITF we have an important tool for hel- • In 1941-1942 the Jewish population of ping ourselves and others by reaching out to people’s minds, Norway numbered about 1000 households and approximately 2100 individuals. both individually and collectively, through cooperation with • In all, 771 Norwegian Jews were deported to extermination and consentration camps schools, museums, memorials and research institutions”. during World War Two. Only 34 survived. • In 1997, The Jewish Museum in Trond- Jonas Gahr Støre heim was offi cially opened. Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Photo: Jiri Havran EDUCATION In the last 30 years, Holocaust A new national curriculum was introduced in awareness in Norway has increased both in the Norwegian schools in 2006. It has less specifi c educational sector and in society in general. targets than its predecessor, but there are It has also become more and more common for targets for a number of subjects at all levels of schools to take part in study trips to former the school system where Holocaust studies can extermination and concentration camps in appropriately be included as part of the teach- Germany and Poland, such as Sachsenshausen, ing. Municipalities and counties are responsible Ravensbrück and Auschwitz. Several thousand for adapting teaching to local and individual Norwegian school children have participated in needs by making decisions on content, work study trips to former camps. methods and teaching materials. The Centre for Studies of Holocaust All schools are invited to commemorate and Religious Minorities, Oslo. the International Holocaust Memorial Day on

REMEMBRANCE Monuments commemorating the near the harbour from which the ships set deportation to Auschwitz and extermination. Norwegian Jews were inaugurated in the Jewish sail in November 1942 and February 1943. It Members of the Norwegian Government attend cemeteries in Trondheim and Oslo in 1947 and consists of eight empty chairs. There are also and speak at the ceremonies. 1948. The Cissi Klein Monument in Trondheim Holocaust monuments in the towns of Tromsø 27th January is also commemorated at the was unveiled in 1997 in remembrance of a and . Falstad Memorial and Human Rights Centre, in 13-year-old Jewish girl who was murdered in Norway has commemorated the International Trondheim, and in other towns. Auschwitz-Birkenau in March 1943. Holocaust Memorial Day on 27th January since The 70th anniversary of the November Pogrom In November 2000 a memorial was unveiled 2002, resulting in a wide variety of activities on 9th–10th November 2008 was commemorated in Oslo commemorating the nearly 800 Jews at schools, museums and at memorial sites. In in several Norwegian towns and cities. In Oslo, who were deported by the Nazis from Oslo Oslo the annual commemoration takes place at Bergen, Trondheim and people took to Auschwitz-Birkenau. The sculpture by the the quayside in Oslo from where the Norwegian part in torchlight processions. In Oslo, a mem- British artist Antony Gormley has been placed Jews were brutally forced into the ships for ber of the Norwegian government and other Photo: Jaro Hollan RESEARCH The Centre for Studies of Holocaust During the Norwegian ITF chairmanship in 2009 and Religious Minorities carries out research and the Holocaust Centre will organise an internatio- provides documentation, education and infor- nal academic conference in Oslo in cooperation mation on the Holocaust, other genocides, and with the ITF entitled “Towards an Integrated the situation of religious minorities in modern Perspective on the Nazi Policy of Mass Murder”. society. The Centre has a permanent exhibition Research on the Norwegian chapter of the on the Holocaust and the Nazi State’s mass mur- Holocaust is also in progress at the universi- der of other groups and other genocides in the ties in Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim and at the 20th century. Several research projects of varying Arkivet Foundation in Kristiansand. size and duration are currently in progress. The The Falstad Memorial and Human Rights Centre also organises international academic Jews and perpetrators. Detail from the Centre is conducting research on the Nazi camp conferences and seminars. exhibition at the Holocaust Centre in Oslo. system, forced labour and cultures of remem- brance. 60 Photo: Johan A. Nesgaard • In 1999, Norway was the fi rst country to fi nalise a restitution process and compen- sate Jews for their losses and suffering during the Nazi occupation. The compen- sation is based on moral considerations and an acceptance of responsibility of errors of the past. • In September 2008, The Jewish Museum in Oslo was offi cially opened by HRH Crown Prince Haakon. • In 2008 Norway was celebrating the 200th anniversary of the Norwegian poet Henrik Wergeland’s birth. His position as Norway’s national poet is due as much to his ardent political and social commit- ment as to his writing. He argued strongly that Jews should be admitted to Norway. His words and commitment paved the way for the general legalisation of Jewish immigration to Norway in 1851. • Today, about 1500 Jews live in Norway. Holocaust Memorial Day 27th January 2006 at Falstad Memorial and Human Rights Centre. Former SS Camp Falstad 1941–1945.

27th January. On this occasion, the Minister of for use by schools. The Centre also organises work and presentations followed by discussion. Education awards a special annual prize to a teacher training courses. The completion of The main focus of the programme is nationa- school that has distinguished itself in working the permanent exhibition on the Holocaust at lism, racism and Antisemitism in Norway in the against racism and discrimination. This prize is the Centre has given Norwegian schools a new 1930s and 1940s. called the Benjamin Prize, after a 15-year-old learning centre for issues concerning the Holo- Norwegian boy who was the victim of a racially caust, other genocides, racism, Antisemitism motivated murder. Benjamin Hermansen was and conditions of minorities. In 2007, 6 600 killed by young neo-Nazis in 2001. students visited the Centre. Photo: Holocaust Centre, Oslo Photo: Jewish Museum, Trondheim In cooperation with the Directorate for The full-day programme for schools visiting Education and Training the Holocaust Centre the Centre includes lectures giving basic infor- is building up comprehensive web-based infor- mation about , group mation on the Holocaust and other genocides politicians attended the ceremony and spoke to Centre was offi cially opened in October 2006 the crowd. In Stavanger the former president of on the grounds of the former SS-Strafgefangen- the Storting (the Norwegian parliament), Mr. Jo enlager Falstad. Benkow, addressed those assembled. The Arkivet (The Archive) was opened in The Centre for Studies of Holocaust and 2001 on the grounds of the former regional Religious Minorities was established in 2001 Gestapo headquarters in Kristiansand. and was offi cially opened at its new location at The North Sea Traffi c Museum in Telavåg Villa Grande in Oslo in August 2006. was opened in 1998 (The Telavåg tragedy and The Falstad Memorial and Human Rights illegal boat traffi c across the North Sea during World War Two).

Cissi Klein Monument in Trondheim.

Important research projects at the Centre for 1940-1945. A three-year project funded by Studies of Holocaust and Religious Minorities: the Norwegian Government which aims to • The Participation of the Norwegian Police in synthesise a new historical understanding of the Arrest and Deportation of Jews from Nor- the phenomenon of Norwegian volunteers in way, October/November 1942. During the war Nazi Germany’s Waffen SS during the Second many people assisted the Nazis in the arrest World War. and deportation of the Jews from Norway. • The and the Genocide Conven- • The Construct of “the Jew” in the Norwegian tion: An Exercise in Politics. Public 1814-1940. The project focuses on the • Migration and Belonging: A Comparative Norwegian public, the church, the press and Study of Memory and Ethnicity Construction the popular literature. among Refugees and Labour Migrants in Detail from the Holo- caust Monument near • Norwegian Volunteers in the Waffen SS, Norway. the harbour in Oslo.

61 Poland

Poland – the fi rst country to fi ght Hitler – became the place Number of Polish citizens of Jewish origin where millions of Jews perished during World War Two. Six Nazi living in Poland in 1939: around 3.5 million. Number of Polish Jews who survived the German death camps were established on occupied Polish soil. Holocaust: over 300 000 (most of them in the Soviet Union, around 50 000 on We shall never forget that in 1939 Polish Jews fought occupied Polish territory). against the German invaders, and in 1943 they were the Major academic centres offering courses on the Holocaust: Warsaw, Kraków, , fi rst to stage civilian uprisings. Our special concern for the Wrocław, Poznan, Białystok, Bydgoszcz, preservation of Holocaust sites and memories of the Holo- Katowice, Opole, Rzeszów. Holocaust Memorial Days: caust is a way to honour the victims and caution future January 27th, April 19th. generations. It is our fi rm belief that Poland should never Holocaust denial: a marginal, virtually again be too weak to protect all its citizens. Finally, we be- nonexistent phenomenon in Poland: so far only one university professor has been lieve in the continuation of Polish-Jewish history of which convicted of denying facts concerning the Holocaust (a crime punishable by the Polish the Holocaust was certainly not the last chapter. Penal Code). Radosław Sikorski Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland

EDUCATION Holocaust education is mandatory Educational Museum Polish high-school students jointly create in- in Polish secondary schools. A special curriculum The Museum of the History of Polish Jews is ternet blogs about Poland’s Righteous has been prepared by specialists in the fi eld. scheduled to open in 2011 as a multimedia and about the people they saved. This project Teachers use the fi rst professional textbook "The educational and cultural centre. It will present is partially sponsored by the ITF. Holocaust: Understanding Why?" published in 1000 years of the history of Polish Jews. NGO’s and local government 2003. Every year over 100 000 Polish high school Museum staff conducts diverse educational Many Holocaust related programmes are being students visit former death camps, where they and outreach programs. All such programs launched by various NGOs and municipal institu- participate in educational programmes. Teachers include workshops devoted to Polish-Jewish tions, for instance: “Centre for Civic Education,” take part in courses offered by the International history as well as visits and joint ceremonies at “The Jews in Poland: Saving from Oblivion Centre for Education on Auschwitz and the Holo- Auschwitz-Birkenau and Treblinka. Israeli and - Teaching for the Future,” and “The Grodzka caust, the National In-Service Teacher Training Centre, as well as by Polish universities.

REMEMBRANCE Both state and local government war. Such monuments or commemorating plates institutions, universities, research institutes and can be found, among other places, in Warsaw schools are extensively involved in Holocaust (i.a. and the Mordechai Aniele- commemoration. State and local authorities ho- wicz Bunker), Łódz, Kraków, Kielce, Lublin, nour the victims of the Holocaust – with special Zamosd, Białystok, Góra Kalwaria (Ger), Otwock, ceremonies held on January 27th (the anni- Tykocin, Wielkie Oczy, Chmielnik, Płonsk, and in versary of the liberation of the German death Jedwabne, where a monument to the memory of Former president The Czech Rep. Václav Havel camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau), and on April 19th the Jews murdered by their Polish neighbours in at the Terezín Commemoration (to commemorate the heroic Warsaw Ghetto 1941 was placed in 2001. Uprising). Many towns and cities have erected monuments in remembrance of the annihilation of the Jews that lived in these places before the Auschwitz-Birkenau, restored barracks.

RESEARCH Historical research on the Holocaust Centre for Holocaust Studies at the Jagiellonian Over a hundred books and several hundred began in Poland immediately after the end of University in Kraków. articles in scholarly periodicals are published war with the establishment of the Central Je- University courses on the Holocaust are of- every year. More and more Polish scholars re- wish Historical Commission in 1944 (afterwards fered to undergraduate and graduate students search the dark pages of Polish history in World renamed the Jewish Historical Institute). There at many other Polish universities, e.g. in War Two as well as the period that followed it. was a rise in interest in studying the Shoah Warsaw, Lublin, Wrocław, Poznan, Gdansk, and As a result, several public debates have taken among academics from 1989 onwards. Katowice. Every year dozens of students pre- place in Poland in the last ten years. In 2003 a Centre for Holocaust Research sent their masters theses and PhD candidates – the fi rst academic institution of this kind – complete their doctoral dissertations dedicated was created within the structure of the Polish to many different issues concerning the Holo- Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. It was followed caust, mainly in the fi eld of history, literature, fi ve years later by the establishment of the sociology, psychology, and philosophy.

62 Poland’s commitment to education, remem- Remembrance of the war in Poland is multi- brance and promotion of Holocaust research faceted: it involves the annihilation of the is primarily determined by two factors: our Jews and the suffering of the Polish people. history and our geographical location. Po- We look with sadness and regret at those land, not by its own will, was chosen by the pages of our history that recall shameful Third Reich as the place where the Holocaust deeds. The fact that some Poles killed their would be perpetrated. The future victims of Jewish neighbours, or denounced fugitive the Nazis were transported to Poland from Jews to the Gestapo, fi lls us with sincere all corners of Europe and even North Africa. pain and utmost condemnation. But we also Hundreds of thousands of Polish Jews and remember and admire the valour of very those from other countries were herded many Poles who risked their lives to help into where they were decimated by their Jewish compatriots. hunger and disease. The survivors were taken Also, we are aware and proud of the to concentration and death camps. Yet, we thousand-year-long Polish-Jewish history. should also remember that Jews, as soldiers We embrace as our own the heritage of of the Polish Army, fought against the Ger- Polish Jews, many of whom have enhanced man invaders from the fi rst hours of the war. the international stature of Poland. Jews were also the fi rst in Europe to stage civilian uprisings against the Germans; they took place in Warsaw and Białystok. Auschwitz-Birkenau, international conference organised in 2007

Gate Centre.” The latter organisation, based in Lublin, is involved in numerous educational and commemorative activities, among them writing letters to Henio Zytomirski - a Jewish boy who perished in the Shoah.

Museum of the History of Polish Jews: a blog on survivors. Lublin. Youths sending letters to Henio Zytomirski.

Fomer Kraków Ghetto site. Monument opened in 2005. Lublin. Commemorating ghetto victims.

Jewish Historical Institute, Jewish Historical Institute, Center for Holocaust Research, Warsaw. Ringelblum’s Archive. Ringelblum’s Archive.

63 Romania

After years of oscillation, indecision and controversial sta- After the Romanian government acceptance tements, in 2003 the Romanian authorities set up the Elie of the conclusions and recommendations of the Final Report issued by the International Wiesel International Commission for the Study of the Holo- Commission for the Study of the Holocaust, in 2004, the opening towards Holocaust caust in Romania. Their fi nal report on the sensitive matter related topics was followed by the publishing of Romania’s wartime history and recommendations for the of important academic and non-academic works and the establishing of institutional future were all endorsed by the government in November structures with the specifi c purpose of stud- ying subjects related to Jewish history or to 2004. As a result, Romania became a full member of the Holocaust. In this regard, the pre-university Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Edu- curricula of the high school textbooks were cation, Remembrance and Research in December 2004, at modifi ed to include Holocaust history. the second annual plenary meeting held under the Italian chairmanship in Trieste. Professor Michael Shafi r Head of the delegation of Romania

EDUCATION Holocaust education was fi rst intro- Teacher training sessions Offi cial policies duced in Romania in 1998, as a mandatory sub- Teacher training sessions in Holocaust education As of 2005, the Ministry of Education and ject within the wider frame of courses on World have been provided to teachers by the Babes Research, in cooperation with the non-govern- War Two. The textbooks published between Bolyai University of Cluj Napoca as of 2001, mental sector and international organisations, 1998 and 2003 included accurate information the University of Bucharest (in cooperation organised and sponsored various Holocaust-re- on European Jewish History and the Holocaust with IDEE Association and the Association for lated events, and devised a National Programme and very scarce and mostly misleading data on Civic Education and Dialogue) as of 2002, the for teacher training in Holocaust education. It Romania. As of 2004, the syllabus and textbooks Teachers’ Association of Bacau as of 2004 and currently organises group visits to Yad Vashem in have mostly been revised in keeping with the the Elie Wiesel National Institute for the Study Jerusalem and the Mémorial de la Shoah in Paris, recommendations of the Wiesel Commission’s of the Holocaust in Romania as of 2008, most as well as introductory sessions for participants Final Report. of them with the logistic support of Yad Vashem and supports the training carried out by the and other international organisations. Universities of Cluj and Bucharest.

REMEMBRANCE As of October 2004, Romania Events & sites Survivors has a national Holocaust Remembrance Day on Representatives of the central and local authori- An important role in Holocaust remembrance is October 9th – the date when the fi rst Jews were ties attend commemorative events organised by played by the Romanian Jewish Holocaust Sur- deported to Transnistria from Northern Romania the Elie Wiesel National Institute for the Study vivors’ Association, whose members are among by the Romanian authorities. This is marked of the Holocaust in Romania, the Federation of the most active participants in many related every year by extraordinary parliamentary ses- Romanian Jewish Communities in Bucharest and activities. The association co-produced a docu- sions with Presidential and Ministerial addres- the local Jewish communities in various locali- mentary fi lm, "The Forgotten Holocaust", which, ses, round tables, conferences, exhibitions, en- ties throughout the country. They lay wreaths at together with other educational materials, is counters with survivors, open lessons, national mass graves in Jewish cemeteries or at the syna- now used in schools. The survivors’ testimonials contests organised by schools, documentaries gogues, where there are monuments in memory have been recorded under various national and on radio and TV channels and articles published of the Jews deported to death camps. international projects. by the media.

RESEARCH Academic research on the Holocaust The Elie Wiesel National Institute for promoting representative works on Holocaust in Romania is carried out at the Elie Wiesel Na- the Study of the Holocaust in Romania. history. tional Institute for the Study of the Holocaust in In keeping with the recommendations of the Research topics Romania, the Moshe Carmilly Weinberger Insti- Wiesel Commission, in 2004 the Romanian aut- Current research topics include: forced labour tute of Hebrew and Jewish Studies of the Babes horities set up the Elie Wiesel National Institute in World War Two Romania, the history of Bolyai University, the Goldstein Goren Center for the Study of the Holocaust in Romania, who- Romanian literary Antisemitism, the Gulag- for Hebrew Studies of Bucharest University, the se main activities consist of (a) identifying, ar- Holocaust competitive martyrology in Romania, Alexander Safran Center for Jewish Studies of chiving, researching and publishing documents Antisemitic manifestations and Holocaust Iasi University, and occasionally at the National related to the Holocaust of Romanian Jews, (b) denial in Romanian mass-media. The Institute School of Political and Administrative Studies elaborating on and publishing in-depth studies also organises monthly seminars, as well as an and the National Defense College. and surveys on the topic, (c) implementing international annual conference on Holocaust- Holocaust-related educational programs and (d) related topics and has recently launched a joint

64 Photo: Ms. Felicia Waldman

Recognising the particular importance of Holocaust in Romania and the combating Antisemitism in all its forms, National Defense College, this Romania has expressed its readiness to play Bucharest-based event addres- a major regional role in raising awareness sed some of the main issues on its revival in Europe. As such, Romania related to the role that both took an active part in the Organisation for governmental and non-govern- Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) mental bodies should play in Conferences on Combating Antisemitism or- combating Antisemitism. ganised in Vienna (2003), Berlin (2004) and Delegations from 25 countries Cordoba (2005), supporting the inclusion of and representatives of inter- non-discrimination and promotion of mutual national Jewish and cultural respect and understanding as priorities on institutions participated. the OSCE agenda. Participants included: OSCE, Of- In 2007, Romania hosted a follow-up fi ce for Democratic Institutions to the Cordoba conference, with a wider and Human Rights, European Schoolchildren commemorating Holocaust Day in agenda, on Combating Discrimination and Commission against Racism and Intolerance, Romania, October 9th 2008. Promoting Mutual Respect and Understan- European Union Agency for Fundamental ding (Bucharest, June 7th–8th). Rights, United States Holocaust Memorial Further proving its commitment to this Museum, American Jewish Committee, B’nai important matter, on 17th–18th September B’rith International, 2008, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs orga- and the European Jewish Community Centre. nised a regional conference on Combating Antisemitism. Set up in cooperation with the National Institute for the Study of the

Teaching materials Photo: Ms. Felicia Waldman Besides the international Holocaust-related teaching materials translated into Romanian, the Ministry of Education and Research has also endorsed didactic materials such as: the books and fi lm produced by the Romanian Jewish Holocaust Survivors’ Association, the documen- tary and teacher guides of the Association for Civic Education and Dialogue, the website crea- ted by IDEE Association, the materials published by the Universities of Bucharest and Cluj and Training for history teachers organised by Ms. Felicia publications provided by Roma organisations. Waldman, the director of the Goldstein Goren Centre at Bucharest University, in 2006.

Museums nities have also been exhibited by the National Holocaust remembrance is also ensured by two History Museum (2004) and the Ministry of specialised museums: the Holocaust Museum Culture (2005). in Bucharest (established by the Federation of In 2006, the Ministry of Culture and Reli- Romanian Jewish Communities in the ”Great gious Affairs organised a national contest for Synagogue”) and the Northern Transylvania building a Holocaust Memorial dedicated to the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Simleu Silvaniei victims of Holocaust in Romania. The General (established under a private initiative). Holo- Council of Bucharest has recently approved the caust- related temporary exhibitions organised urban plan in order to begin the construction by the Federation of Romanian Jewish Commu- works.

project with Yad Vashem for the registration of • Michael Shafi r, "Între negare si trivializare prin Photo: Ms. Felicia Waldman the Holocaust victims’ names. comparatie: negarea Holocaustului în tarile Publications postcomuniste din Europa Centrala si de Est. 2". Important books on Holocaust-related research have been published, such as: • "The Final Report of the International Com- mission on the Holocaust in Romania"; • "Radu Ioanid", Evreii sub regimul Antonescu; • "Holocaust Memory and Antisemitism in Cen- tral and Eastern Europe. Comparative Issues" (Conference organised by the Elie Wiesel Cover of the Final Report issued by the International Com- Institute and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung); mission for the Study of the Holocaust in Romania, 2004

65 Slovak Republic

The ITF helps the Slovak Republic as well as the entire Slovakia’s membership of the ITF is an international community to remember and pay tribute to expression of its will to be among those states that actively support education on the the victims of the Holocaust. I am pleased that the ITF Holocaust, its remembrance and research. It wasn’t until 1989 that scientifi c investi- family continues to expand and that more countries now gation in this fi eld was renewed without spread the idea of Holocaust education, remembrance and ideological bias and blank spaces in Slovak history began to be fi lled. research. Slovakia attaches great importance to its mem- The Holocaust left deep marks on Slova- kia. In 1942 and 1944, more than 70 000 bership of the ITF, not least because four decades of Com- Jews were deported from what was then munism distorted the interpretation of historical facts, the territory of Slovakia. The majority of them perished in concentration camps. The including the issue of the Holocaust. Various projects and fascist regime of the wartime Slovak state played an active role in the persecution programmes, implemented nowadays with the support of of Jews who were gradually excluded from the ITF and other partners, contribute to and constitute a economic and political life, stripped of their fundamental human rights and, ultimately, part of Holocaust remembrance. deported. Its representatives carried a major share of the responsibility for these Miroslav Lajcák, horrible events. Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic

EDUCATION After the President of the Slovak ment of better and more effective teaching also of civic and ethics education. The training Republic signed the Stockholm Declaration in texts and aids. In 2004, the fi rst Slovak of teachers in this fi eld advances successfully 2000, the Slovak Ministry of Education began teaching aid was issued for secondary school also thanks to ITF support. to cooperate with the ITF on the international teachers – an education packet entitled “Why During 2000-2008, in cooperation with project entitled “Training of Secondary School we learn about the Holocaust” (textbook, exer- partners from Germany, Israel, the US and the Teachers for Holocaust Education”. cise book, and videocassette) - for teaching on Czech Republic, the Ministry of Education sent Its goal was to train selected teachers of the subject. approximately 180 Slovak teachers to about 40 history and other social-studies subjects who The Holocaust is taught at all levels of the international events organised abroad. teach the Holocaust in order to improve the school system, including university. In primary In 2006, the Slovak Ministry of Education quality of teaching in line with international and secondary schools, the Holocaust is not signed an agreement with the Holocaust Docu- standards, and provide tools for the develop- only an integral part of history classes, but mentation Centre, a non-governmental organi- Photo: Jana Hradská REMEMBRANCE Since 1994, the Bratislava Mu- In 2005, the museum opened another per- seum of Jewish Culture has been operating as a manent exhibition of the Holocaust located in specialised museum within the framework of the the synagogue building of Nitra with the title Slovak National Museum. Its activities focus on “Fates of Slovak Jews”. In September 2008 the developing spiritual and material Jewish culture museum assumed administrative responsibility and documenting the Holocaust in Slovakia. An for the fi ve original buildings of the Sered la- important section of the permanent exhibition bour and concentration camp. Upon reconstruc- of the museum is the Holocaust Memorial Room tion a new Museum of the Holocaust shall be with a symbolic gravestone built for all the created there, devoted to all collection centres unburied victims of the Holocaust. It includes a in Slovakia and providing education regarding Student presentation on the exhibition Anne Frank list of people who saved Jewish lives and hold the Holocaust. – History for Today, 2005, Milan Simecka Foundation the title “Righteous Among the Nations”. and the Museum of the

RESEARCH Since 1998 the Milan Simecka Uncovered aspects of the edition of docu- and the Institute of Jewish Studies at the Foundation in cooperation with the Jewish Com- ments – the process of aryanisation of Jewish Comenius University in Bratislava; some munity in Slovakia and The Holocaust Docu- property and activities of the Slovak Jewish Holocaust survivors also take active part in mentation Centre has issued seven volumes of Council (including the activities of the so cal- its work. It continues to archive research and documents “Holokaust na Slovensku” (Holocaust led illegal Working Group) are being prepared create an electronic database - the list of in Slovakia). The group of editors – leading for publication. Apart from that The Holocaust Holocaust victims in Slovakia. It is also im- Slovak historians (Eduard Niznansky, Ivan Documentation Centre in cooperation with portant to mention the activity of The Nation´s Kamenec, Katarina Hradska and Igor Baka) have other organisations prepared several lectures, Memory Institute (Ustav pamati naroda) which edited documents which cover almost all basic seminars and scientifi c events. published in December 2005 on its internet aspects of the history of anti-Jewish measures The Centre collaborates with university site the database of 10 000 liquidated Jewish and policies in Slovakia 1939–1945. scientifi c workers and employees of scientifi c enterprises. institutes of the Slovak Academy of Sciences

66 Photo: Viera Kamenicka After the renewal of democracy in Czecho- plaques are unveiled on the initiative of slovakia, in December 1990 the Slovak the Slovak Government, individual munici- Parliament and the Slovak Government palities, Jewish communities, Ministry of issued a “Declaration on the deportation of Culture, the Slovak National Museum – Mu- Jews from Slovakia to concentration camps seum of Jewish Culture, non-governmental in 1942 and 1944”. In the declaration, mem- organisations and civil society. bers of parliament and of the government, In 2001 the Slovak Parliament dedica- as representatives of Slovakia as a whole, ted a ‘Memorial Day to the Victims of the showed their sympathy for those Jewish Holocaust and Racial Violence’. The day is in fellow citizens, expressed their regret for the remembrance of 9th September 1941, when crimes committed against them, and apolo- the government of the then Slovak State gised for the acts of their predecessors. issued a decree, the so-called Jewish Codex, After the declaration, memorials and me- which marked the beginning of persecution morial plaques dedicated to the memory of of Jews in Slovakia. Many events are held the Holocaust victims began to be unveiled every year on this occasion, such as the throughout Slovakia from 1992 onwards laying of wreaths at the Holocaust Memorial (approximately 100 to date), including the under the auspices of the President of the Central Memorial to the Holocaust of Jews Slovak Republic, as well as conferences, se- Central Memorial to the Holocaust of Jews in Slovakia in Slovakia, erected in Bratislava in 1997 minars and lectures on the Holocaust, racial in Bratislava, Memorial Day to the Victims of the Holo- caust and Racial Violence, September 9th, 2008 on the site where the Neological Synagogue violence and Antisemitism. originally stood. All memorials and memorial

sation. Based on the agreement, the training the Slovak Ministry of Education, 9th Septem- Photo: Viera Kamenická activities for Slovak teachers are organised in ber (National Holocaust remembrance day) is cooperation with the Methodological-Pedago- also commemorated in primary and secondary gical Centres in Slovakia. In cooperation with schools through meetings with Holocaust sur- other organisations, the Holocaust Documen- vivors, visits to memorial sites, exhibitions and tation Centre actively engages teachers and discussions on the Holocaust, Antisemitism, students in various projects devoted to the racism and other themes. issue of the Holocaust. It also prepares, in cooperation with expert trainers, various educational materials for teaching purposes. Since 2003, as initiated by Former Mauthausen prisoner Oto Wagner on the campground with Slovak students, 2007

Photo: Viera Kamenická In the Museum of the Slovak National Upri- Since 2002, there has been a permanent Slo- sing in Banska Bystrica, the permanent exhi- vak National Exhibition of the Holocaust at the bition “Slovakia in the Anti-Fascist Resistance State Museum of Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland Movement of Europe 1939-1945” was created called “The Tragedy of Slovak Jews”. Apart from in 2004. In 2007, on the occasion of the 65th 9th September as a national Holocaust remem- anniversary of the beginning of deportation brance day, commemorative events regularly of Slovak Jews, the museum put together a take place also on 25th March to remember the touring exhibition which travelled to Slovak fi rst Slovak transportation of young Jewish cities under the name “Wagon”. The exhibition girls and women to Auschwitz, which took was contained in two railroad wagons similar place in 1942 in Poprad. The fi rst memorial to the victims of the Holocaust unveiled in Slovakia in 1947, to those used to transport Slovak Jews to the in front of the Synagogue in Trnava. concentration camps. Photo: Arne B. Mann The fi rst initiatives connected with remem- Forget!). This project consists of an educatio- brance of the Roma tragedy during the Second nal program for the youth, a touring exhibition World War began in Slovakia at the beginning on the Roma genocide, and the unveiling of of the 1990s. The theme was taken up in parti- memorial plaques in sites that are connected cular by the Milan Simecka Foundation, which with the persecution of Roma. In total, seven recorded testimony of Slovak Roma in addition memorial plaques were unveiled by the end of to Jewish testimony under its project “Fates of 2007. those who survived” and in 2006 a publication “Roma and the Second World War” was issued. In 2005, the Slovak National Museum and the civic association “In Minorita” imple- mented a project called “Ma bisteren!” (Don’t Roma victims monument in Dubnica nad Vahom in a cemetery with 26 buried from a custodial camp

67 Sweden The Stockholm International Forum conference in 2000 marked a new Swedish self-image concerning Sweden’s connection with the Holocaust. This was followed by a further three conferences on closely related themes. On these occasions Stockholm served as a meeting place for a unique mixture of politicians, decision-makers, experts from the fi eld, NGOs as well as of survivors. It gives me great In the late 1990s, when several countries in Europe once more experienced the sight and pride to say that from an international perspective I head sound of groups of young people questioning a rather unique authority, the Living History Forum, whose the need for democracy and the equal value of all individuals, Sweden’s Prime Minister, mission is based on such expertise. It also gives me satis- with the support of the Swedish parliament, launched an information campaign on the faction to say that I was appointed by a government that Holocaust and the values that led up to it. sets a high priority on this mission. This campaign including the production of the book ”Tell Ye Your Children…” (Paul Eskil Franck Associate Professor, A. Levine, Stéphane Bruchfeld) formed the basis for the establishment of a permanent Director of The Living History Forum government authority, The Living History Forum, fi ve years ago.

EDUCATION The national curriculum of manda- Swedish teachers are highly motivated to teach Additional continuing education courses for tory subjects to be taught in Swedish schools is about the Holocaust and that students are teachers who have already embarked on their general rather than setting out in detail what receptive to the subject. career is another important area where we need each individual subject should include. This is The proportion of teachers in Sweden that to do more. why there are no specifi c directions concerning spend more than 15 hours per academic year Since the mid 1990s, trips to Holocaust me- teaching about the Holocaust. However the teaching about the Holocaust has increased morial sites have become increasingly popular Holocaust is considered to be an important part six fold over the past 10 years, which indicates and inviting Holocaust survivors to visit class- of the teaching of History and it is quite com- that the extensive investment in continuing rooms has also become more common. Enabling mon for it to also be covered in subjects such education within the Holocaust fi eld has paid survivors’ tales to live on after their deaths as social studies, religion, Swedish and German. off. The main challenges for Sweden in the next is another important task we are working on, Recent research into teachers’ experiences of few years is to infl uence basic teacher training while we are also looking at ways to improve teaching about the Holocaust indicates that to enhance knowledge about the Holocaust. the excursion methodology on education trips. Photo: Thomas Karlsson REMEMBRANCE Sweden was spared Nazi oc- Response to Persecution of Jews 1933-1945´, cupation. The absence of traditional memorial published in 1987 became an late wake up call. ceremonies and monuments can probably be This was followed a few years later by “Honour explained by over 200 years of peace in Sweden. and Conscience”, a critical book on Sweden’s Sweden’s collective memory of the time surroun- policy of neutrality during the Second World War ding the Holocaust concerns things like ration by Swedish author Maria-Pia Boêthius. Sweden’s cards, ersatz coffee and military readiness rather largest daily newspaper subsequently published than the Holocaust per se. It was not till nearly a special edition on the subject of Swedish trade 50 years after the war that questions started with Nazi Germany in 1997. Sweden’s self-image to be asked about this. The American historian was in the process of being re-evaluated. All the Steven Koblik’s book `Stones Cry Out – Sweden’s The Swedish Minister of Culture survivors who have told about their memories to on the Holocaust Memorial Day 2007 Photo: Michael Pertnoy RESEARCH Since the 1990s Swedish historians Culture” that have resulted in a number of pu- have sought to address the Holocaust to a far blications. Swedish research into the Holocaust greater extent than previously and a number has mainly focused on two areas. Initially, the of doctoral theses, monographs and articles main interest has been on various aspects of the have researched the subject. A key factor in relationship between Swedish society and the this development has been the establishment Holocaust. One very important study in this area of a specifi c research and teaching institute at was “From Indifference to Activism; Swedish University, The Uppsala Programme for Diplomacy and the Holocaust 1938-1944” by Holocaust and Genocide Studies, along with two historian Dr. Paul A Levine. This has been follo- major research projects “Sweden’s relationship wed by a number of studies on Swedish refugee to Nazism, Nazi Germany and The Holocaust” policy, the Swedish Church’s attitude to German ”The Storytelling Project”, where memories from and “The Holocaust in European Historical race laws, Swedish reactions to “Aryanisation” survivors are passed on to the third generation

68 Photo: Hampus Brynolf A Swedish teacher survey on Holocaust education was conducted in 2007/2008. The main aim was to clarify whether the attitu- des of different actors generate reluctance to teaching and learning about the Holocaust. We wanted to inquire whether such attitudes impair efforts spent on Holocaust education and jeopardises the importance of such education. Some of the results of this survey conducted in Sweden were that: • teachers in general feel that teaching about the Holocaust is very important • most teachers in Sweden think that Holo- caust education functions as a “way-in” to discussions and teaching focused on broader ethical and moral issues • 78.8 percent of the respondents have not noted any “Holocaust-fatigue” among their students. The Swedish survey indicates that teachers would like more support in learning how to teach about the Holocaust and that they feel their students are very interested in the sub- ject. Hopefully this survey will be followed by similar studies conducted by several other ITF member states. Exhibition on Holocaust Memorial Day 2006 Photo: Björn Larsson

Students visiting an exhibition of the role of bystanders The Swedish teacher survey on Holocaust education was released in 2008 Photo: Elias Seyoum school children have naturally also played a big Sweden’s general public. In 2000 Sweden invi- part in keeping the story of the Holocaust alive. ted 50 countries to a conference on education, A public day of remembrance was held for remembering and research on the Holocaust. the fi rst time 50 years after the Holocaust. This Holocaust Memorial Day is marked on January event, initiated by Sweden’s Jewish commu- 27th. In 2003 The Living History Forum was nities and attended by the Prime Minister, the founded with the mission to reduce intolerance Royal Family and other offi cial representatives through education on the Holocaust and other of Sweden, attracted a great deal of interest crimes against humanity. Sweden came to take from the general public. In 1996 The Living a leading role in Holocaust remembrance work. History information campaign was laun- ched and gained a favourable response from Students visiting an exhibition of the role of bystanders of the German economy and how the Swedish mass media reported on the Holocaust. The second main area of interest concerns how the Holocaust has been addressed in post war poli- tical debate and cultural history. Here, research has primarily been internationally oriented with a clear focus on Europe. Relatively little research has been done on the Holocaust itself, with the exception of research by Dr. Laura Palosuo at Uppsala University on Hungarian Jews’ percep- tions of Antisemitism in the interwar years and A number of research reports of the Holocaust. published by The Living History Forum

69 Switzerland

A national ITF support group was created in The study of the Holocaust provides a context for exploring 2004, and joint meetings with the dele- the dangers of remaining silent in the face of Evil. Histori- gation are held twice a year. This group is composed of some 20 institutions and cal remembrance and respect for the victims are therefore individuals and includes federal and cantonal government agencies that are regularly not just a moral duty rooted in past events, but also an involved in activities covered by the ITF. educational tool designed to ensure that such unspeakable The existence of a support group has proved crucial in various respects: by covering horrors never happen again. Wishing to further develop its activities and topics that simply cannot be covered by the delegation alone, by letting existing information materials and activities in the area the responses to the various questionnaires of Holocaust education, Switzerland thus joined the ITF in of the ITF refl ect the real activities and the real diffi culties within the country, and by December 2004. keeping the delegates and the grassroots organisations updated about activities and Ambassador Jacques Pitteloud projects in the country and internationally. Head of the Swiss delegation to the ITF

EDUCATION The Holocaust is a mandatory On a higher level (Gymnasium/Lycée and The Holocaust as the murder of the Jews of topic in Swiss schools. The Cantonal education vocational training), the teaching of Holocaust Europe by the Nazi regime and its collaborators departments are committed to implementing the remembrance is seen in the context of violence during the Second World War is taught within guidelines and to reaching the goals defi ned by prevention, aiming at analysing, understanding the context of history teaching and civic the Cantonal teaching curricula. and preventing the causes and forms of vio- education. Aspects of the Holocaust are also At the primary and secondary school level lence, racism, xenophobia and Antisemitism. addressed in social science, religious studies (ages 7-16) the teaching of Holocaust remem- Teaching methods are more interactive, and literature. brance is oriented toward the goals of civic and insisting on the need to respect human rights, In December 2005 the Swiss Conference citizen education, and aims to help students as well as other people’s values, and promoting of Cantonal Ministers of Education (CDPE) become active and responsible citizens. interaction and communication, solidarity and organised a two-day symposium on “Teaching mutual understanding. the Holocaust in Switzerland” in Berne, with the participation of Yad Vashem. The sympo-

REMEMBRANCE A Holocaust Memorial Day The President of the Swiss Confederation, in December 2006, there was a successful pre- (“Journée de la Mémoire de l’Holocauste et de la who is elected on a yearly basis among sentation of a documentary fi lm about Carl Lutz prévention des crimes contre l’humanité”) was the members of the Federal Council (Swiss and his manifold rescue activities in Hungary introduced in Switzerland in 2004 and has taken government), delivers a speech on Holocaust (“La casa di vetro”) and a discussion with one place ever since in Swiss schools on the 27th of Memorial Day. of the two authors (Aldo Sofi a). January, focusing on three main topics: In 2008 some 500 people, among them the In January 2008, the exhibit “Carl Lutz 1. Remembrance of the Holocaust President of the Swiss Confederation, attended and the Legendary Glass House in Budapest” 2. Remembrance of the genocides that have a national ceremony honouring the Swiss Righ- was displayed by the Carl Lutz Foundation in marked European history in the 20th century teous Among the Nations, numbering over 60 Budapest at the UN Headquarters in New York, 3. Refl ections upon human rights, tolerance, women and men. This was the fi rst event of its with Swiss and Hungarian support. Since then, as well as inter-religious and intercultural kind to take place in Switzerland (see picture). it has been displayed in various cities in the dialogue. During the ITF plenary session in Budapest USA and Canada.

RESEARCH Following the research by the “In- During World War Two, neutral Switzerland In 2003 the Swiss parliament passed a new dependent Commission of Experts Switzerland was asked to represent the interests of the UK law aimed at cancelling penal sentences impar- - Second World War” and the publication of their and the USA in various countries. The access ted to people convicted of having provided as- fi ndings in 25 volumes, other historians started to Swiss documents related to these mandates, sistance to refugees who had been persecuted to further investigate the political, social and which are kept at the Swiss Federal Archives in by the Nazi regime. To this day 120 women and economic aspects of this period. Berne, was restricted at the request of British men have been rehabilitated. Recent research has focused on the Swiss and US authorities. In 2004 both the Federal refugee policy canton by canton or has adopted Department of Foreign Affairs and the Swiss a supranational perspective, such as the exhibi- ITF-delegation requested both countries to lift tion “La Svizzera e la persecuzione degli ebrei the restrictions. This was eventually granted in in Italia 1938-1945”. 2006 and 2007.

70 The national delegation is always headed • Improvement of ITF communication tools: Support given since 2006 to the efforts of by a representative of the Federal Depart- Organisation of the fi rst meeting of a sub- the F.Y.R of Macedonia to join the ITF. An ment of Foreign Affairs (FDFA): Ambassador committee of the CWG in October 2006 ongoing project to create a “Holocaust Me- Alexandre Fasel (2004-2007), Ambassador • Publication of educational materials: morial Center of the Jews from Macedonia” in Jacques Pitteloud (2008-present). However, Scientifi c coaching (EWG) of the biling- Skopje was presented to the MMWG in 2007. the representatives in the working groups ual CD-Rom and educational book about have remained the same and they have at- Holocaust survivors published by the tended every plenary session, thus testifying Swiss Federation of Jewish communities; to the importance Switzerland attaches to book about the Swiss Righteous among the work of the ITF. the Nations (MMWG). Members of the delegation have been

particularly active in the following fi elds: Photo: Aquarius Film, Les Monts-de-Corsier Les Film, Aquarius Photo:

Photo: AVA Scheiner,

sium was intended for teachers, staff from the pedagogical universities and people in charge of Holocaust remembrance days in the cantons. Like the support group, the National Sym- posium is a tool to overcome the diffi culties encountered in a federal, highly compartmen- talised system of education. Swiss documentary fi lmmakers have produ- life from a small Galician town to Switzerland, ced several DVDs based on testimonies. For including the experience of forced labour in example, Susanne and Peter Scheiner traced Nazi Germany. Jacqueline Veuve made a fi lm the key places and events in Jerzy Czarnecki’s based on the diary of Friedel Reiter, who had taken care of prisoners in the French camp of Rivesaltes (see pictures). Photo: CICAD Geneva

Ceremony honouring the Swiss Righteous among the Nations, Geneva, January 28th 2008

In recent years, attention has also been Nevertheless, several testimonies of Holo- Photo: db-Verlag GmBH, Horw/Luzern given to Holocaust survivors living in Switzer- caust survivors living in Switzerland were pu- land. The “Kontaktstelle für Überlebende des blished before. The most interesting approach Holocaust” has recently begun collecting writ- was Nathalie Gelbart’s, who interviewed her ten testimonies of Holocaust survivors living in own grandfather. Ruben Gelbart told the young Switzerland, and is supported and encouraged student about his youth in Poland, his suf- by the Swiss ITF-delegation (FDFA and CDPE). ferings in the ghetto of Lodz and in Auschwitz- Birkenau and his coming to Switzerland in 1945. A book based on this dialogue between ge- Front cover of the book: ”B-8326. nerations was published in 2008 (see picture). Ein Überlebender des Holocaust. Biografi e meines Grossvaters” by Nathalie Gelbart

71 United Kingdom

The United Kingdom’s long-standing commitment to Holo- • As many as 70 000 people, mostly from caust education, research and remembrance precedes its Austria, and Germany found refuge in Britain prior to the instrumental role as a founding member of the Internatio- outbreak of the Second World War. This included 10 000 children. nal Task Force. • UK members of the Task Force include: In 1991 the UK was the fi rst European country to make 45 Aid Society Holocaust Survivors, The Holocaust Educational Trust, Imperial War Holocaust education a mandatory subject in the History Museum, Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, London Jewish Cultural Centre, The Holo- curriculum at all state secondary schools caust Centre at Beth Shalom, Association Following the Stockholm Declaration in 2000, the UK of Jewish Refugees and the Institute of Education (University of London). took the lead in organising teacher training seminars, both • The UK is home to one of the oldest in the UK and abroad and the UK will continue to strive to archives recording the Holocaust and the Nazi era. Founded soon after the end commit more resources to bring the lessons of the Holo- of the First World War, The Institute of Contemporary History and Wiener Library caust to more people in the future. is unique in that, unlike other Holocaust archives, much of its collection was Stuart Adam gathered at the time the events occurred. Head of Delegation

EDUCATION The UK has taken the lead in delive- for schools, teaching aids and resource mate- are combined with orientation and follow-up ring Holocaust education to teachers, pupils and rials. Supported by a government commitment seminars and leave an unforgettable emotional the wider community. to fi nance Holocaust education initiatives, the and educational mark on participants. In 1991 the Holocaust Educational Trust HET continues to play a leading role in training Following on from the inaugural Task Force successfully campaigned to ensure Holocaust teachers on how best to teach the Holocaust. teacher training conference in Krakow in 2001, education would form a compulsory and perma- As well as its groundbreaking interactive the London Jewish Cultural Centre (LJCC) has nent component of the History curriculum for resource, Recollections: Eyewitnesses Remem- organised similar seminars in the Ukraine all 11-14 year olds attending state schools. ber the Holocaust, the Trust runs the ‘Lessons (Dniepropetrovsk in 2002 and 2003, Kiev in As well as its work in schools, universities from Auschwitz’ programme. Since the project’s 2004 and in 2006), as well as breaking and in the community to raise awareness and inception in 1998, HET has taken over 5 000 new ground in Belarus (in Novogrudek and understanding of the Holocaust, the Trust pro- students and teachers to Auschwitz-Birkenau as Minsk) despite a tightly structured educational vides teacher training, an outreach programme part of a four-part course. The visits to Poland system in that country. Photo: Deryc Sands REMEMBRANCE The UK is strongly committed to explore the history and implications of the to paying tribute to the memory of the victims Holocaust. It houses a permanent exhibi- of the Holocaust, to honouring its survivors tion on the Nazi period and offers space and to learning the lessons of this period in for refl ection in the memorial rose gardens. history to build a safer and fairer society. This There is an extensive education programme commitment is demonstrated in many ways, for students, teachers and professionals in three of which are illustrated here: other fi elds. Visitors from around the UK and 1. The Holocaust Centre opened in September further afi eld come to learn, to remember 1995 in Nottinghamshire. It is Britain’s and to refl ect upon the Holocaust and its only dedicated Holocaust Memorial and consequences for our world. Education Centre and provides facilities for 2. The Imperial War Museum London houses people of all backgrounds and persuasions the UK’s national permanent exhibition on The Queen lighting candle

RESEARCH The UK has in recent years become receiving international acclaim and popular The work of these historians has raised the a hive of Holocaust-related research activity readership, these works have also made signifi - profi le of the UK’s research activities while also characterised by diversity, innovation and cant contributions to historical knowledge and acting as stimuli to a younger generation of interdisciplinary collaboration. understanding. academics both within and outside the histori- An infl uential factor in this process has In addition to the library of Holocaust tes- cal academy. Informed by transnational trends been research conducted by established histo- timonies produced by the publishers Valentine of research, these scholars have begun to ex- rians, with particular achievements being Ian Mitchell, Sir Martin Gilbert has published many plore issues such as representation, non-Jewish Kershaw’s biography of Hitler, Richard Evans’ books on the Holocaust including, "Auschwitz and Christian responses, memory, pedagogy and "The Coming of the Third Reich", Michael and the Allies", "The Holocaust: A Jewish historiography; as evidenced by the scholarship Burleigh’s "The Third Reich: A New History", Tragedy", "The Boys: Triumph over Adversity", of Tim Cole, Tony Kushner, Tom Lawson, Isabel and ’s study of , "The Holocaust Atlas" and "The Righteous: The Wollaston, Nick Stargardt, Dierdre Burke and "Eichmann: His Life and Crimes". Beyond Unsung heroes of the Holocaust" and "Kris- Dan Stone. tallnacht: prelude to destruction." 72 Photo: Neil Bennett

The efforts of UK NGOs have raised awa- Our government now co-funds, with the reness of the Holocaust across society. The Pears Foundation, a Holocaust Education London Jewish Cultural Centre organised Development Programme at the Institute and led the fi rst conference sponsored by of Education (University of London), which the Task Force: a teacher training seminar in includes a national survey of teacher at- Krakow which brought together Polish and titudes and an offer to provide professional Lithuanian teachers. development in Holocaust education, free In 2000, Her Majesty The Queen ope- of charge, to teachers from every secondary ned Europe’s largest permanent historical school in . exhibition on the Holocaust at the Imperial UK delegates have been active in all ITF War Museum (IWM), the United Kingdom’s working groups including Paul Salmons who national museum of the social history of was Chair of the Education Working Group confl ict. and is currently Chair of the Subcommittee , Chairman of the Holocaust on Holocaust, Genocide and Crimes Against Educational Trust (HET) was involved in the Humanity. creation of the Task Force and he introdu- Alongside these commitments the UK has ced and chaired speeches by the Heads of been responsible for liaison with Lithuania delegations at The Stockholm International and more recently Estonia with their appli- Forum on the Holocaust in January 2000. cations for membership of the Task Force.

Groups of performers with their arms interlinked

In 2004, the LJCC advanced the scope of and Argentina. The Museum’s Fellowship in Photo: David Williams teacher training by moving into China. This Holocaust Education is internationally recogni- country is not represented on the Task Force, sed as a model of excellence in professional but the LJCC identifi ed departments of Jewish development for teachers. Studies within certain universities eager to The seminars, convened under the auspices learn about western history and the Holocaust. of the Task Force, have enabled the LJCC to The Imperial War Museum offers profes- co-operate and develop strong links internatio- sional development to trainee teachers from nally with other leading Holocaust educators. universities across the country, and staff from the Museum have contributed to ITF suppor- ted teacher training seminars in many states including the Czech Republic, Ukraine, China, Three school pupils looking at buttons

the Holocaust and uses historical material rative. Education activities bring some 25 000 UK city each year, schools and local commu- to tell the story of the Nazis’ persecution school students into the Museum to study the nities throughout the UK organise hundreds of the Jews and other groups before and Holocaust each year. of events. during the Second World War. Photographs, 3. The UK commemorates Holocaust Memorial This day sets out to motivate people to make documents, newspapers, artefacts, posters Day, the international day of remembrance sure that the horrendous crimes committed and fi lm offer stark evidence of persecution for the victims of the Holocaust and of other during the Holocaust, and in more recent th and slaughter, collaboration and resistance. genocides, on 27 January each year. Prior genocides, are neither forgotten nor repeated, Toys, diaries, photograph albums, story books to the United Nations declaration designa- whether in Europe or elsewhere in the world. th and hand-made mementos show individual ting 27 January an international Holocaust Holocaust Memorial Day is organised by the efforts at survival and the testimony of Memorial Day, the UK was using this date to national charity Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, eighteen survivors of the Holocaust brings a commemorate the Holocaust. Alongside a with funding from the UK Government. fresh and haunting perspective to the nar- national commemoration held in a different

An example of how Holocaust research has and Hebrew Studies), Leeds (Centre for Jewish The UK’s second research centre was founded expanded in the UK to absorb cultural criticism Studies), Southampton (Parkes Institute) and at Royal Holloway University of London in 1998 has been provided by the work of Robert Eag- Sussex (Centre for German-Jewish Studies). and is regarded as the leading academic centre lestone and Sue Vice, while the emergence of In addition, the UK also has two dedicated of its kind in Europe. Staffed by academics genocide as an object of academic interest in Holocaust research centres, the fi rst of which who are not only prolifi c publishers but also the UK has been signifi ed by the publications was founded in in 1990. Currently un- advisers to leading statesmen and international of Donald Bloxham and Mark Levene. der the directorship of Olaf Jensen, the Stanley organisations, the centre organises national Holocaust research features within a number Burton Centre for Holocaust Studies has a long- and international conferences as well as of- of university departments throughout the UK standing reputation for pioneering teaching, fering a globally unique interdisciplinary MA including at Manchester (Centre for Jewish research and work with the wider community, programme in Holocaust Studies. Studies), Sheffi eld (the Genocide Centre), Uni- and plays an important role in disseminating versity College London (Department of Jewish advances in scholarship to broader society.

73 The United States

The United States has been deeply committed to the goals Following Göran Persson’s initiative, and with Yehuda Bauer’s guidance, the Uni- of the Task Force throughout its fi rst decade of existence. At ted States joined Sweden and the United its inception, there was a growing awareness among political Kingdom to establish the Task Force in 1998. In addition, the United States chaired the leaders that teaching the lessons of the Holocaust could help Task Force in 2003 and has hosted numerous seminars and mentored several applicant counter disturbing trends of Antisemitism and intolerance. countries as they prepared themselves for The Stockholm Declaration rightly set the course for the fu- full Task Force membership. ture work of the Task Force and served as the basic document The United States’ delegation to the Task Force is composed of governmental repre- of core principles. As Task Force members, our actions and sentatives from the European Bureau of the Department of State, noted Holocaust attitudes continue to be touched by this document. Studying educators, academics and experts in the fi eld the myriad aspects of the Holocaust and keeping its reality of memorials. in the foreground, has given us an effective antidote to fi ght contemporary intolerance, xenophobia, and genocide. Ambassador J. Christian Kennedy Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues, Department of State

EDUCATION The United States has fully partici- been particularly active in assisting appli- from Eastern European countries, in a week- pated in all activities of the Education Working cant countries and new members in preparing long training programme each summer for the Group (EWG) since its inception during the detailed Project Proposal Applications for past seven years. To date, approximately 150 Dutch Chairmanship in 2001. Our representati- peer review. In 2004, we initiated a teacher teachers have participated in this program. ves, who are recognised experts in the fi eld of training program for Latin American teachers in The United States has served as the liaison Holocaust education, have served as mentors for conjunction with the Association of Holocaust country for several applicant countries. In light new members and have provided much needed Organisations and the United States Holocaust of this special responsibility, our work on edu- continuity as the Task Force grew from a handful Memorial Museum in Washington. To date, over cational reform, improving curriculum materials of members to its current strength of 26. 100 master teachers have participated in this and supporting educational projects has been U.S. representatives were in the fore as the program. The Department of State, together particularly intense in these cases. EWG developed and refi ned its criteria and with the aforementioned organisations, has its workload dramatically increased. We have also sponsored high school teachers, mainly Photo: USHMM Photo: USHMM REMEMBRANCE The United States was one of the fi rst countries to legislate an annual national day of remembrance for the victims of the Holocaust. In the report of the President’s Com- mission on the Holocaust, Commission Chairman Elie Wiesel recommended that the United States establish an annual commemoration enshrined in law, and the President’s Commission held its fi rst national memorial event in April, 1979. By charter of the U.S. Congress, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is responsible for leading the observance of Days of Remembrance,

RESEARCH In addition to its active promotion Efforts to open this repository, the largest, Holocaust archives around the world. In ad- of valuable research relating to the Holocaust, unopened Holocaust-era archive, were initiated dition, Bad Arolsen has now adopted a new, the United States has taken a leadership role on in June, 2004 by a U.S. representative in the open policy towards both those seeking to several important initiatives whose origin can AWG. A total of three unanimously-approved do research, and those seeking more personal be found in the deliberations of the Academic resolutions by successive plenary meetings cal- information. Working Group (AWG). First and foremost is the ling for the immediate opening of Bad Arolsen The opening of Holocaust-era archives is one intensive and successful campaign to open the constituted a signifi cant step in a combined of the major components of the Stockholm De- archives of the International Tracing Service governmental and NGO campaign. The success claration. The successful resolution of the Bad (ITS) in Bad Arolsen, Germany. of this effort is one of the major accomplish- Arolsen collection has led to increased focus ments of the Task Force and will result in the on archives in both member and non-member digitalisation and transfer of some 125 million countries and a requirement for members to images by the end of 2010 to several major submit country reports on archival issues.

74 While the Holocaust was not perpetrated on ous new academic research has been made The delegation’s engagement in Task Force American soil, the United States has been possible. The Task Force, through its Chair issues is supported by effective, long-stan- refuge and home to hundreds of thousands country, has spoken out against contempo- ding participation from the following notable of its survivors. That is one reason why rary outrages like Holocaust denial and the Holocaust-related institutions: public awareness is at a relatively high level. genocide in Darfur. As the Task Force enters • Association of Holocaust Organisations Our membership in the Task Force assists its second decade, the United States renews • Elie Wiesel Center for Judaic Studies in our engagement with the Congress and its commitment and pledges its active at Boston University with our public as we continue to address participation in all three fi elds of our mis- • Museum of Jewish Heritage pending Holocaust issues while also remem- sion and work. The collective challenge is – A Living Memorial of the Holocaust bering the millions of Holocaust victims. The to ensure that our focus remains consistent • Simon Wiesenthal Center Task Force has accomplished a great deal with the Stockholm Declaration and that our • United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in its fi rst decade. Thousands of teachers, standards remain high as our membership • USC Shoah Foundation Institute students and society at large have been expands. Our activities and projects should for Visual History and Education exposed to Holocaust history because of the continue to be designed around the reality Task Force. National governments have been of the Holocaust, keeping the memory of its sensitized to the requirements inherent in countless victims in the foreground as we the Stockholm Declaration. Second World seek to educate our citizens to the dangers War-era archives have been opened to the of hatred and Antisemitism. public, revealing new information, and seri- Photo: USHMM

the nation’s annual weeklong commemoration The Holocaust Museum also encourages On International Holocaust Remembrance of the victims of the Holocaust. Coinciding with observance of the Days of Remembrance Day (January 27th), many Holocaust memorials Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah), throughout the United States, and every state and educational institutions conduct a comme- the Museum’s commemoration since 1981 has and many local governments and military bases moration in their communities. In Washington, culminated with a special ceremony in the U.S. organise local and regional commemorations the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Capitol Rotunda, with Holocaust survivors, in schools, churches, synagogues and civic organises a special commemoration with Holo- liberators, members of Congress, White House centers. In addition, many local Holocaust caust survivors and the Diplomatic Corps. offi cials, the diplomatic corps, and community museums and educational institutions work clo- leaders in attendance. sely with Jewish communities throughout the country to organise annual commemorations involving Holocaust survivors, liberators and community leaders.

These reports, taken together, represent the Photo: USHMM fi rst meaningful, if still incomplete, survey of archival resources in Europe and elsewhere. U.S. representatives to the AWG have also pressed for support for nascent Holocaust study centers in Bucharest and Vienna. The U.S. de- legation welcomes the convening of Holocaust- related conferences, especially a newly- organised yearly meeting on “New Research”, supported in part by the AWG. The U.S. will lend this effort every support possible.

75 The ITF – Project Policy

The initial mission of the Task Force and its The ITF Fund An identical partnership was immediately distinctiveness lies in ensuring a permanent applied between Slovakia and Germany, link between governments and non-govern- The ITF Fund is supplied by annual contri- Lithuania and the United Kingdom and then mental organisations (NGOs). It is above butions by member countries and is one of extended to include the gradual participa- all a body of both political and diplomatic the ways in which the Task Force carries out tion of Hungary and Israel; Romania, Greece natures and its functions can be described its mission. In 2008, the contribution shares and Spain with France and Israel; Croatia as follows: amounted to Euro 30 000. Today, the main and Argentina with the United States; Latvia goal of the Fund is to support projects of with Sweden etc. Countries wishing to join • Lending support to the implementation of an international nature which contribute to the Task Force have followed this model. public policies (on the part of interested Holocaust education, research and remem- In parallel to the institutionalised governments) on the history and teaching brance. Three expert groups appointed by of the Holocaust. system set up from the beginning of the member states are in charge of selecting and Task Force, numerous independent organi- • Keeping a watchful, careful although evaluating the projects proposed: education, distant eye on related subjects which are sations and NGOs came to the Task Force academic, museums and memorials. The very part of the memorial process (such as to obtain fi nancing for their programmes. fi rst project fi nanced by the Task Force was restitution and compensation, bringing This was due to the relative insuffi ciency of Nazi criminals to justice, contemporary a training seminar for Czech teachers. Each public funding available and of the scarcity Antisemitism and fi ght against denial). year the working groups scrutinise dozens of of foundations devoted to such activities. • Ensuring the best possible working projects submitted to the Fund. Therefore the Fund also fulfi lled a purely conditions for the NGOs committed to The following method was applied over fi nancial role without relationship with a the process while guaranteeing the most the fi rst years. A country on its way to full particular diplomatic action or intergovern- effective cooperation, at the national membership has to develop its Holocaust mental cooperation. as well as at the international level, memorial policy e.g. by training teachers. between governments and civil society. Once a ‘Liaison Country’ it can, in coo- This means that member countries of the peration with an ITF member state serving Task Force must support and facilitate as a ‘Lead Country’, call upon one or several the work of NGOs who then intervene organisations to implement the project: in with governments in order to participate the case of the Czech Republic such projects in their country’s implementation policy, were developed by the Terezin Memorial with in certain exemplary cases within the the support of the Czech and Dutch Foreign national commissions or in the course of Offi ces. a project implementation phase or within The partner countries contribute money the working groups of the Task Force. to the project in addition to subsidies • Encouraging some countries to join the granted by the Task Force. Ideally, such process according to criteria which are projects are ensured long-lasting support left with the discretion of the Chair or and extension by partner governments and decided collectively. the Task Force sometimes provides a portion • Cooperation with member countries which of the fi nancing. Evaluation is provided by are gradually involved in the implemen- tation of public policies in the spirit of an international expert group within the collaboration with civil society. Task Force. The policy is therefore one of solidarity and action in order to ensure a Today, the Task Force is heading towards solid foundation for an initial series of pu- enhancing this highly diplomatic role in blic actions which will then be more widely seeking cooperation with other interna- developed. tional bodies such as the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and the European Union Fundamental Rights Agency.

76

ED U UCA TI O N

R E MEM BER A ANC E

RE S EA R C H

77 Declaration of the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust

The members of the Task Force are committed to the Declaration of the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust, which reads as follows:

1. 2. The Holocaust (Shoah) fundamentally challenged the The magnitude of the Holocaust, planned and carried foundations of civilization. The unprecedented character out by the Nazis, must be forever seared in our col- of the Holocaust will always hold universal meaning. lective memory. The selfl ess sacrifi ces of those who After half a century, it remains an event close enough in defi ed the Nazis, and sometimes gave their own lives to time that survivors can still bear witness to the horrors protect or rescue the Holocaust’s victims, must also be that engulfed the Jewish people. The terrible suffering inscribed in our hearts. The depths of that horror, and of the many millions of other victims of the Nazis has the heights of their heroism, can be touchstones in our left an indelible scar across Europe as well. understanding of the human capacity for evil and for good.

5. 6. We share a commitment to encourage the study of the We share a commitment to commemorate the victims of Holocaust in all its dimensions. We will promote edu- the Holocaust and to honour those who stood against cation about the Holocaust in our schools and univer- it. We will encourage appropriate forms of Holocaust sities, in our communities and encourage it in other remembrance, including an annual Day of Holocaust institutions. Remembrance, in our countries.

78 3. 4.

With humanity still scarred by genocide, ethnic clean- We pledge to strengthen our efforts to promote educa- ED sing, racism, Antisemitism and xenophobia, the interna- tion, remembrance and research about the Holocaust, U UCA TI O

tional community shares a solemn responsibility to fi ght both in those of our countries that have already done N those evils. Together we must uphold the terrible truth much and those that choose to join this effort. of the Holocaust against those who deny it. We must strengthen the moral commitment of our peoples, and the political commitment of our governments, to ensure that future generations can understand the causes of the Holocaust and refl ect upon its consequences.

R E 7. 8. MEM BER

We share a commitment to throw light on the still ob- It is appropriate that this, the fi rst major international A ANC

scured shadows of the Holocaust. We will take all neces- conference of the new millennium, declares its com- E sary steps to facilitate the opening of archives in order mitment to plant the seeds of a better future amidst to ensure that all documents bearing on the Holocaust the soil of a bitter past. We empathize with the victims’ are available to researchers. suffering and draw inspiration from their struggle. Our commitment must be to remember the victims who perished, respect the survivors still with us, and reaffi rm humanity’s common aspiration for mutual understanding and justice.

RE S EA R C H

79

THE TASK FORCE FOR INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ON HOLOCAUST EDUCATION, REMEMBRANCE AND RESEARCH – TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY BOOK ANNIVERSARY YEAR – TEN RESEARCH AND REMEMBRANCE EDUCATION, HOLOCAUST ON COOPERATION INTERNATIONAL FOR FORCE TASK THE

Ten year anniversary book

www.holocausttaskforce.org