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Holocaust Education in a Global Context Holocaust Education in a Global Context UNESCO Publishing United Nations [ Cultural Organization United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Holocaust Education in a Global Context Edited by Karel Fracapane and Matthias Haß In collaboration with the Topography of Terror Foundation, Berlin Published in 2014 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 7, place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP, France © UNESCO 2014 ISBN 978-92-3-100042-3 This publication is available in Open Access under the Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO (CC-BY-SA 3.0 IGO) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/igo/). By using the content of this publication, the users accept to be bound by the terms of use of the UNESCO Open Access Repository (http://www.unesco.org/open-access/ terms-use-ccbysa-en). The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The ideas and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors; they are not necessarily those of UNESCO and do not commit the Organization. Particular appreciation is due to Thomas Lutz, Topography of Terror Foundation, for his major contribution to this publication. Special thanks also go to Hannah Marek for her assistance in editing the draft, and to all those who reviewed the manuscript. Edited by Karel Fracapane and Matthias Haß In collaboration with the Topography of Terror Foundation, Berlin Cover photo: Wall of Names at Shoah Memorial, Paris ©Mémorial de la Shoah/Nathalie Darbellay Graphic design: UNESCO Printed by: UNESCO Printed in France Contents Foreword by Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO 5 Editorial by Samuel Pisar, UNESCO Honorary Ambassador, Special Envoy for Holocaust and Genocide Education 7 Introduction 9 Teaching about the Holocaust in contemporary Europe 17 Teaching about perpetrators of the Holocaust in Germany 20 Wolf Kaiser Conflicting memories: Polish and Jewish perceptions of the Shoah 28 Konstanty Gebert Entangled memories: Holocaust education in contemporary France 40 Sophie Ernst The pedagogy of Holocaust education 57 Research in Holocaust education: Emerging themes and directions 59 Doyle Stevick and Zehavit Gross The Holocaust in textbooks: from a European to a global event 77 Falk Pingel Historic Sites as a framework for education 87 Matthias Heyl Shedding light on the invisible: towards a gender-sensitive education at memorial sites 93 Angelika Meyer Comparing genocide in the classroom: Challenges and opportunities 101 Paul Salmons and Matthias Haß Holocaust research in a comparative perspective 111 Peter Longerich Global perspectives on Holocaust education: Case studies 119 National memories in the prism of Holocaust history 121 Projections of Holocaust remembrance on the recent past of Argentina 121 Daniel Rafecas Educating about the history of genocides in Rwanda 129 François Masabo Engaging with Holocaust education in post-apartheid South Africa 134 Richard Freedman A new frame to reinterpret China’s past: Holocaust studies in China 143 Xu Xin Promoting human rights and democratic values 153 Holocaust, democratic values and Jewish-Arab dialogue: The work of the Center for Humanistic Education at the Ghetto Fighters' House Museum 153 Anat Livne and David Netzer Facing History and Ourselves 159 Leora Schaefer and Marty Sleeper Holocaust education and the promotion of democratic ideals – The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 164 Jennifer Ciardelli Final reflections: The moral and political issues ahead 171 The civic and political challenges of Holocaust education 172 Georges Bensoussan Holocaust education and the prevention of genocide 177 Yehuda Bauer > Notes on editors > Notes on authors 183 Notes on editors 184 Notes on authors 185 Foreword How did the Holocaust happen? How was it possible? Answering these questions means addressing complex and troubling chapters of the past. It means unpacking the history of a fundamentally racist and antisemitic project that led to genocide. Teaching about the Holocaust can raise challenges for educators, because the stories they must tell will leave leaners struggling with disturbing ethical questions. This is precisely why Holocaust education is so important. Teaching and learning about the Holocaust, and the history of genocide, provides an opportunity to engage students in deep reflection on the origins and mechanisms of violence, so that they can better understand the past and the world they live in. This education is essential today, to raise awareness about a shared history, to promote human rights everywhere and eliminate all forms of discrimination and intolerance. UNESCO believes in the transformative power of education. Taking up this challenging subject provides a way for all to learn how to welcome difference and diversity on the basis of respect and tolerance. Whether in Europe, or in Africa, Latin America or anywhere else in the world, education about this common history will help young people to understand better how mass violence can be prevented and to reinforce their own role today in fostering respect for the rights and dignity of all. Holocaust education is a responsibility – to face the reality of crimes perpetrated, to commemorate the victims and to sustain a meaningful dialogue between history and memory. Many people risked everything to leave a trace of what happened to themselves, their families and their communities, so that their story would not be forgotten. We have an obligation to the victims and their legacy, as well as to the survivors who speak for them, to ensure that their stories are heard and will be studied for generations to come. These are the goals guiding this volume, which explores the opportunities that arise from educating about the Holocaust in various cultural contexts and educational settings. With this publication, educators will have at their fingertips an up-to-date account of the most salient issues discussed in the field of Holocaust education. This volume will also help policy-makers grasp more clearly the objectives and the implications of dealing with this complex subject. All of this is essential to our efforts 5 to deepen mutual understanding and respect today, in societies undergoing deep transformation, across a world changing quickly. I wish to thank the Topography of Terror Foundation for their contribution to this publication, which draws on the 2012 experts meeting we organised jointly in Paris on “Holocaust Education in a Global Context”. I am deeply grateful to each of the authors who contributed to this work, sharing a wealth of experience, teaching rationales and diverse points of view on a subject that is essential and universally relevant. Irina Bokova Director-General of UNESCO 6 Holocaust Education in a Global Context From the ashes of the Shoah Seven decades ago, the Soviets liberated Auschwitz and the Americans liberated Dachau. Today, for one of the last living survivors of these two infernos to be still alive and well, with a new and happy family that has recreated the one I lost, seems almost unreal. When I entered Eichmann and Mengele’s gruesome universe at the age of thirteen, I measured my life expectancy in weeks or months at the most. During the winter of 1944, as the Second World War was coming to an end, we in the camps knew nothing. We were wondering: What is happening in the world outside? Where is God? Where is the Pope? Does anyone out there know what is happening here to us? Do they care? Russia was on the edge of defeat. England was resisting with her back against the wall. And America? She was so far away, so divided, so isolationist. How could she be expected to save the sinking barge of civilization from the seemingly invincible forces of darkness? It took a long time for the news of the Normandy landings to reach us. There were also rumours that the Red Army was advancing on the Eastern front. The Nazis’ nervousness was also becoming palpable. The gas chambers were now spewing fire and smoke as never before, killing innocent men, women and children at the rate of 10,000 per day. One grey, frosty morning, our guards lined us up and marched us out through Auschwitz-Birkenau’s main gate with its perverse sign: ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’ (Work Brings Freedom). Those of us who could still be used as slave labourers would be shunted westward, deep into Germany. I was beside myself with excitement and apprehension. Salvation seemed so near, and yet so far away. At the last moment our jailors will surely slaughter us. The ‘Final Solution’ must be completed to the last Jew. All living witnesses must be wiped out. Oh, to hang on, to hang on a little longer... I was sixteen years old, and I wanted to live. Our death marches from camp to camp continued day and night, until we, and the guards, became aware that we were hearing distant explosions of artillery shells. One afternoon, on the outskirts of Dachau, we were strafed by a squadron of Allied fighter planes, which mistook our column for Wehrmacht troops. As the SS men hit the dirt, their machine guns blazing in all directions, someone near me yelled: ‘Run for it!’ I kicked off my wooden clogs and made a desperate sprint, with a few other fellow 7 prisoners, into the thick of a nearby Bavarian forest. There we lay low in daytime and walked in the direction of the Western Front after dark, until an armoured regiment of American G.I.’s brought us life and freedom. Now we, the few living witnesses of the greatest catastrophe ever perpetrated by man against man, are disappearing one by one. Soon, history will speak about our cruel fate at best with the impersonal voice of researchers and novelists; at worst in the malevolent register of falsifiers and demagogues who call the Holocaust a ‘myth’.
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