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Holocaust education and the Palestinian cause: young Palestinian people in Sweden, and their perceptions of Holocaust education

Author(s): Adwan, Sami; Mattsson, Christer; Johansson, Thomas

Date: 2021

Topics: Holocaust Education, Interviews, Main Topic: Holocaust and Memorial, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Students, Schools: Seconday / High Schools, Immigration

Abstract: The paper investigates the experiences, perceptions and responses of immigrants with a Palestinian background in relation to learning about the Holocaust and the Palestinian cause in Swedish schools and visiting Holocaust sites. Data were collected from 50 immigrant students using audio-recorded and open-structured interviews. The results indicate that most informants had learned about the Holocaust in various classes, through readings, discussions and assignments, but very little about the Palestinian cause in textbooks or in school activities. The majority of informants were never asked to take part in Holocaust site visits, but if they were to be asked, 84% were willing make such visits. The majority of informants expressed sympathy with Holocaust victims, but they were not satisfied, as they felt there was too much focus on the Holocaust and too little on the Palestinian cause. This lived experience of imbalance between the two subjects resulted in reluctant attitudes towards Holocaust education among the Palestinian pupils, but this should not mainly be understood as a result of anti-Semitic sentiments among them. The results indicate that Holocaust education in Swedish schools among youngsters with a Palestinian background can hardly be treated separately from the question of the Israeli and Palestinian conflict.

Holocaust Education in Italy

Date: 2003

Topics: Holocaust Education, Main Topic: Holocaust and Memorial

Abstract: In this paper. I examine the development of Holocaust education in Italy. It has clearly undergone various transformations across time. Though schools are not required to teach about the Holocaust in Italy, there are many ongoing projects, programmes and initiatives that schools can participate in. The challenge for the future is to keep the history of the Holocaust alive for new generations who are growing up in a multicultural society.

The intricacies of education about the Holocaust in Poland. Ten years after the Jedwabne debate, what can Polish school students learn about the Holocaust in history classes?

Author(s): Ambrosewicz-Jacobs, Jolanta; Szuchta, Robert

Date: 2014

Topics: Holocaust Education, Main Topic: Holocaust and Memorial, Jewish - Non - Jewish Relations, Teaching and Pedagogy

Abstract: In many European countries, disparities have grown between history and the memory of the Holocaust. Debates on Polish–Jewish relations during the Holocaust and empirical studies in the field of education reveal that there is a gap between research and education. The emphasis in this paper is on the content of new history textbooks published after the 2008 educational reforms in Poland.

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

Author(s): Gross, Magdalena H.

Date: 2013

Topics: Holocaust Education, Main Topic: Holocaust and Memorial, Teachers, Teaching and Pedagogy

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

Holocaust Education in the Czech Republic, 1989-2002

Author(s): Frankl, Michal

Date: 2003

Topics: Antisemitism, Holocaust Education, Main Topic: Holocaust and Memorial, Schools: Non-Jewish, Teaching and Pedagogy

Abstract: he issue of the Holocaust in Czech education has undergone profound changes since 1989. While the topic was still widely ignored in Czech textbooks and school instruction during the early 1990s, it has slowly become--in the last few years--a standard part of history lessons and newer textbooks. Teacher training courses, as well as other activities, have served to promote and support Holocaust education. The paper also illuminates the difficulties that Czech historians and educators encounter when they try to incorporate the topic of the Holocaust into Czech history lessons, especially when they wish to address Czech anti-Semitism and racism. Further improvement of Holocaust education in the Czech Republic will depend on reforming Czech teaching and instruction in such a way that more modern teaching methods are adopted.

Teaching about the Holocaust in English schools: challenges and possibilities

Author(s): Foster, Stuart

Date: 2013

Topics: Holocaust Education, Teachers, Teaching, Schools: Non-Jewish

Abstract: This article presents some principal findings from the first comprehensive national study of Holocaust education in England, which was conducted by the University of London’s Institute of Education. More than 2000 teachers provided insight into their teaching about the Holocaust, including their perceptions, perspectives and practice. This article identifies what appears to be some of the key challenges and concerns teachers encounter when teaching this emotive and complex subject. The findings suggest that teachers both value and recognise the importance of teaching about the Holocaust to young people. However, more than 80% of teachers declared themselves to be ‘self-taught,’ having previously had no professional development or formal instruction in teaching about the Holocaust. The research also demonstrated: (1) considerable uncertainty about the best way to teach the subject; (2) some ambiguity over aims and definitions; (3) narrowly focused content coverage; and (4) a lack of in-depth subject knowledge among many teachers. A central finding is that teachers proved more likely to focus on what may be termed perpetrator-oriented narratives: narratives that focus on the actions of the Nazis and their collaborators and commonly positioned Jewish people and other groups as silent and anonymous victims without agency or influence.

The Holocaust as reflected in Communist and Post-Communist Romanian textbooks

Author(s): Bărbulescu, Ana; Degeratu, Laura; Guşu, Cosmina

Date: 2013

Topics: Main Topic: Holocaust and Memorial, Holocaust Education, Schools: Non-Jewish, Post-1989, Communism

Abstract: Romanian history textbooks were mostly silent about the Holocaust during the Communist era. The authors reconstructed the different models of remembering the Holocaust that are present in post-Communist Romanian textbooks. The analysis revealed the existence of six different models of recollecting this history. The six models of representing the Holocaust are: (1) The Holocaust is completely absent; (2) Romania as a saviour of Jews; (3) Discrimination without deportations; (4) Deportations to camps for unnamed victims; (5) Deportations without the final solution; and (6) The Romanian Holocaust: discrimination, pogroms and deportations. The analysis focused on Romanian History textbooks published before and after 1989; A qualitative analysis of the textbooks was employed.