Abstract: Antisemitism is an increasingly significant issue for schools and colleges, mirroring wider trends across society. The evidence gathered by this review points to high levels of antisemitic incidents occurring in classrooms, online and beyond. Key barriers to effective prevention and response include uncertainty about what constitutes antisemitism, lack of confidence in reporting systems, inconsistent recording practices, and limited staff training. While schools and colleges are committed to creating inclusive environments, the review finds that stronger and more consistent support is needed across the system.
Meaningful progress in tackling antisemitism in schools and colleges requires a coordinated whole-system response, and this is underpinned in the review by 27 recommendations.
Central is the call for:
• wider adoption by schools and colleges of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism as a starting point for understanding and discussions;
• strengthening Keeping children safe in education by making clear that antisemitism may constitute harm and raise safeguarding concerns;
• a coherent, sequenced whole-school or college approach that embeds prevention of antisemitism through curriculum, learner experience, and leadership;
• amending the Teachers’ Standards to explicitly reference antisemitism, ensuring all teaching professionals understand their responsibilities to confront and act on this kind of hatred and prejudice.
• practical support to help leaders navigate increasingly complex and sensitive issues, including establishing a dedicated support service for schools, colleges and local authorities dealing with incidents relating to antisemitism, as well as providing continued support for the unique security challenges faced by Jewish schools.
Together, the review’s recommendations are intended to create a more confident,
consistent and effective system, ensuring that Jewish pupils, students and staff can
participate fully in education and feel safe, respected and able to thrive.
Abstract: Das Ministerium für Schule und Bildung des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen hat im Jahr 2019 das Georg-Eckert-Institut-Leibniz-Institut für internationale Schulbuchforschung beauftragt, die Darstellung von Jüdinnen und Juden, jüdischer Geschichte, Kultur und Religion in Lernmitteln zu untersuchen.
Insgesamt 252 der zum Zeitpunkt der Studie zugelassenen Schulbücher der Fächer Geschichte, Gesellschaftslehre, Erdkunde (bzw. Geographie in der gymnasialen Oberstufe), Politik, Wirtschaft, Praktische Philosophie, katholischer, evangelischer und islamischer Religionsunterricht sowie Deutsch in beiden Sekundarstufen und für alle allgemeinbildenden Schulformen sind analysiert worden.
Die Ergebnisse der Studie zeigen, dass ein pauschales Urteil hinsichtlich der Darstellung von jüdischer Geschichte, Kultur und Religion in NRW-Schulbüchern nicht möglich ist. Bisweilen finden sich sehr gute Darstellungen neben problematischen Befunde sogar in ein und demselben Schulbuch.
Abstract: A comprehensive review of how Jewish life and anti-Jewish prejudice are portrayed in school materials.
Jewish communities have been integral to Europe’s social fabric for centuries, preserving rich religious and cultural traditions while facing recurring periods of exclusion, persecution, and resilience. School textbooks are important vantage points to understand how this history and heritage is represented, (de)constructed and embedded into a shared historical and cultural memory. They are also important practical tools used daily by students, teachers, and parents. This in-depth study looks into how anti-Jewish prejudice and Jewish culture, history and life are portrayed in secondary education materials in eight European countries. It identifies curricular entry points for teaching about Jewish experiences and antisemitism, analyses how these topics are integrated into textbooks, and explores the narratives and representations that emerge. The findings highlight both recurring stereotypes and promising practices. By showcasing these contrasts, the study provides targeted recommendations to guide the creation of more inclusive educational materials. It aims to ensure that representations of Jews, Judaism, and antisemitism convey the diversity, richness, and complexity of Jewish life while helping students critically engage with prejudice in historical and contemporary contexts
Abstract: Die vorliegende Studie stellt die Ergebnisse des vom Bundesministerium für Forschung, Technologie und Raumfahrt (BMFTR), vormals Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), geförderten Verbundprojekts Antisemitismusprävention im europäischen Schulunterricht (AIES) vor.1 Das an der Europa-Universität Flensburg und der Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf angesiedelte Projekt (2021-2025) untersuchte die Thematisierung jüdischer Kultur und Geschichte im schulischen Kontext in vier europäischen Ländern (Deutschland, Frankreich, Spanien, Rumänien). Dabei wurde die Überzeugung zugrunde gelegt, dass auch die Unterrichtspraxis einen wertvollen Beitrag zur Antisemitismusprävention leisten kann und muss – und letztere nicht auf „Kriseninterventionen“ nach Vorfällen auf den Schulhöfen oder im Klassenraum beschränkt sein darf. Ausgehend von den curricularen Bedingungen unterschiedlicher Schulfächer (Geschichte, Politik, Fremdsprachenunterricht bzw. muttersprachlicher Unterricht in den Fächern Deutsch, Spanisch und Französisch) mit Blick auf die Thematisierung nicht nur der Shoah, sondern auch anderer Aspekte jüdischer (Gegenwarts-)Kultur und Geschichte sowie ihrer Implementierung in Lehrwerke, Unterrichtsmaterialien und die konkrete Unterrichtspraxis, hat AIES eigene didaktische Materialien entwickelt, die hier ebenfalls präsentiert werden.2 Ein besonderes Augenmerk wurde bei ihrer Konzeption auf die Rolle und das Potenzial visueller Medien gelegt, um den bisher – gerade im Schulbuch – wenn überhaupt vorhandenen, dann textzentrierten Zugang zu jüdischer Geschichte und Kultur und zur Antisemitismusprävention zu erweitern
Abstract: Our report on Greek textbooks shows an accurate and respectful approach to Judaism, Jewish tradition and the Holocaust. The study finds that the curriculum reflects Greece’s commitment to international standards for peace and tolerance education.
Judaism is presented with balance and care within Religious Education textbooks, including lessons on the Torah, Jewish festivals, and beliefs. The Holocaust is taught with exceptional depth, most notably in a Grade 12 History textbook that devotes a full chapter to the genocide, includes survivor testimonies, and highlights the courage of Greek citizens and clergy who protected Jewish communities during the war.
The report notes positive curriculum updates, including the removal of antisemitic and unbalanced material from a Junior High School textbook, reflecting a commitment toward fairness and accuracy. However, the study also identifies areas for further development. Antisemitism itself is not directly addressed, and prewar Greek Jewish life, Zionism, and the establishment of Israel receive little attention. Expanding on these themes would further strengthen the Greek curriculu
Abstract: In 1976, German political scientist Wolf Oschlies published Bulgaria – A Country with No Antisemitism. Since then, the slogan ‘A Country with No Antisemitism’ has circulated in Bulgaria as evidence of international recognition of the so-called ‘Rescue of Bulgarian Jews during World War II.’ Official Holocaust remembrance policies rely heavily on this discourse, presenting Bulgaria as the only country in German-controlled Europe to have saved its entire Jewish population from Nazi extermination camps. This celebratory framing serves as proof of civic values and ethnic tolerance, while marginalizing the fate of Jews in territories administered by Bulgaria during the war.
This article examines how that official discourse is translated into educational narratives through state requirements and history textbooks. It asks what Bulgarian students are expected to learn about the ‘rescue’ and the rescuers of the Jews, and analyzes how the theme is presented in terms of scope, depth, and emphasis. The findings show that textbooks largely reproduce the official discourse, but in the form of simplified narratives that place collective ‘rescue’ at the center, silence Jewish voices, and obscure contradictions in Bulgaria’s wartime policies. The article concludes by discussing the implications of these representations for Bulgaria’s nation-building strategies, as well as for the projection of a positive national image abroad.
Abstract: The article examines the challenges of antisemitism-critical education in Germany in the aftermath of the events of October 7, 2023. It highlights how structural deficits, limited professional training, and the constraints of funding frameworks often leave educational practitioners unable to adequately identify or address antisemitism. Empirical evidence demonstrates that schools and youth welfare organizations frequently rely on repressive measures rather than dialogical approaches, which complicates the protection of Jewish students. The article outlines the theoretical foundations of antisemitism-critical education, differentiates it from preventive education paradigms, and discusses its implications for the German educational landscape. It further critically considers the dependence on project-based funding, the predominance of security-oriented logic, and the strong institutional focus on schools. Finally, it argues for an emancipatory approach to antisemitism-focused education in Germany, emphasizing multi-professional collaboration, structural reform, and the creation of learning environments that go beyond a purely preventive framework.
Abstract: Israel-related forms of antisemitism belong to the most widely distributed patterns of this hatred. Despite the broad covering of the Middle East conflict in the German public discourse, this subject is not prominently represented in the education system (teacher training, school books, etc.). To address teachers’ insecurities and make specific didactical offers, a range of pedagogical handouts has been published since the 2000s. However, the didactical characteristics and appropriateness of these materials have not been analyzed on a broader scale. This paper offers a rare documental focus, as it presents the results of work with a research corpus that includes 195 scenarios of civic education on the topics of the Middle East conflict and Israel-related antisemitism, for which the approach of Qualitative Content Analysis has been used. Based on this research, a typology of didactical approaches has been developed, taking into account didactical and content-related dimensions. This typology can be used to precisely identify and address currently existing lacunae in antisemitism-related education. In addition, this paper discusses the specific contributions of educational materials of each type to antisemitism prevention as well as their non-intended effects.
Abstract: En dépit d'une ancienne présence sur le territoire de la France, les Juifs, parmi les diverses populations assemblées dans la construction historique de la nation française, semblent n'avoir pas été, pendant longtemps, considérés comme un élément constitutif du groupe national. La recherche se propose d'examiner cette dissonance entre la mémoire nationale et l'histoire, à travers ce que l'Ecole, pièce essentielle d'un dispositif de transmission, a retenu des Juifs dans l'histoire enseignée depuis plus d'un siècle, et qui se trouve à présent conservé dans les manuels scolaires. Ceux-ci, en effet, sans avoir été conçus pour cet usage, témoignent des termes dans lesquels une société élabore son passé historique et souhaite le transmettre aux générations ultérieures, dans une forme où se mêlent une préoccupation d'éducation civique et une volonté de diffusion de la connaissance. Des débuts de la Troisième république à nos jours, les manuels permettent d'observer quelle sorte de représentation des Juifs la mémoire historique de la France, modelée par une conception puissamment unitaire, a pu élaborer ; comment et selon quels mécanismes ces images perdurent, s'effacent ou se modifient. Les Juifs de l'histoire de France apparaissent alors étroitement liés à l'idée même de nation.
Topics: Holocaust: Education, Antisemitism: Education against, Curriculum and Schoolbooks, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Reactions and Consequences Outside Region, Israeli-Arab Conflict: Reactions and Consequences Outside Region, Jewish Relations With Non-Jews: Jewish - Muslim Relations, Islamophobia, Main Topic: Holocaust Legacies and Memorial, Schools: Non-Jewish, Teachers, Teaching and Pedagogy
Abstract: German Chancellor Angela Merkel's 'open-door' policy towards the recent wave of migrants and refugees to Europe shows promise for expanding the workforce and increasing diversity, yet opens up some significant cultural and religious differences. Although the government has created programs to aid in their transition, little attention has been paid to how school curriculum, particularly education on the Holocaust, is presented to students for whom the event lacks personal, religious, or social relevance or who may have been taught that it is a fabrication. This study focuses on how classroom material presents the rise of National Socialism and the Holocaust through a document analysis of curriculum materials from a Gymnasium in Hamburg, Germany. Results show that even at the highest level of the education system, students are not being presented with the material in a way that draws relevance to the present day nor fosters meaning for recent immigrants. For the Holocaust, which is both a significant historical event and a critical lesson in the importance of universal human rights, effective education is imperative in order to combat present global trends of radicalism and intolerance.
Abstract: Swedish textbooks take a respectful and structured approach to complex historical subjects, including Jewish identity and the Holocaust, according to IMPACT-se’s Swedish textbook review. The study finds that Swedish textbooks generally align with curriculum guidelines and present Jews in a historically, demographically, and religiously neutral way. The Holocaust is comprehensively covered, with clear recognition of Jewish victimhood and historical events. Judaism is treated on equal footing with other world religions, and Jewish history and culture are described in detail. Stereotypical or prejudicial depictions are avoided.
However, the report also includes recommendations to further improve the curriculum. These include a critical refutation of antisemitic stereotypes and a full exploration of the reasons behind historical and modern antisemitism. Similarly, while the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is included with the intent of balance, it is frequently oversimplified, and consequently greater explanation of ideological perspectives and clarity around key terms is recommended.
Abstract: IMPACT‑se’s France Textbook Review—part of our eight‑country Europe research program—examines how Jews, Judaism, Israel and antisemitism are portrayed across the national history curriculum (Grades 4–9) and leading high school textbooks (Grades 10–12), measuring alignment with UNESCO standards for peace and tolerance.
While the report finds solid content on Jewish-related themes including antisemitism, the Holocaust and Israel, it also highlights gaps that obscure the fuller story of Jewish life. In particular, there is room for expansion on Jewish contributions to French society, Napoleon’s Jewish emancipation and Vichy collaboration during the Holocaust. Due to France’s strict separation of state and religion, Jewish content is included only in historical and civic contexts.
France hosts Europe’s largest Jewish community (about 446,000 people), but antisemitic incidents have surged—from 436 in 2022 to 1,676 in 2023—and high‑profile attacks such as the 2012 Toulouse school shooting and the 2015 Hypercacher supermarket massacre underscore the importance of accurate education.
Abstract: Teaching and education mirror what societies want to preserve, initiate, and pass along. Thus, the impact of teachers and school textbooks cannot be overestimated. It is absolutely necessary, therefore, to ensure high-quality textbooks, which convey balanced views as well as intellectual and unbiased approaches to the topics. The present study by historian and Holocaust education expert Dr. Melanie Carina Schmoll, PhD, offers a fresh approach to analyzing the subjects of Jews, Judaism, current Israel and the Arab-Israeli and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts in curricula and relevant textbooks. The study indicates the status of information, problematic content, or words in curricula and history textbooks used in the German province of North Rhine-Westphalia. Besides analyzing and just denouncing mistakes, the study also provides options for an exchange of difficult and/ or incorrect content in the textbooks. The study assists authors and editors to write and develop unbiased textbooks in the future.
Abstract: Teaching about the Holocaust is a deeply sensitive and controversial topic in the Republic of Latvia. Due to a Soviet-imposed silence on the topic and the developing nature of democratic education in Latvia, many schools cover this history superficially, if it is covered at all. This study examines a cross-cultural curriculum development project that sought to break the historical silence surrounding the Holocaust in Latvia and provide Latvian teachers with an inviting, defensible, and efficacious curriculum that is both sensitive to societal reluctance to discuss the Holocaust and responsive to the needs of students living in a pluralistic democracy. This ethnographic and descriptive case study draws on multiple interviews with curriculum writers and project personnel, as well as field notes from the 18 month project, and examines how writers arrived at the curricular purposes, aims, goals, and content that would open this closed area. Significant findings include new understandings of the challenges and promises of cross-cultural curriculum deliberation, as well as an analysis of the choices involved in creating a new Holocaust curriculum. These findings suggest numerous implications and considerations for other former Soviet republics and more established democracies grappling with how to develop curricula through just processes while producing materials that foster democratic citizenship.
Topics: Holocaust: Education, Citizenship and Nationality, Curriculum and Schoolbooks, Evaluation and Impact, Main Topic: Holocaust Legacies and Memorial, Longitudinal Studies, Schools: Primary / Elementary, Schools: Non-Jewish, Prejudice, Values, Discrimination
Abstract: Amsterdam’s National Holocaust Museum is due to open in March 2024. It is the first and only museum to tell the story of the attempt by the Nazis to eradicate Jews from the Netherlands, a history of segregation, persecution, and murder. Yet the story is also one of rescue, survival, and solidarity. One of the museum’s main goals is to engage visitors by involving them in a learning experience, in particular, to encourage young people to study and to develop the skills they need to be able to understand the past, to see how this impacts the present, and to recognize and challenge discrimination and antisemitism today. This article begins by sketching the presentation in the new museum and examines how the museum’s educational facilities (presentation and programs) encourage audiences to think about what they can do to combat discrimination in general, and antisemitism in particular.
Abstract: Depuis 2012, l’histoire de la mémoire du génocide des Juifs est étudiée en terminale (série L, ES) dans le cadre du chapitre portant sur « L’historien et les mémoires de la Seconde Guerre mondiale ». Si les enseignants sont sollicités chaque année à l’occasion de journées commémoratives pour transmettre à leurs élèves la mémoire de la Shoah, porteuse d’un enjeu civique, l’introduction dans les programmes de ce sujet d’histoire relève d’une ambition pédagogique qui doit nécessairement s’articuler à la recherche scientifique. Dans cette perspective, cet article fait le point sur les récentes avancées historiographiques concernant l’histoire de la mémoire du génocide des Juifs en France qui permettent d’affiner un découpage chronologique que plusieurs manuels scolaires présentent de façon caricaturale. Il convient ainsi de remplacer le schéma narratif classique polarisé autour de « oubli/mémoire/temps du devoir de mémoire » par une périodisation qui prend en compte les traces -éparses mais significatives- de la mémoire du génocide dans la société française dès les années 1950, ce qui relativise fortement la thèse de son oubli. Les années 1970 et surtout 1980 sont marquées par des mises en récit publiques du génocide qui le situent dans un horizon commun de plus en plus partagé en le référant à des enjeux contemporains (lutte contre le négationnisme et l’antisémitisme, lutte contre l’extrême droite, reconnaissance et réparations dues aux victimes, reconnaissance officielle de la participation active de Vichy, exercice de la justice pour les crimes contre l’humanité). La prise en compte de cette mémoire dans les années 1990 par un État qui reconnait sa responsabilité historique dans le crime génocidaire entraîne de nombreuses actions publiques qui se déclinent sous différentes formes (commémorations, mémoriaux, voyages scolaires). L’Ecole est alors mobilisée comme un acteur privilégié de la transmission de cette mémoire qui est investie d’enjeux éducatifs fondés sur la promotion des valeurs des droits de l’homme et du vivre ensemble.
Abstract: W polskim dyskursie publicznym zauważalna jest ciągłość form antysemickich. Według najnowszych badań, z postaw antysemickich się nie wyrasta, a co gorsza, doszło do rewitalizacji mitu o współodpowiedzialności Żydów za śmierć Jezusa Chrystusa. My, jako członkowie i członkinie Żydowskiego Stowarzyszenia Czulent, zaniepokojeni tym faktem, podjęliśmy się zadania zweryfikowania, dlaczego antysemityzmem zainfekowane są coraz młodsze osoby.
W tym celu postanowiliśmy przeanalizować podręczniki edukacji nieformalnej i podręczniki szkolne, dopuszczone do użytku szkolnego przez Ministerstwo Edukacji Narodowej i sprawdzić, czy i jak w podręcznikach przedstawiane są informacje o szeroko rozumianej kulturze, tradycji i historii Żydów w Polsce. Interesowała nas jakość i rzetelność tych informacji.
Dzięki pomocy m.in. Centrum Badań Holokaustu Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, zrekrutowaliśmy/zrekrutowałyśmy studentki ostatniego roku judaistyki oraz doktorantki Centrum Badań Holocaustu, które przeanalizowały podręczniki.
Na podstawie zebranych materiałów, Alina Cała, Bożena Keff i Anna Lipowska-Teutsch przygotowały artykuły analizujące zastane treści. Interesowało nas to, jaki wpływ treść zawarta w podręczniku ma na młodego odbiorcę i młodą odbiorczynię, uwzględniając tutaj aspekt kulturowy, socjologiczny, historyczny
i psychologiczny. Każdy artykuł wykorzystuje zebrane cytaty z podręczników do języka polskiego, historii, historii i społeczeństwa, wychowania do życia w rodzinie i wiedzy o społeczeństwie. Chcąc ułatwić czytelnikowi/czytelniczce weryfikację cytatów, za każdym razem podawaliśmy w przypisach pełny adres bibliograficzny podręcznika.
Naszym celem było również stworzenie publikacji edukacyjnej, która ma służyć jako narzędzie dla osób zajmujących się edukacją formalną i nieformalną oraz przeciwdziałaniem antysemityzmowi. Dlatego też zostały opracowane artykuły poruszające kwestię antysemityzmu w przestrzeni publicznej (Anna Zawadzka), zjawiska antysemityzmu w Polsce (Anna Makówka-Kwapisiewicz) oraz aspekty psychologiczne i prawne mowy nienawiści (Beata Zadumińska i Szymon Filek).
Spis treści:
Wstęp
Zjawisko antysemityzmu w Polsce na podstawie badań
Analiza podręczników szkolnych i scenariuszy zajęć
Kultura i społeczeństwo w podręcznikach szkolnych z przedmiotów humanistycznych
Kulturoznawcza analiza zawartości podręczników szkolnych związanych z treściami dotyczącymi Żydów (i pokrewnymi)
Pochwała myślenia krytycznego
„Kultywujemy polskość”. Antysemityzm w przestrzeni publicznej
Mowa nienawiści. Sprawcy. Ofiary. Świadkowie
Mowa nienawiści. Aspekty prawne
Biogramy autorów i autorek
. Informacja o projekcie
Informacja o Żydowskim Stowarzyszeniu Czulent
Publikacja powstała w ramach projektu „Antysemityzm nie jest poglądem” zrealizowanego w ramach programu Obywatele dla Demokracji, finansowanego z Funduszy EOG, a także ze środków The Kronhill Pletka Foundation, International Council of Jewish Women, Network of East-West Women oraz dzięki dotacji Kennetha Slatera, Allena Haberberga, Shaloma Levy i Michaela Traisona.
Abstract: Continuity and Change: Ten Years of Teaching and Learning about the Holocaust in England’s secondary schools, published in 2023, explores the development of Holocaust education in the decade following the Centre’s landmark 2009 study Teaching about the Holocaust in English Secondary Schools: An empirical study of national trends, perspectives and practice
The Continuity and Change study examines teachers’ aims, definitions, content, pedagogy, assessment, knowledge, understanding, curriculum planning, challenges encountered and training experiences in 2019/20 and explores how this compares with the situation in 2009. Like its counterpart in 2009, the Continuity and Change study took a mixed methods approach. In total, 1,077 teachers from across England completed a comprehensive survey with 964 of them reporting they had taught about the Holocaust during the previous three years. Interviews were conducted with a subsample of survey respondents to discuss their teaching practice in greater depth. In total, 134 teachers from 45 schools across England took part in either small group or individual interviews.
