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Does addressing prejudice and discrimination through Holocaust education produce better citizens?

Author(s): Cowan, Paula; Maitles, Henry

Date: 2007

Topics: Holocaust Education, Citizenship, Curriculum, Evaluation, Main Topic: Holocaust and Memorial, Longitudinal Studies, Schools: Primary / Elementary, Schools: Non-Jewish

Abstract: Previous research on teaching the Holocaust, primarily case studies in either the primary or the secondary sectors, suggests that Holocaust education can contribute to pupils' citizenship values in a positive way. Yet, in common with other initiatives, this evidence focuses exclusively on the short term impact of Holocaust education. Our ongoing longitudinal research is concerned with both the immediate and longer term effects of Holocaust education on pupils' values and attitudes. Initially focused on primary pupils aged 11–12 years, it has followed them into the first year of secondary to examine whether the general improvements in attitudes found in the first stage of the research has been maintained. Further, we are able to compare their attitudes with pupils in their year who did not study the Holocaust in their primary schools. This article draws conclusions from this study.

Countering antisemitism through Holocaust education. A comparative perspective on Scotland and Austria

Author(s): Rajal, Elke

Date: 2024

Topics: Antisemitism: Education against, Holocaust Education, Evaluation, Main Topic: Holocaust and Memorial

Abstract: There is an emerging debate in the field as to whether or not Holocaust education is effective in combating antisemitism. This paper aims to provide explanations for the frequently observed ineffectiveness of Holocaust education in reducing antisemitism by examining two cases that are in many ways diametrically opposed: Scotland as a former part of the Allied Forces and Austria as a post-Nazi state. The case studies focus on overlapping, contrasting and conflicting understandings of Holocaust education and the role of antisemitism within it. The perspective is primarily sociological, inspired by Critical Theory. Evidence is based on research papers and basic documents from the field of Holocaust education (curricula, websites of key actors and educational materials). It is interpreted according to the principles of qualitative content analysis. Findings suggest that in both cases opportunities to address and reduce antisemitism are being missed: In the Scottish case, the teaching of the Holocaust tends to downplay the specific Jewish experience and largely fails to address antisemitism, or does so in a very simplistic way. In the Austrian case, antisemitism is talked about, but in the context of widespread secondary antisemitism it risks being explained and understood in ways that are themselves antisemitic.

Democratic pilgrimage: Swedish students’ understanding of study trips to Holocaust memorial sites

Author(s): Flennegård, Ola; Mattsson, Christer

Date: 2023

Topics: Educational Tours, Holocaust Memorials, Holocaust Education, Main Topic: Holocaust and Memorial, Students, Teenagers, Schools: Seconday / High Schools, Democracy, Discourse and Discourse Analysis

Abstract: This article focuses on Swedish students’ understanding of study trips to Holocaust memorial sites. Although about a quarter of all Swedish teenagers visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum each year, with the majority visiting as students as part of their school curriculum, this study is the first to examine these study trips from a student perspective. By applying critical discourse analysis, this article analyses 49 students’ reflections, written before, during, and after two study trips. The results suggest that the study trips’ discursive practice, which constitutes and is constituted by the study trips’ social practice, is regulated by a discursive order termed democratic pilgrimage. In addition, this article reveals two didactic deviations from previous research on study trips: the students’ positive feelings in relation to the Polish environment and the balance between victim and perpetrator perspectives. The latter creates tension within the students and is solved via articulations of democratic values.