Society for the History of Education

"Who Will Tell Them after We're Gone?": Reflections on Teaching the Holocaust Author(s): Donald Schwartz Source: The History Teacher, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Feb., 1990), pp. 95-110 Published by: Society for the History of Education Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/494918 Accessed: 17/12/2008 00:40
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"WhoWill Tell Them After We're Gone?":Reflections On Teachingthe Holocaust

Donald Schwartz
California State University,Long Beach

to about Holocaust. the addresses issuesrelated teaching therfore, article, for including infamous a this It seeksto establish rationale episodein a how andto illustrate a studyof theNaziatrocity socialstudies curriculum, at holdsuniversal lessonsfor students all gradelevels. for The concernsexpressed the survivors seems unjustified, it is by willnotbetransmitdeath of inconceivable thehorrors Hitler's that camps even withoutbenefitof first-hand ted to futuregenerations, testimony. and of the Thevisualrecord theovens,thecattletrains, gaschambers, the in and documented newsreels photographs, undoubtedly clearly butchery, into will etchthelessonsof theHolocaust permanently theconsciousness
The HistoryTeacher Volume 23 Number2 February1990

IN LOS ANGELES,a uniquegroupof individualsregularlymeet to share common experiences of almost five decades ago. They arevictims of the Holocaust, dedicatedto preservingthe memoryof the most terribleevent of this century. As eyewitnesses to history, they frequently address studentsin elementaryand secondaryschools to testify aboutthe Jewish experience in Hitler's Europe. But the numbersof survivors are dwindling, and their greatest fear is that with their passing, the memory and lessons of the Holocaust will be lost to succeeding generations. This

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aboutNazi Germany,but it holds greatsignificance for Germannational consciousness.' ErnstNolte, a leading protagonistin the Historikerstreit, charges that the Nazi period has been turnedinto a "negativemyth,"largely because the historyof the ThirdReich has been writtenby the victorsin WorldWar II. ProfessorNolte maintainsthatHitler's attemptedannihilationof Jews differedlittle from Stalin's terrorin the Soviet Union. "Wasn'tthe Gulag Archipelagomore original than Auschwitz?,"asks Nolte. "Wasn'tclass murderby Bolsheviks logically and actuallypriorto 'racialmurders'by the Nazis?"2Fellow historianJoachimFest supportsNolte in arguingthat

the pastselectivelyandto erasepainfulmemories. Nations,too, seek to dismissor distort historical inglorious episodes.Forexample,considerablecontroversy generated thesanitized was accounts Japan's of role by in WorldWarII as theyappeared Japanese in textbooks. of Descriptions theVietnam textbook omit War,written American authors, by frequently reference AgentOrange thattheconflictresulted a defeatforthe in to (or UnitedStates). The historyof the ThirdReichis already in beingre-evaluated West One and Germany elsewhere. mighteasilydismissneo-Naziandpseudoacademicgroups,such as the Institutefor HistoricalReview which maintains the Holocaust nothingmorethana hoax. However, that was scholarshave also begunto reassessthe significance the of respected horrors thatinfamous In 1986anintellectual era. battle during perpetrated in WestGermany theinterpretation theNaziperiod. over of Some erupted in conservative historians the Federal Republicarguethatfor too long Germans havebeenobsessedwithguiltandshameoverthe recentpast. Thoseacademicians begunto reassess Hitler in anattempt have the era to fostera morepositiveidentification with the German Thateffort past. fueleda debate knownin Germany theHistorikerstreit, warof the as the historians. controversy thusfarfailedto uncover The has new evidence

of a futuregenerationof students.Yet thereis a humantendencyto recall

it is only the technology deaththatdistinguishes of Nazi atrocities from

mass killings perpetrated Russians in this century.3 by Other conservative scholars in the Federal Republic have joined the controversy. Diplomatic historianAndreas Hillgruberis uncomfortable with the attention given to the atrocities committed in Nazi Germany. Hillgruberinsists thatthe destructionof the GermanReich was as greata tragedy as the Holocaust. He thereforeurges that the focus of study shift to the sufferings of German soldiers who fought on the Eastern front duringWorldWarII. He joins Nolte in contendingthatthe Nazi genocide

wasrelative other to such horrors asthemassmurder of twentieth-century the fromStalinist deaths and Armenians, innumerable terror, the resulting massacre Cambodians the Pol Pot regime.4 of by

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The new revisionist argumentthus characterizesthe slaughterof the Jews as an unexceptional chapter in the grim catalog of persecutions throughouthistory. The question of the uniquenessof the Holocaust has serious implicationsfor the Germannationandthe Germanpsyche. If the Final Solution is comparableto othergenocides, then Germanycould be consideredno worse thanothernationswho have committedsuch crimes. But if the Holocaust is deemed exceptional, then the Germanpast and perhapseven the Germancharactermay forever be tainted.5 Tragically, this centuryhas witnessed oppressionin every part of the world. Governmentshave killed theirown citizens on a mass scale in the OttomanEmpire, in the Soviet Union, in South Africa, in Indonesia,in Cambodia,andmost recently,on the streetsof Beijing. But the destruction of European Jewry was different, qualitatively if not quantitatively. EberhardJackel, an authorityon the ThirdReich from the University of Stuttgart,notes that,
The Nazi murderof Jews was unique because never before had a state decided and announced,on the authorityof its responsible leader, that it intendedto kill in its entirety,as faras possible, a particular groupof human its old people, women, children,and infants,and thenput beings including of this decision into action with every possible instrument power available to the state.6

The historians'conflict continuesin West Germany.Criticsregardthe revisionists as apologists who shamefully distort history in order to Nevertherehabilitate Germanpast andrestoreGermannationalism.7 the less, Nolte, Hillgruberandotherconservativehistorianshave won support in political circles andin the responsibleGermanpress.Reinterpreting the Nazi period is hardly the exclusive domain of the German right. Arno Mayer, a historianin the United States who identifies with the political left, arguesthatNazi anti-semitismwas little morethana by-productof the greaterantipathyagainstBolshevism. In a recentlypublishedworkon the Holocaust, Mayer seems to minimize or overlook Nazi attackson Jews that occurredapartfrom the context of anti-Bolshevism.8 as The Nazi pasthas been re-examinedin otherquarters well. The ultraconservative French presidential candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen, who received nearly 15 percentof the vote in the April 1988 nationalelections, has dismissed the Nazi death camps as a "minor point" in history.9 Additional evidence of distortedmemories of the Nazi period abound. Fifty years after Anschluss, many Austrians persist in depicting their nation as the "firstvictim"of Nazi aggression.In fact, Austriansgreeted with unrestrained their German"conquerors" enthusiasm,thousandsof Austriansserved in elite Nazi fighting units duringWorldWarII, and40

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to World II.President War service Nazism Reagan's during understanding of thatperiodof historywas calledintoquestion whenhe honored those buried theGerman at at whichincluded military cemetery Bitburg fortyseven membersof Hitler'sSS troops.Reaganseemedto corroborate the versionof thepastby equating fallenSS withthosewho Hillgruber's intheovensandgaschambers. President The "[The SS] asserted, perished werevictims,just as surelyas thevictimsin theconcentration camps."?1 Suchmisconstruction, is intentional unintentional, alarming those and to who hope that the recollectionof the Holocaustwill remainin the One reporter who recentlyinvestigated collective consciousness. that in history observed "Europeans enough remember that old to those period of deeplyresentbeingreminded it."" Itcouldbe argued suchmanifestations exceptional, thatthe that are and in are lessonsof the Holocaust firmlyimbedded popular consciousness. Butthismaynotbe thecase.Lessthana generation followingtheendof
yearshave not forgottenthe past, but often rememberit too well andthey

percent of all Nazi death camps were staffed by Austrians.The current suffered a lapse of memory over his own presidentof Austriaapparently

WorldWarII, a numberof citizens in Milwaukeewere questionedforjury selection in a case against a local chapterof the National Socialist White People's Party. Of twenty-three randomly selected individuals, all of whom were alive during World War II, virtually none knew anything aboutNazism nor did they associate Nazism with the killing of 6 million of Jews.'2 There is undoubtedlya wider understanding the Holocaust in this decade; nevertheless, a recent survey of 8000 seventeen-yearolds revealed thatnearly a quarterof those intervieweddid not know thatthe term "Holocaust"referredto the Nazi persecutionof Jews during World WarII. Of black childrenincluded in the survey, fewer thanthree in five could correctlydefine the Holocaust.'3 Clearly,the need for teachingthe lessons of the Holocaustgrows more urgent and compelling as the Nazi nightmare dims in the collective consciousness. Therewas an uneasysilence aboutthe Holocaustfor more than two decades following World War II, and the subject was barely toucheduponin schools throughout Europeandthe UnitedStates.Interest was revived in the shadow of the Eichmanntrial and the turmoilof the 1960s. Holocauststudiesbegan to appearin college andsecondaryschool curriculaby the mid-seventies, althoughsome critics felt thatthe subject was given inadequatetreatment.'4 Public interestin the Holocaustcontinued to grow by the later 1970s, and the subject was particularly popularized in 1978 by the NBC- TV presentation, Holocaust. Holocaustcenters were establishedin Philadelphia,New York,Los Angeles, and St. Louis. Courseson the subjectproliferated by 1980, school districtsin twentyand

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five states included a study of the Holocaustin theircurricula.More than 140 institutions of higher learning offered such courses and students reportedthat they felt a strong emotional impact and that the subject stimulatedinterestandexcitementin learing.'5 A high school seniorfrom Willmar, Minnesota, reflected the heightened interest in the Holocaust thusly: "When six million people are killed, and we forget about it, then we've lost the meaning of life."'6 But what has been the state of Holocaust studies in recent years? Has the enthusiasmandinterestmanifestedin the earlypartof this decadebeen sustained?And whatof the qualityof those courses?The answersto these

that a study of the Holocausthas been integratedinto the standard history New York,California,andotherstateshave includedunitson curriculum. the Holocaust in requiredEuropeanand world history courses, usually offered in the tenthgrade. Some districtsintroducethe subjectin courses on humanrights,while othersofferelective courseson the Holocaust.Yet, by 1983 fewer than 1 percentof the nation's 30,000 secondaryschools had Holocaust studies into the curricula.17Althoughthe subject incorporated is commonly covered in world history courses, in a few days at best, a recentstudyby the NationalEndowmentfor the Humanitiesrevealedthat thirty-fourstates do not require any courses on world history in their public schools.18 Evidence also suggests thatthe qualityof teachingon the subject is questionable. Many school systems offering courses on the Holocaust failed to provide adequate teacher training in content and that pedagogy. Consequently,it was reported such courseslacked focus.19

are at On questions somewhat discouraging. the surface least,it appears

clarifyissues relatedto the Holocaust.A 1987 study2l concludedthatmost social studiestextbookson the elementaryschool level makeonly passing referenceto the Holocaust. Of nine books examined,there was a total of nine sentencesrelatedto the Nazi atrocity.The authorsof the surveyfound that while many Americanhistory textbookscontainedsome description of the Holocaust,they uniformlyfailed to containany explanationon the causes of those events. Treatmentof the topic in secondaryworld history texts was more extensive than contained in Americanhistory texts, but again, there was little information about those factors responsible for bringing about the destructionof EuropeanJewry. The Holocaust was mentioned in only one of ten secondarygovernmentand civic textbooks examined in the study. Coverage was similarlylacking in sociology and geography textbooks. History texts on the college level were found

Ina 1983surveyof twelveschoolsin northeast 95 Pennsylvania, percent of respondants answered to the question:"Do you thinkthat the No Holocaust receivesadequate coveragein yourschool'scourses?"20 Textbooks usedin American students and schoolsdo littleto enlighten

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in Onemightexpectthatthe inconsistent theirtreatment the subject. of of most extensivetreatment the Holocaustwould appearin Western in civilizationtextbooks,which cover majordevelopments European in the found of theHolocaust those Nevertheless, survey history. coverage texts"spotty superficial."22 and over has Considerable controversy beengenerated the issueof Holocaust studies.Does the Holocausthold a special place in the school of What is the responsibility educatorsin teachingthe curriculum? this in Is to chapter modern subject? it appropriate present mostunpleasant

study, the Holocaustis both universalandunique.The universalimplications of the Holocaustare firmly groundedin a world where dictatorship, terrorism, and nuclear technology make future Holocausts a distinct possibility. As the ultimate consequence of bigotry, intolerance, and hatred, the Holocaust raises significant and disturbingquestions about people, nations, the use of science and technology, and the human condition. It is a subject deeply rooted in the Europeanpast and can be understoodonly withinthe context of the relationship between Christians

ages, or that the topic is too gruesometo expose to impressionable withthe Some educators practical cite associated youngsters. problems of suchas inadequate textbook teaching the Holocaust, coverageon the that overcrowded. topicanda curriculum is already Theypointoutthat teachersare required cover an enormous overburdened to amountof in content worldhistory coursesandin addition, askedto stressskills are in and Someschoolsalso development reading, writing, critical thinking. insist thateach social studieslesson emphasize values and citizenship education. the only Addinga uniton theHolocaust compounds problem. Thoseobjections the for about the notwithstanding, rationale teaching Holocaust compelling overwhelming. is basedontheassumption is It and thathistory teachlessonsusefulto future can As for generations. a subject

history to school-aged children? The Holocaust does not deserve special attention,some critics maintain, when history is everywhere replete with injustice, suffering and humanmisery.The Holocaustis thereforeregarded some as little more by thananotherepisode in a sequenceof atrocitiescommittedagainsta small numberof people. Why, they ask, should schools mandatean essentially narrow subject that is of concern to but a small segment of the entire American population?Some critics charge that the Holocaust has been overemphasizedandits lessons overgeneralized; they insist thatthe world has taken sufficient notice of the slaughterof millions of Jews, and that such a tragedycould neverhappenagain.Othersobjecton the groundsthat the enormityof the crime rendersit incomprehensiblefor studentsof all

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that be argued theHolocaust no morepeculiar Jewsthanis thestudy is to As "Thesubject stated: of history. oneobserver goes to theveryheart the
of slavery to blacks.23 The Holocaust is more thanjust the experience of European Jewry; it is a seminal event, one which altered the flow of

andJews in history.Againstthe chargethatit is too narrowa subject,it can

be remissin not including topicin its courseof study.Awareness of the the Holocaust heighten student's can a to and sensitivity suffering injusin tice everywhere. canhelpyoungsters It thosetendencies our recognize acts The society thatproduceprejudice, of bigotryand anti-Semitism. Holocaust holdslessonson the darker of human side and nature on the
immoralityof indifference;it has much to presenton the effects of peer pressure, individual responsibility, and the process of decision-making underthe most extremeconditions.It holds lessons on moralchoices and moral reasoning, encouraging students to reflect upon an individual's responsibility to others and to the society as a whole. Furthermore,it teaches the ultimate consequence of racism and the dangers of extreme nationalism. Certainly,the Holocaust is an unsettling subject, one that seriously questionsbasic assumptionsaboutoursociety and its values. It challenges our faith in progress, technology, and education. Taught correctly, the students.Itshoulddispell the subjectshouldconfuse, disturb,andfrustrate but inaccurate impression that Wester civilization has steadily tidy progressedthroughthe ages, thattechnology has always servedthe cause of progress, and that those who perpetrated crime were uneducated the It raises the question of whether, after Auschwitz, it is still hooligans. possible to maintainfaith in progress and belief in God. Studentsshould be disturbedto lear thatHitler'sextermination policy was madepossible the tools of modem technology, that among Hitler's only by employing accomplices were architects,doctors,lawyers, andpsychiatrists,andthat a large percentage of those responsible for the death camps held Ph.D. degrees. Youngsters should question how such destruction could be wrought by a society that was a product of the Enlightenment. The Holocaust stands as a challenge to those nations, including the United

Unlike relationshipbetween man and state in the twentieth century."24 other genocides in this century,the destructionof the Jews was a product of western culture and has left an indelible scar on the collective consciousness of that civilization. "Like the fall of Rome or the French "theHolocaustis one of Revolution,"writeshistorianHenryFriedlander, those historical events that representsan age."25 Indeed, the subject of the Holocaust is too importantnot to teach to youngsters.Althoughthe magnitudeof the Holocauststrainsthe limits of comprehension,it holds lessons so universalthat a school districtwould

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States, which stood passively by and even contributedto the horrorby refusing to accept Europe's Jewish refugees. It representsa challenge to those who openly collaboratedwith the Nazis, and to survivorswho are reluctantto confront and recollect the traumaof the experience. To be sure, the subject can be horrifying and traumaticfor some youngsters. The teacher must take precaution against overwhelming impressionable minds with frightful depictions of piled corpses and endless statisticsattestingto the mass killings. Such anapproach numb can and de-sensitize students,or may even prove entertainingto afficianados the of horrorfilms. On the otherhand,underplaying atrocitiesmight serve the cause of those who seek to minimize or deny the inhumanity.The challenge is to strike a balance to sensitize-not traumatize-students about human behavior and the forces that produce genocide and the Holocaust, in particular. A study of the Holocaustis relevantto the majorissues in social studies education today. It is generally accepted that schools should strive to imbue students with thinking skills. BarryBeyer, an authorityin social studies skills education, maintains that such skills are best taught and reinforcedwhen presentedin the context of the subjectmatterratherthan as isolated lessons on thinking.26A study of the Holocaust confronts studentswith issues thatrequirereflection,analysis,conceptualizing,and even decision-making.It would be impossible, for example, to consider the consequences of stereotyping, bigotry, ethnocentrism, and blind obedience to authority withoutemploying the thinkingskills of inference, problem-solving,evaluatingevidence, distinguishingfact from opinion, detecting bias, identifying unstatedassumptions,among others. It is also relevantto the current controversyover the teachingof morals and values. Over the past few decades critics have equated values and educationwith indoctrination, consequently,schools have de-emphasized the teaching of values. Recently, however, there has been a rising tide of supportfor schools once again to promote a moral climate that elicits respect for honesty, honor,justice and truth.Emile Durkheim,the early champion of a moral education, identified as fundamentalthose values thatupholdhumandignityandthe protectionof life. He furtherheld that it was the responsibilityof schools to reinforcethose values.27 Those

and of veryissues-humandignity thesanctity life-are atthecoreof any The Holocaust curriculum. Holocaust raisesissuesof consciousness and moral andcaneasilyserveas a springboard discussions for responsibility, and on justice,survival, tolerance, civic responsibility. social studieseducatorsregardcitizenshipeducationas the Many concer of thesocialstudies.28 urgethateverysocialstudies They primary class containsome message concerning civic responsibility. Schools

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should teach constructive ways of confronting prejudiceand should preparestudentsto live in harmonywith an increasingly pluralistic research and society.However, suggeststhatmerelyexhorting persuadto and manner littleto reduce does ingstudents actina democratic humane and to prejudice discrimination.29 According GlennS. Pateof theCollege of Education ArizonaUniversity, at students oftenfeel manipulated by lessonsandhuman relations and anti-prejudice training, the experience "If can be superficial. students to studyprejudice," Pate,"the are says shouldbe scholarly cognitive. and The studymaybe partof approaches a sociology,history,anthropology, psychology or unit."30 Pate teaching suggests that studentswould respondmore positively to lessons on if reduction theywereto studybehavior fromtheviewpoint of prejudice an objectiveoutsider.So removed,claimsPate, studentswill not feel or threatened the issuesraisedin thelessons. manipulated personally by It follows thatstudents learnmuchaboutbigotry,intolerance, can and discrimination studyingthe Holocaustsince the phenomenon of by is to destruction European of prejudice central the attempted Jewry. Thereis disagreement thequestion whenyoungsters over of shouldbe to thesubject. Somesuggest students that mustattain degree a of exposed emotional andintellectual inorder comprehend to maturity sophistication theenormity magnitude thegenocide. of and at However, youngsters the earliest canrelate a subject to matter whichincludes obedience to grades individual andthe pressure conform.Other to authority, responsibility, issuescentral theHolocaust, to those domain, particularly in theaffective haverelevance children all grade to at levels.Forexample, children often feelvictimized whatis perceived irrational as by authority; mayhave they felt themselvesthe targetof intolerance discrimination. or in Students be able to empathizewith the victims of the primarygradesmight if Holocaust theteacher touchissuesin their can livesthatrelate power, to and oneselfin a repressive situation. Moral dilemmas, authority, asserting in inherent anystudyof the Holocaust, also usefulin teaching are about issues relating the Holocaust. to oftenconfront of Youngsters problems to and or ethics,suchaswhether tellthetruth facetheconsequences, tolie; whether notto cheaton examinations; or whether report authorities to to on misdeeds theirpeers.Whilesuchchoicesarenotnearlyas difficult of asthosewhichconcentration inmates to confront, had do camp youngsters have a senseof grappling moralissuesunderstressful with conditions. Thereis a morepowerful reasonfor introducing some aspectsof the at Research demonstrated attitudes has that are subject theearliest grades. in formed the earlyyearsof life. Eventhe youngestschoolchildren are aware ethnic, of and differences religious, racial among people.Onestudy maintains the elementary that school years are crucialin determining

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attitudesand feelings towardsvarioussocial groups,and that those to are to attitudes unlikely changeunlesschildren encouraged rethink are A andanalyze thosebeliefs.31 studyby theAnti-Defamation Leagueand of that the University California Berkeley at concluded twelve-year olds had alreadydevelopedstereotypes aboutthe majorracial,ethnic and citedthe socialstudies religiousgroupsin the UnitedStates.The report classroom the appropriate as placeto reduceandcounteract prejudicial can teachers introduce attitudes.32 Accordingly, kindergarten youngsters and and to theideaof "insider" "outsider," whywe mightfearpeoplewho can arenot like us. Students thenbeginto understand conceptssuch as and a for This prejudice scapegoating. will provide foundation whatthey will laterlear aboutthe treatment the Jew,the "eteral stranger" of in Some mightobjectthatthe Holocaustwas a European problem,an whichholdsno relevancy life in the United for episodeof inhumanity Statestoday.But studieshave shownthatundercertain circumstances, Americanshave provenvulnerable blind obedience.Psychologist to werewillingto administer (1963)foundthatvolunteers Stanley Milgram severeelectric because directed shocktohuman subjects, merely 'experts' of them to do so.34 In another case, a classroomsimulation a prison becausestudent scenario to be aborted had wereso willingto "guards" A to mete out punishment student"prisoners."35 teacherin Palo Alto in realized his students that couldnotseparate playingandreality an role a tosimulate fascistmovement calledtheThird Wave.Someof the attempt werequicklyattracted thefascistattitudes trappings to and of youngsters the themovement, theteacher to abort experiment.36 had and Americans of arealsosubject another to The aspect theHolocaust, bystander apathy. in of mostfamous illustration that occurred New Yorkin 1964, phemenon whenthirty-eight while KittyGenovesewas peoplerefusedto respond stabbed death.Studiesby B. Latane J. M. Darley(1968) to and brutally Thusthelessonsof theHolocaust havemeaning societieswiththe for traditions. simplyintroducing most deeply rooteddemocratic But the to students not sufficient,for the impactof teachingaboutthe is topic
furthertestified to the passivity of bystandersin emergency situations.37 Europeansociety.33

attentionto curriculumdesign Holocaust can be lost withoutappropriate and teaching methodologies. In many school districts the Holocaust is introducedas partof a unit on humanrights,in whichthe subjectis taught along with other atrocities and injustices in history. The comparative approachenables students to draw insights concerning conditions that give rise to mass killings, andhelps them understand somethingaboutthe and behaviorof the perpetrators victims of inhumanities.But thatdesign also tends to removeeach case fromits historicalcontext,leaving students

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of with only a superficialunderstanding antecedents,causes and effects. The full dimension of the Holocaust cannot possibly be understood unless presentedwithin the frameworkof a Europeanhistory that highlights the treatmentof Jews from the time of earliest Christianity.The Final Solution was the end-productof centuriesof accusationsandlibels aimed at Jews, of attacks on Jewish communities by Crusadersand by Russian Cossacks, of virulent diatribes. Martin Luther, for example, attackedJews with a languageeven moreviolent thanHitler's,calling for the destructionof synagogues andthe expulsionof Jews fromGermany.38 Lutherbeseeched his followers: "Know Christianthat next to the Devil thou hast no enemy more cruel, more venomous and violent than a true Jew."39 Studentsmay be surprisedto learn that with the exception of the Final Solution, every anti-Jewishmeasure imposed by the Nazi regime had its precedentin history. The subjectlends itself to more generalthemes as well. A unit on the Holocaust will necessarily introducestudentsto the topics of anti-Semiand tism, totalitarianism, scapegoating,but it also offers the opportunity to analyzevariousaspectsof humanbehavior.Forexample, a studyof the indifferenceto the fate of Jews by many people duringthe Hitler apparant period can lead to a more generaldiscussion of the dangerof passivity in the face of evil. The teachercan use a varietyof excellent resourcesto help students focus on the problem, including Maurice Ogden's poem "The Hangman," Elie Wiesel's The Town Beyond the Wall, and the song "Outside a Small Circle of Friends"by folksinger Phil Ochs.40Arthur Morse's WhileSix Million Died, and David Wyman's TheAbandonment of the Jews addressthe issue of Americanapathyduringthe Holocaust.41 In additionto a study of specific conditionsthatlead to the Holocaust, and studentscan examine the more generalconditionsof fear,frustration, insecurity that lead groups to commit unspeakable crimes. How does prejudice get translatedinto the systematic murderof an entire people bor of a certainreligion?Insteadof dwelling only on Hitler,the teacher shouldraisethe questionof why the masses of Germansobeyed Hitlerand respondedto his pathological fantasies. The Painted Bird,42a novel by Jerzy Kosinski, gives insight to this dark side of human behavior. It addresses the problem of how a group, feeling threatenedby someone whom they perceive as different,tries to destroy the outsider. The Holocaust is an emotional topic and as such, students should be given the opportunityto react and express their feelings, and to listen to can the sentimentsof theirclassmates.Artandliterature serve as excellent vehicles for that purpose. Literaturecan heighten an empatheticawareness of issues relatedto the mass murder.Books thatconvey feelings and emotions can lend insight andsensitivity to a subjectthatmight otherwise

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Another effectivedeviceto bring subject life is under examination. the to and the survivors thosewho liberated concentration to inviteHolocaust withschool-aged youngsters. campsto sharetheirexperiences with and can TheHolocaust, all its irrationality inhumanity, alsobe an The shouldnot fail to discuss and subject. teacher uplifting inspirational out The thoseepisodesthatbrought the heroicin the human condition.
people of Denmark, for example, refused to allow Danish Jews to be roundedup and deported,and consequently, 95 percent of the Jews in Denmarksurvived World War II. The Holocaust is also the story of the FrenchvillagersofLe ChambonsurLignon who gave refugeto thousands of Jews in the face of Nazi threats.Studentsshouldbe told of the resistance to Nazism as demonstrated the White Rose in Munich and by underby groundmovementsin occupiedEurope.The uniton the Holocaustshould emphasize the heroism of 'Righteous Gentiles' such as the Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenbergand Tibor Baranskiwho saved the lives of thousandsof HungarianJews, and GermanindustrialistEduardSchulte, who first informedthe world aboutthe Holocaust.It should puncturethe myth of Jewish passivity by highlighting the uprisings in ghettos in Warsaw and in Byelorussia, as well as the revolt in the Treblinkadeath camp. It should familiarizestudentswith the non-violent forms of resistance to the Nazi program.It should stress the indominatabilityof the human spirit by telling the stories of those who managedto survive the horror.46

groupswhich will then reporton how it would resolve the moraldilemma

of various students writeabout to aspects thetopic.Theuseof role-playing for students identify empathize to and with is aneffectivestrategy getting The subjectalso lends itself to individuals involvedin the Holocaust. in use dilemmas whichstudents mustdecidewhat classroom of moral they In for a woulddo in a givensituation. one scenario, example, Jewishgirl Shouldthe friend,a begs herbest friendto hideherfromthe Gestapo.45 The risk Christian, herown safetyandthatof herfamily? teacher might wantto use a cooperative the learning approach breaking class into by

Art seem uncomprehensible.43 helps youngsters confront their feelings and can serve as an outlet for self-expression. Students can connect emotionally with the victims by studyingthe artproducedin the concentrationcamps.44 Anotherway to promoteself-expression is to encourage

In summary, at thereis clearlya need to teachyoungsters all grade to levelsabout Naziprogram Jews.Itis important helpstudents the against was the realize theHolocaust nota freak that but occurance, rather product of the outgrowth philosophical, of deep-seated political,and prejudice, rootedin the European social currents past. A courseor unit on the shouldmeetthe followingobjectives: Holocaust

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the a) to disseminatefacts surrounding systematicdestructionof the Jews, particularlyin light of neo-Nazi literaturethat denies the atrocity; b) to help students understandhow a highly cultured and highly educated society could perpetratecrimes against humanity; c) to help studentsrecognize sources of prejudice,hatredand intolerance, and the ultimateconsequence of anti-Semitism; d) to help studentsrecognizethe ultimatedangerof blind obedience to a state that fosters unethical and immoralacts; e) to make students aware of the individual's responsibility in a democraticsociety; to have studentsreflecton issues of conscience andmoralresponf) sibility; and g) to encourage students to recognize the danger of apathy and thereby preventthe possibility of a futureHolocaust. Teaching aboutthe Holocaustis a mission of the highest order,one that will assure the survivorsthat the lessons will be rememberedlong after they aregone. A decadeago, Elie Wiesel addressedthe issue againstthose who deny or minimize the importanceof the event. "Shouldthe teachers fail," said Wiesel, worse thanwhat we only then will we feel and experience something then.We shallfeel shamebecausewe will havebetrayed the experienced
victims for the last time, we will have completed the killer's work.47 should these desecratorssucceed in erasing the memories of theirvictims,

Notes
Forsourceson thecontroversy,see KarenJ.Winkler,"German 1. ScholarsSharply Divided Over Place of Holocaust in History," and Wanda Menke-Glukert,"German Historians Debate 'Revisionist' View of the Third Reich," in The Chronicle of Higher New Education,May 27, 1987,6; GordonA. Craig,"TheWarof the GermanHistorians," YorkReview of Books (January15, 1987), 16-19; Geoff Eley, "Nazism, Politics and the 1986- 1987,"Past and Image of the Past:Thoughts on the West GermanHistorikerstreit Present 121 (November 1988), 170-208; CharlesMaier,The UnmasterablePast (Cambridge, MA, 1988). Foradiscussionof themethodologicaldimensionsof theHistorikerstreit, see RichardJ. Evans,'The New NationalismandtheOld History:Perspectiveson theWest GermanHistorikerstreit," Journal of ModernHistory 59 (1987), 761-97. 2. Emst Nolte, "Vergangenheit,die nicht vergehen will: Eine Rede, die geschrieben, aber nicht gehalten werden konnte,"Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (June 6, 1986); reprinted in "Historikerstreit":Die Dokumentation der Kontroverse um die Einzigartigkeit der nationalsozialistischen Judenvernichtung(Munich, 1987), 39-47, cited in Eley, "Nazism, Politics and the Image of the Past,"p. 173.

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3. Maier, The UnmasterablePast, p. 67. 4. Andreas Hillgruber,Zweierlei Untergang: Die Zerschlagung des deutschen Reiches und das Ende des europaischenJudentums,Berlin: 1986. 5. Maier, The UnmasterablePast, p. 2. 6. Eberhard Das Jackel,"Die elende Praxisder Untersteller: Einmaligedernationalsozialistischen Verbrechenlasst sicht nicht leugnen,"Die Zeit (September 12, 1986), quoted in Evans, "The New Nationalism and the Old History,"p. 782. For a broader discussionon thedifferencesbetweentheHolocaustandothermasskillings, see Maier,The UnmasterablePast, pp. 66-99. 7. Leon Botstein, "Haunted History,"TheNew Republic(April3, 1989),38-40; By ScholarsSharplyDividedOverPlaceof Holocaustin History"; MenkeWinkler,"German Glukert,"GermanHistoriansDebate 'Revisionist' View of the ThirdReich". 8. Aro J. Mayer,WhyDid theHeavensNotDarken?TheFinalSolution inHistory, New York: 1988. The New YorkTimes, September16, 1987, 3. 9. 10. GeoffreyH. Hartman, Bitburgin MoralandPoliticalPerspective, Bloomington, Indiana:1986, p. xiv. 11. JudithMiller,"Erasingthe Past,"TheNew YorkTimes Magazine,November 16, 1986, VI, 30. 12. RogerSimon,"AHorror ErasedFromMemory,"ChicagoSunTimes, 1976, cited in TeachingAboutthe Holocaust and Genocide: Introduction, The HumanRights Series Vol. I, State EducationDepartment New York, 1985, pp. 2-3. of 13. Diane Ravitch and ChesterE. Finn, Jr., WhatDo Our 17-Year-OldsKnow?A Reporton the FirstNationalAssessmentof HistoryandLiterature,(New York, 1987), 6163. 14. HenryFriedlander, "Towarda Methodologyof TeachingAboutthe Holocaust," in Teachers College Record, 80, February1979; Glenn S. Pate, "The Teaching of the Holocaust History: Inadequaciesin Textbooks,"Patterns of Prejudice, 12, September/ October 1978. 15. MaryT. Glynn,et al., AmericanYouthand the lolocaust: A Studyof FourMajor Holocaust Curricula,National Jewish Resource Center,New York, N.Y., 1982; Charles W. Sydnor,Jr.,"How Can You Bear To Study the Holocaust?How Can We Not?,"in The Chronicle of Higher Education,September16, 1987, p. A52. 16. Quoted in William F. Borth, "HolocaustStudies: We Need To Do More," in Clearing House, 56, April 1983, p. 346. 17. Borth, "HolocaustStudies,"p. 345. 18. New YorkTimes, March23, 1988, p. B10. 19. Friedlander,"Towarda Methodology of Teaching About the Holocaust,"pp. 520-522. 20. RobertGerrityandRobertClarke,"HolocaustStudies:An Approachto Peace," in Momentum,14, December 1983, pp. 36-37. 21. RandolphL. Braham,ed., The Treatmentof the IHolocaustin Textbooks:The Federal Republic of Germany,Israel, The United States of America, (New York, 1987). 22. Ibid., p. 308. 23. "Teachingthe Holocaust,"New YorkTimes (September11, 1987). 24. ClaireHirschfield,"Teachingthe Holocaust:A ConceptualModel," in Improving College and UniversityTeaching, 29, Winter 1981, p. 24. 25. Friedlander, "Towarda Methodologyof TeachingAboutthe Holocaust," 522. p. 26. Barry K. Beyer, Practical Strategies for the Teaching of Thinking, (Boston, 1987).

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27. Emile Durkheim,MoralEducation:AStudyin theTheoryandApplicationof the Sociology of Education, (New York, 1961). 28. Robert D. Barr, James L. Barth, and S. Samuel Shermis, Defining the Social Studies, Bulletin 51, (Arlington,Virginia, 1977). 29. Nina Hersch Gabelko, "PrejudiceReductionin Secondary Schools," in Social Education, 52, April/May 1988, pp. 276-279. 30. Glenn S. Pate, "Researchon Prejudice,"in Social Education, 52, April/May 1988, 287-289. in of 31. P.A. Katz,"DevelopmentalFoundations GenderandRacialAttitudes," The Child's Constructionof Social Inequality,editedby R.L. Leahy,(New York, 1983), 41-78. 32. FrancisM. Sonnenschein,"CounteringPrejudicedBeliefs and Behaviors:The inSocial Education,52, April/May1988, p. 265. Role of the Social Studies Professional," 33. For a useful bibliogrphy on Holocaust material suitable for primary grade students,see RobertColes, "The HolocaustandToday's Kids,"Learning, 12, November for 1983, pp. 43-46; for books appropriate studentsin middle and secondaryschool, see Barbara Ellerman,"MoreBooks AboutWarandthe Holocaust," Learning, 12, November 1983, p. 46. 34. StanleyMilgram,"BehavioralStudyof Obedience,"inJournalofAbnormaland Social Psychology, 67, 1963, pp. 371-378. 35. C. Haney, C. Banks, and P. Zimbardo,"Interpersonal Dynamics in a Simulated Prison,"in InternationalJournal of Criminologyand Penology, 1973, 1, pp. 69-97. 36. Roselle Chartock,"TeachingAbout the Holocaust,"in Today's Education,68, Feb./Mar. 1979, pp. 34-37. 37. B. Latane and J.M. Darley, "GroupInhibition of Bystander Interventionin Emergencies,"in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 10, 1968, pp. 221-225. 38. MartinGilbert,The Holocaust, New York: 1985, p. 19. 39. Lucy S. Dawidowicz, The WarAgainstthe Jews 1933-1945, (New York, 1976), 29. For further examples of Luther's anti- Jewish rhetoric, see Raul Hilberg, The Destruction of the EuropeanJews, (New York, 1961), 9-10. 40. Maurice Ogden, "The Hangman," 1959, reprinted in Teaching About the Holocaust and Genocide, pp. 9-10; Elie Wiesel, The TownBeyond the Wall, (New York, 1964). 41. ArthurD. Morse, WhileSix MillionDied, (New York, 1968); David S. Wyman, The Abandonmentof the Jews, (New York, 1985). 42. Jerzy Kosinski, The Painted Bird, (Boston, 1976). 43. For a selected bibliographyon Holocaust literature gradelevel, see Barbara by C. Ganz, "HolocaustLiterature: Hope for Understanding," Our paperpresentedat Annual Meeting of the Easter Regional Conference of the InternationalReading Association, Boston, MA (December 2-5, 1982). 44. For a collection of poems and drawings by Jewish children in the Terezin concentrationcamp, see I Never Saw AnotherButterfly,(New York, 1978). 45. "Helga's Dilemma,"taken from Edwin Fenton,et al., Teacher's Guidefor the Shaping of WesternSociety: An InquiryApproach,(New York, 1974), 183-185. 46. Recent books on the topic of resistance andrescue include: LindaAtkinson,In Kindling Flame: The Story of lIanna Senesh, 1921-1944, (New York, 1985); Leo Goldberger,ed., The Rescue of the Danish Jews, (New York, 1987); Douglas K. Huneke,The Moses ofRovno, (New York, 1985); WalterLaqucurand RichardBreitman,Breakingthe Silence, (New York, 1986); Primo Levi, If Not Now, When, (New York, 1985); Carol Rittner and Sondra Myers, eds., The Courage to Care: Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust, (New York, 1986);NechamaTec, WhenLightPiercedtheDarkness:Christian

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Rescue ofJews inNazi-OccupiedPoland,(Oxford,1986);SusanZuccotti,TheItaliansand the Holocaust: Persecution, Rescue, and Survival, (New York, 1987). 47. Elie Wiesel, "ThenandNow: The Experiencesof a Teacher,"in Social Education, 42, April 1978, p. 269.