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Learning from genocide? A study in thefailure of Holocaust educationGeoffrey Short aa University of Hertfordshire , UKPublished online: 21 Aug 2006.
To cite this article: Geoffrey Short (2005) Learning from genocide? A study in the failure ofHolocaust education, Intercultural Education, 16:4, 367-380, DOI: 10.1080/14675980500303845
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Intercultural Education,Vol. 16, No. 4, October 2005, pp. 367–380
ISSN 1467-5986 (print)/ISSN 1469-8439 (online)/05/040367–14© 2005 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/14675980500303845
Learning from genocide? A study in the failure of Holocaust education
Geoffrey Short*University of Hertfordshire, UKTaylor and Francis LtdCEJI_A_130367.sgm10.1080/14675980500303845Intercultural Education1467-5986 (print)/1469-8439 (online)Original Article2005Taylor & Francis164000000October 2005GeoffreyShortDept. of EducationUniversity of HertfordshireHatfieldHertsAL10 [email protected]
The importance of learning lessons from the Holocaust and from the mass slaughter in Rwandawas recognised in the theme underpinning Britain’s Holocaust Memorial Day in 2004. This articleis principally concerned with the lessons learnt from the Holocaust by a culturally diverse group ofstudents aged 14 to 16. They all attended schools in an outer London borough and were inter-viewed after taking part in a local event held to mark the 2004 commemoration. The articleconcludes with a discussion of the main findings of the investigation.
Introduction
One of the more contentious aspects of teaching about the Holocaust is whether thesubject provides us with any useful lessons. While some writers, such as RonnieLandau (1989), are convinced that it does, others have their doubts. Lionel Kochan(1989), for instance, the prominent Oxford historian, has long been sceptical. Heexpressed his misgivings as far back as 1989 in an article aimed at dissuading theBritish government from incorporating the Holocaust in the National Curriculum.
It is a sad but self-evident fact that knowledge of past brutality and violence has neverprevented their repetition. Anyone who thinks otherwise is best advised to contemplatethe mass of war memorials bearing the inscription ‘Never Again’.
Have these reminders and all the scholarly investigations into the causes of wars, everprevented a recurrence? We hear a great deal about the supposed ‘lessons’ of the Holo-caust; the precedent of the ‘lessons’ of war offers no encouragement at all. (Kochan,1989, p. 25)
Another well-known sceptic is the American historian Peter Novick (1999). Hisreservations stem partly from what he regards as the extreme nature of the Holo-caust; the fact of it being so far removed from everyday life as to have little to teach
*Department of Education, University of Hertfordshire, De Havilland campus, Hatfield,Hertfordshire AL10 9AB, UK. Email: [email protected]
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us about the way people ordinarily behave. In relation to the role of bystanders, forexample, he argues that we can learn nothing from their passivity because of the veryunusual circumstances in which they found themselves. With implicit reference to aNazi edict dating from October 1941, he points out that ‘when Poles were caughthiding Jews, not only they but their entire families were shot’ (Novick, 1999,p. 245). I have responded to the criticisms of Kochan and Novick elsewhere (Short,2003, Short & Reed, 2004), drawing attention in the case of Kochan to the fallacy ofassuming that because various genocides have occurred since the Holocaust, thelatter must necessarily be devoid of useful lessons. Such reasoning overlooks the crit-ical distinction between a historical event providing lessons and those lessons beinglearnt. I believe that Novick, on the other hand, has focused his concerns toonarrowly, for the issue has less to do with whether there are any lessons to be learntfrom the Holocaust itself, than with whether we can learn anything of value from theway in which a relatively normal society was transformed into a highly abnormal oneinfused with a lethal racist ideology. I have suggested that the lessons we might learnfrom events antecedent to the Holocaust relate, among other things, to the right tofree speech, the importance of influential organisations such as the Church speakingout against evil and the need for the educational system to rethink its priorities. Inrespect of the latter, I have urged that more time be devoted in the curriculum tomoral education (with an emphasis on antiracism) and that religion, and especiallythe Jewish origins of Christianity, be handled with greater sensitivity. There are, ofcourse, other lessons to be learnt from events leading up to the Holocaust, not leastthose pertaining to the role of the international community.
In contrast to Kochan, Novick and other critics (e.g. Bartov, 1998; Kinloch,2001), the British government is clearly of the opinion that valuable insights can begleaned from the Holocaust; the theme of the 2004 government-sponsored Holo-caust Memorial Day (HMD) was ‘Lessons learned; lessons still to be learned’. (Itwas a theme intended to apply both to the Holocaust and to the 1994 genocide inRwanda.) Since 1990, the Holocaust, as an integral feature of the Second WorldWar, has been included in the National Curriculum of England and Wales, yet wehave no knowledge of how effectively it is taught in terms of the lessons studentslearn. Awareness of the nature and appropriateness of these lessons is essential ifteachers are to know how, if at all, they might improve their practice. For the samereason, we need also to be cognisant of the lessons that are not learnt. While chieflyconcerned to provide such data, the study discussed in this article also aims to iden-tify the extent to which students benefit from engaging, albeit briefly, with theRwandan genocide, a topic that despite its centrality to Holocaust Memorial Day(HMD) 2004 is currently excluded from the National Curriculum.
The study
The study originated in a week-long event organised by the Jewish community of anouter London borough to mark HMD 2004. Students from eight secondary schoolsattended one of two local synagogues for half a day. They were given an introductory
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talk on the Holocaust, heard a survivor speak and watched a video about the Rwan-dan genocide, before splitting into small groups to reflect on what they had learnt.Discussion within the groups centred around the issue of intervention, both as itaffects the politics of international relations and the conduct of individual lives. Thestudents considered, for example, how they might respond should they witness anact of bullying. As simultaneous HMD events throughout the UK assumed a varietyof forms, the results of the study cannot legitimately be generalised beyond theschools that took part. The investigation, therefore, aimed to do no more than shedlight on problems that might be widespread in regard to learning the lessons of geno-cide, particularly as they apply to the Holocaust. The sample comprised 31 studentsdrawn from four of the schools involved. The schools were chosen at random andcatered for a culturally diverse student body, but they were clearly not representativeof the UK as a whole. Two were co-educational and voluntary-aided (one Anglican,the other Sikh) and two were single-sex (a non-denominational, independent schoolfor boys, many of whom were from the New Commonwealth, and a maintainedCatholic school for girls). In addition to their contrasting institutional backgrounds,the students appear to have had different curricular experiences in terms of thecontext in which they had learnt about the Holocaust (see below). They were all inYear 11 (aged between 15 and 16) apart from the Catholic girls, who were a yearyounger.
The Head of History in each school was requested to ask students from across theability range if they would agree to participate in the study. Those who consented(seven from the Catholic school and eight from the other three) were given a guaran-tee of personal and institutional anonymity. In total, there were 16 boys and 15 girls,all of whom were presented with a semi-structured interview schedule. The latter(see Appendix) comprised a number of core questions dealing with (1) relevantbackground information; (2) students’ perceptions of HMD; and (3) the nature,extent and personal impact of the lessons learnt about genocide.
All the interviews were conducted during March and April 2004, the studentshaving attended the HMD event the previous January. On average, the interviewslasted approximately 20 minutes.
The findings
(1) Background information
Consistent with earlier research conducted in the UK (e.g. Short, 1995; Hector,2000), it would seem that the schools did not all treat the Holocaust with the samedegree of seriousness. Students from the Catholic girls’ and Independent boys’schools had a much clearer recollection of having learnt about it. They could recallwhen they had studied the Holocaust and in which area of the curriculum. Thosefrom the Sikh and Anglican schools, on the other hand, either had a hazy memory ormaintained that they had not engaged with it at all; an unlikely claim in view of theirschools’ obligation to teach the National Curriculum.1 The contrast can be seen
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below in some of the students’ responses to the question, ‘Have you studied theHolocaust in school?’
Yes, in Year 10 and in previous years; mainly in History but also in Religious Education(RE). (Lauren, Catholic girls’ school)
Not in great detail, but we know the main facts about it. We’ve done it in ReligiousStudies on and off throughout the past two years and we did it in History for about halfa term two years ago. (Anthony, Independent boys’ school)
Not in any great depth. When it was HMD, there was an assembly on it.So you didn’t study it in Year 9 history?I can’t remember. (Parmjeet, Sikh school)
I think only briefly.When?It was quite a few years ago.In which subjects?Probably RE.Not history?Not sure. (Catherine, Anglican school)
None of the students had studied the Rwandan genocide in school. Indeed, almostall of them admitted that they had not heard about it prior to HMD. In contrast,their familiarity with the Holocaust might well have been greater, on average, thanthat of most UK students of the same age, for in addition to participating in HMD,three of the four schools appear to have planned, to a greater or lesser extent, for thevisit. Some students referred to class lessons directly relevant to the Holocaust,others to an assembly related to it, while a few recalled spending time devising ques-tions they might ask at the synagogue. The majority of students from the Anglicanschool, however, denied having done ‘anything special … in preparation for HMD’.
(2) Students’ perceptions of HMD
The reason for assessing students’ perceptions of the day was to gain insight into theissues and activities that are most likely to facilitate the learning of lessons from theHolocaust. As might have been anticipated from extant research (e.g. Short & Reed,2004), when asked, ‘Which aspect or aspects of HMD, if any, made the most impres-sion on you?, the students overwhelmingly referred to the address given by the survi-vor. (Some listened to a man, others to a woman.) One girl commented as follows:
We met an actual victim who told his story to all of us. It hit you hard when you’resitting there listening to this man and a bit of you inside was so upset for him. Youcouldn’t feel what he felt, but you could have a bit more understanding. (Frances, Cath-olic girls’ school)
From the same school, another girl said: ‘Listening to the survivor. It almostreduced you to tears. It was really shocking how somebody could go through thatand still live. It got me down.’ The boys were equally affected. For them, the high-light of the day was:
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Probably listening to the survivor. (Daniel, Anglican school)
Talking to an actual survivor and the fact that she had the courage to talk about it. Itwas really daunting listening to what she said. I couldn’t imagine what she’d beenthrough and that left a lasting impression. (Aran, Independent boys’ school)
…. the Holocaust survivor. It was very touching to hear such an account. (Stephan,Independent boys’ school)
When the person who experienced the Holocaust spoke. Talking about his life and whathe experienced during the Holocaust made quite a big impression on me. (Jiwan, Sikhschool)
Approximately two-thirds of the students were subsequently asked whether anyother aspect of their HMD experience had affected them. A few commented onperipheral activities such as the candle-lighting ceremony at the end of the visit, butmost mentioned either learning about the genocide in Rwanda or that part of thegroup discussion that dealt with bullying.
Watching the Rwanda video; one million people in a hundred days really shocked me.(Nicola, Catholic girls’ school)
The Rwandan genocide. I didn’t know anything at all about that. And to think ithappened such a short while ago. It’s very surprising; shocking. (Stephan, Independentboys’ school)
The way they tied in things like bullying and situations we would be faced with todaywas really clever. (Sinaid, Catholic girls’ school)
When we were taken into groups and we got to converse with a member of thesynagogue and we discussed what we would do in certain situations and we found itwas hard to come to a straightforward decision about what to do in a situation, likeif there was a racial fight going on, what would you do? Would you stop it? Wouldyou take sides or would you not do anything? There would always be things naggingat your mind if it was the right thing you were doing. (Aran, Independent boys’school)
When probed on what they had got out of the day, more than half the studentsremarked that it had helped principally to deepen their knowledge of the Holocaust.One boy, for example, claimed to have acquired ‘a greater understanding of whathappened and how wrong it was’, while another said, ‘I learnt how the Jewish peoplehave suffered’. The thoughts of a few students, however, turned to the threat thatintolerance continues to pose.
It taught me to appreciate that it wasn’t ages and ages ago and it’s still relevant and inthe world we have to be careful because that could happen again. (Danielle, Catholicgirls’ school)
You don’t think about racism when you’re 13 or 14, but when you’re turning 15 and 16racism becomes a big thing in your life. When you hear people make racist comments,you see it in a different light. (Frances, Catholic girls’ school)
I learnt that racism can get out of hand and that’s how the Holocaust started and how itcan happen again like Rwanda. (Stephanie, Anglican school)
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(3) The nature, extent and personal impact of the lessons learnt
Students were initially asked the wide-ranging question, ‘Do you think there are anylessons to be learnt from the Holocaust?’ While all but three felt that there were,most often the ‘lesson’ they had in mind amounted to no more than a plea forgreater tolerance. Nearly a third of the group was adamant that all individuals are ofequal worth and that we should act towards one another accordingly. They eitherstated or implied that differences in ethnic or religious identity could never justifydiscrimination. The following comments are illustrative.
You shouldn’t be treated differently because you look different or [because] you aredifferent. (Manjit; Sikh school)
Everyone is equal and we should all be the same because we are all God’s children andjust because you’re a different religion you shouldn’t be treated differently. (Preet, Sikhschool)
All people are equal and … no one should be treated like [the Jews were]. (Lauren,Catholic girls’ school)
Everyone should be treated equally. (Gurprit, Sikh school)
In view of the importance of the issue, it was surprising that only a minority ofstudents conceptualised lessons of the Holocaust in terms of action required toprevent a repetition. Among those who thought this way, several showed an appreci-ation of the need to avoid dictatorship. Thus:
One person’s opinion dictating everybody else’s shouldn’t happen again. (Joanna,Catholic girls’ school)
[The Holocaust] shows that dictators can sacrifice so many people for their own gain.So the lesson is?Try to avoid these kinds of people at all costs and don’t let them get anywhere. (John,Independent boys’ school)
Not to follow a leader if you know what is going on is wrong. Don’t let yourself bebrainwashed. (Suijot, Sikh boy)
I don’t think anyone should have as much power as Hitler had again. When you havethat sort of power, you can achieve anything as the Holocaust proved. (Daniel, Anglicanschool)
Other lessons were mentioned, but only on a handful of occasions. For example, acouple of students thought that ‘You shouldn’t start racism at all, even if it’s just ajoke [because] that can lead to worse things’. Another had learnt to be wary ofscapegoating and two more had acquired a distrust of stereotypes. One boy, whomight have been under the misapprehension that the Holocaust was essentially anexpression of religious intolerance, maintained that we need more interfaith dialogueif we are to prevent another genocide. With the same aim in mind, a second boydemanded that perpetrators of genocide be brought to justice. Although lessonspertaining to the role of bystanders had featured prominently in the group discus-sions, only one student referred to the importance of people standing up for whatthey believed to be right.
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Learning from genocide? 373
In order to give students a further opportunity to reflect on lessons to be learntfrom the Holocaust, they were presented with a number of more focused questions.The first dealt with whether there were any lessons for the international community.(They were told to construe the latter as synonymous with the United Nations(UN)). Only a dozen students articulated a clear-cut lesson in the sense of proposingaction of some kind intended to avert genocide. Invariably, the action envisaged wasnot spelt out. For example:
They could have stopped Hitler a bit earlier on especially with Mugabe these days; theycould stop him a bit earlier so the thing doesn’t have time to evolve.Just say a bit more about Mugabe.He wants the black community to go against the white farmers so if someone did some-thing about him earlier on then all this murder wouldn’t have happened. It was prettymuch the same with Hitler. If someone would have stopped him much earlier then theHolocaust wouldn’t have happened. (Anthony, Independent boys’ school)
You would have thought that they’d learn from the Holocaust when six million peopledied, but then in Rwanda when another million people died, they didn’t really do asmuch as they could have.So what is the lesson?You have to stop these things from happening because things will get very bad.And when you say you’ve got to stop these things from happening, what do you have in mind?The Rwandan genocide just didn’t start up immediately. There were bad thingshappening in Rwanda for a fair while and they could have done something to stop itbefore the actual genocide itself had started. The international community just needs totake a bigger part in these things. (Stephan, Independent boys’ school)
Students were next asked whether there are any lessons for contemporary Britishsociety. In framing the question, I had in mind measures such as legislation tooutlaw incitement to religious or racial hatred, proscription of racist political partiesand reforms to the educational system along the lines adumbrated in the Introduc-tion. Once again, however, the majority spoke merely about the need to treat every-one equally and to accept people for who they are. Moreover, a substantial numbereither said there were no lessons for British society or were uncertain as to what theymight be. The following statements were the only ones that either mentioned explic-itly or hinted at steps that ought to be taken in light of the Holocaust.
People have got to be more educated about different cultures because it’s ignorance thatleads to [the likes of the Holocaust] happening. (Danielle, Catholic girls’ school)
We have to work together with other religions. We have to get to know their side ofthings and if we get together, things like [the Holocaust] won’t happen. (Darshan,Independent boys’ school)
They should let more asylum seekers come in from other countries who have war intheir countries because the Jews didn’t really have places to escape to when it washappening in their country. (Gurprit, Sikh school)
Probably to interfere with something that you know is wrong; not just to sit back and letit happen. If you see something that is wrong, instead of just sitting back and thinkingthat someone else will sort it out, you should act upon it yourself. One person can’tmake much of a difference, but a group of people can. (Suijot, Sikh school)
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When pressed to consider lessons the Holocaust might have for schools, half a dozenstudents were unable to think of any. Many of the others said that the Holocaustneeded to be taught, but only a couple explained why. Their argument could besummed up in the dictum ‘forewarned is forearmed’, or as one of them put it: ‘Weshould prepare for what could happen in the future so we have an idea of how toreact.’ Roughly a quarter of the sample believed that the Holocaust had implicationsfor the curriculum in the sense that schools should teach pupils to oppose racism,bullying and discrimination of any kind, although only one of them expresslymentioned teaching against anti-Semitism (cf. Dawidowicz, 1990). As far as theeducational system as a whole was concerned, the sole suggestion came fromDarshan, a boy who was clearly sympathetic to the early version of the ‘contacthypothesis’ (Allport, 1954):
If schools were more racially mixed it would help because racism evolves from peoplejust being around their own culture. If they were mixed together from an early age, itwould cut down the number of racist attacks. (Darshan, Independent boys’ school)
Because of the importance of centuries of religious hatred in preparing the backdropto Nazi persecution of the Jews, students were asked whether the Holocaust held anylessons for their own faith or for faith communities in general. Significantly (in viewof the religious composition of the sample) not a single student referred directly tothe animosity that has historically characterised the relationship between Christiansand Jews, nor to its implications for Christian theology. (Stephan’s comment belowwas as close as any got to making the connection.) In fact, only one student identifieda lesson for religious bodies that stemmed directly from the Holocaust. It was that,
If world religions see something like this [the Holocaust], they should try to stop it.They should speak out, not sit back and say it’s not our religion so it’s not our problem.(Aran, Independent boys’ school)
By far, the largest number of students (14) responded to the question by asserting orimplying that all religious traditions are of equal value and deserve respect. Stephanepitomised this view.
Obviously, what happened in the Holocaust was committed by Christians and so Iguess that the greatest lesson is for the Christian community. While we may believewhat we believe, you cannot say that my faith is greater than yours. While we are enti-tled to our own beliefs, you can’t stop others from believing what they want to believe ordiscriminate against them because they believe what they believe. (Stephan, Indepen-dent boys’ school)
A small group of students claimed that the Holocaust had no lessons for any faithcommunity; others disagreed but were unsure what they might be, while a coupleoffered suggestions that were not just inappropriate, but which in one case betrayeda fundamental ignorance of the Holocaust.
What happened with Judaism could easily have happened to another religion but theychose Judaism because it was a minority. If Christianity was in the minority, it could bethe other way round. (Stephanie, Anglican school)
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Learning from genocide? 375
The last of the focused questions looked at whether students thought the Holocaustheld any lessons for them as individuals. Most of the responses, in one form oranother, merely rehearsed what had been said earlier. A number of students, forexample, spoke about the need to be more accepting of difference and especially ofdifferent religious traditions. Some referred to the need to treat all faith and ethnicgroups equally and mentioned specifically the imperative of behaving towards otherswith respect. Only one student, though, commented on the morality of bystanderbehaviour, despite the attention given to this issue by historians and its pivotal rolein citizenship education. For her, the lesson was ‘not to ignore situations like theydid in the Holocaust. We shouldn’t just ignore it when people are in trouble’. Theequally important issue of thinking for oneself was likewise referred to by a singlestudent. She said, ‘just because someone says that something is right, it doesn’tmean that it is. I need to think for myself instead of following other people.’
Although this article is principally concerned with lessons of the Holocaust, thestudents’ views on what can be learnt from Rwanda are of interest because they drawattention to two necessary conditions of effective genocide education. The first is theneed for extensive coverage. With virtually none of the students having heard ofRwanda before HMD and then engaging with it only to a limited extent, it isunlikely to have been a coincidence that, in interview, almost half of them could notremember what had happened or did not know what lessons could be learned. Ofthe others, the lesson voiced most often concerned the role of the internationalcommunity and this, too, is probably no coincidence bearing in mind the thrust ofthe group discussions. The need for such focused discussion constitutes the secondnecessary condition of teaching effectively about genocide. However, its impact inthis study should not be exaggerated as there were just six comments on the interna-tional dimension to the genocide of which the following are representative.
I think the lesson to be learned from [Rwanda] is that if you see two racial or tribalideals conflicting you should intervene and stop it happening.And when you say ‘you’I mean a major power. (Aran, Independent boys’ school)
The United Nations definitely failed. They should … have interfered. It was a civil war,but even then they should have stepped in at some point. (Suijot, Sikh school)
The UN should have gone in. They should have sorted it earlier. Didn’t they take thetroops out? They just thought it’s not our problem. (Daniel, Anglican school)
The last two questions sought to discover whether any lessons from the Holocaustthat had been learnt had actually affected the way the students lived or thought theymight live as adults. While nearly two-thirds of the sample (18 out of 31) stated thatstudying the Holocaust had had no impact on their daily lives, the rest had beenaffected in diverse ways. For example, it appears that one boy had been prompted tore-think the nature of humour.
When jokes are made and they’re slightly racial, but just a fun joke, everyone under-stands it and it doesn’t really matter and everyone gets along normally. However, some-times a joke can hurt someone personally. If the joke is racial, it may affect someone
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more than others may think and that if a joke is concentrated on the Jew and it speaks ofthe small number of them because of the Holocaust, it may affect the person personallymore than just as a joke. (Amit, Independent boys’ school)
On a cognate note, Darshan said:
Since going to HMD I feel differently about other cultures because when peopledescribe Jews, they say they’re money grabbers and selfish. I don’t think that’s rightnow. It used to be a joke, but now I take it literally. If people keep on saying that, it willbecome a fact. (Darshan, Independent boys’ school)
A couple of girls claimed to have been influenced by the Holocaust in the sense thatthey were now less willing to judge people prior to meeting them. (In other words,they had developed a sceptical attitude towards stereotyping.) Another girl believedthat she had become generally more reflective. As she put it, ‘now you’re much moreaware of things like that, it does make you think twice about what you’re doing andwhat you’re saying.’ Of the remaining responses, one was of particular interestbecause it emphasises the danger, when teaching about the Holocaust, of overlyromanticising the victims.
I think my state of mind has changed … What I thought before and what I think nowhas definitely changed. Before [HMD] Jewish people to me were just seen as normalpeople, but after HMD I think these people have been persecuted so much. They wentthrough the Holocaust with so much pride, I think there’s a lot to learn from Jewishpeople these days.Such as?I think that the unity they all had during the Holocaust, they never really went off indifferent groups, if you know what I mean. They were always trying to help each otherout during the Holocaust. (Anthony, Independent boys’ school)
As to whether knowledge of the Holocaust would affect their lives in the future, thelargest response category, once again, comprised students who said that it probablywould not. From others, there was the familiar refrain of not discriminating and treat-ing people generally with respect. A few students, however, believed that as adults theywould make a point of talking about the Holocaust, especially to their own children.
I think it will [affect me when I am older] because I’m sure to have children and if theymake any racist comments. I’m sure I’ll say this could build up into something seriouslike joining the BNP. Even if it’s not my children, if I hear someone else, I’ll say some-thing because I want the hatred to stop early rather than evolve into something prettyserious. (Anthony, Independent boys’ school)
Probably, yes, because when you’re an adult you’re going to tell your children because itaffected you so much and you don’t want your children to go on to the wrong side.(Sandeep, Sikh school)
I’m definitely going to talk about it to whoever doesn’t know anything about it. I justwant people to understand how bad it was. (Christina, Anglican school)
Discussion
As previously pointed out, the young people involved in this study are, on average,likely to have had more exposure to the Holocaust than most of their contemporaries
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Learning from genocide? 377
in the UK. Ipso facto, they will have had more opportunity to become aware of itslessons. However, it seems that for many of them, the benefits of participating inHMD were largely restricted to developing their knowledge of the Holocaust andacquainting themselves with what had happened in Rwanda. I do not wish to implythat furthering their education in this way was anything other than worthwhile, buttheir greater familiarity with the genocides should not be allowed to obscure the factthat, overall, the students failed to learn a number of important lessons from theHolocaust and the events that led to it.
As the class teachers involved were excluded from the sampling frame, it is notknown whether they discussed these lessons with their students prior to the visit.The organisers of HMD did plan for such discussion but only, it appears, in relationto the issue of intervention at both a personal level (in the context of bullying) and,more theoretically, in the field of international relations. That some importantlessons of the Holocaust were mentioned by no more than a handful of students,while others were not mentioned at all, suggests that, for the most part, they wereoverlooked by both teachers and organisers. If this is so, it might well reflect ageneral lack of awareness in the country among those charged with teaching theHolocaust, for the textbooks and other instructional materials currently available inthe UK tend to contain little guidance on lessons. Typifying the dearth is the popu-lar teaching pack Lessons of the Holocaust jointly produced in England in 1997 by theSpiro Institute and the Holocaust Educational Trust. Despite its title, the sectiondedicated to how we might profit from studying the Holocaust is limited to ratherprosaic observations such as the following.
The Holocaust reminds us that hatred of others who are different from ourselves andwhom we place beyond the pale of humanity can lead only to group violence andatrocity. It tells us that any society, however culturally, scientifically, and technicallyadvanced, can become totally criminal once it loses the ability and the will to distin-guish between right and wrong. (Spiro Institute/Holocaust Educational Trust, 1997,p. 22)
It is clear from the study that some students were able to distil meaningful lessonsfrom what they had been taught. There was, for example, a realisation of thedangers inherent in dictatorship, an appreciation of the potentially harmful conse-quences of bystander behaviour and a recognition of the need for bodies such asthe UN to assume a more proactive and interventionist role in international rela-tions. There was also acknowledgement of the misleading nature of stereotypes, theflawed basis of scapegoating, the need for the Church to condemn evil and forthose who perpetrate it to be punished. In addition, a few students pointed out thatintolerance continues to pose a threat to minorities and they saw the school as avehicle for combating it. However, the fact that these lessons were referred to soinfrequently indicates that the generality of students cannot be relied upon to workthem out for themselves. On the contrary, it seems that such learning requires anexplicit focus. This conclusion is reinforced by the finding that some criticallessons, as has been noted, were not broached by any of the students. None of
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them, for example, considered the implications that the Holocaust might have fordomestic politics on issues such as free speech or the banning of overtly racistorganisations. There was no mention either of any lesson related to the key roleplayed by Christian anti-Semitism in preparing the groundwork for the Holocaust.Thus, no student suggested that social cohesion might be fostered by different faithgroups examining their own sacred texts and liturgy in search of offensive refer-ences to ‘the other’.
There is a further advantage in teachers formally addressing the lessons of theHolocaust and that is the opportunity it affords them to dispel any misconceptionsamong students, that arise as they attempt to make sense of their learning. By wayof illustration, it will be recalled that one of the girls in the study appeared tobelieve that had Christianity been a minority faith in Germany, Christians wouldhave been as vulnerable as Jews to Nazi persecution. There was also the case of theboy who had an idealised attitude towards the victims, admiring the way ‘they wentthrough the Holocaust with so much pride … [and] unity … always helping eachother out.’
The study suggests that for many students in their early to mid-teens, thelessons of the Holocaust will not emerge automatically as they assimilate newknowledge. Nor will organised events taking place outside the classroom necessar-ily facilitate the process, despite the provision of ostensibly relevant activities suchas listening to a survivor. It is hard to escape the conclusion that students needhelp not just in learning about the Holocaust but also in learning from it. To thisend, teachers might usefully consult the widely acclaimed American Holocausteducation programme Facing History and Ourselves, renowned both for its compre-hensive historical analysis and its commitment to explicating the lessons of theHolocaust (Shoemaker, 2003). Indeed, it is an all too rare example of a curricu-lum that makes an explicit link between intercultural education on the one handand the Holocaust on the other (van Driel, 2003). It should not, though, beincumbent on historians alone to foster this link, for those who teach citizenshipare also well placed to reinforce it. It is in the nature of citizenship education toengage students in classroom discussion of racism and other abuses of humanrights and teachers of citizenship should make reference to the Holocaust when-ever the latter is able to shed light on such abuses. Teachers might, for example, atthe present time, encourage students to reflect on parallels between the interna-tional response to the Holocaust and the ways in which nations today, individuallyand collectively, are reacting (or failing to react) to events in Darfur and Zimba-bwe.
Knowledge of how the Holocaust is relevant to contemporary life (both locallyand globally) has to be seen as a necessary condition of successful Holocaust educa-tion. It is in this sense that the HMD initiative described above was a failure.However, it should not be thought that an awareness of the Holocaust’s continuingrelevance is a sufficient condition of effective Holocaust education, for unlessstudents are prepared to act in accordance with their knowledge, the lessons theylearn will ultimately count for nothing.
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Note
1. While it is possible to talk about differences between schools, it is important to realise that anysuch differences reflect a multiplicity of factors and not just the influence of religion or ethnic-ity. In this study, it is not possible to isolate students’ cultural identity and assess its impact onthe overall findings.
Notes on contributor
Geoffrey Short is currently Reader in Educational Research at the University ofHertfordshire. He has published widely in the field of ‘race’ and ethnicity andfor five years in the 1990s was involved in the Council of Europe’s Holocausteducation programme. His most recent book, Issues in Holocaust education, wasco-authored with Carole Ann Reed and published by Ashgate in 2004.
References
Allport, G. W. (1954) The nature of prejudice (Cambridge, MA, Addison-Wesley).Bartov, O. (1998) The lessons of the Holocaust, Dimensions: A Journal of Holocaust Studies, 12,
13–20.Dawidowicz, L. S. (1990) How they teach the Holocaust, Commentary, 90(6), 25–31.Hector, S. (2000) Teaching the Holocaust in England, in: I. Davies (Ed.) Teaching the Holocaust:
educational dimensions, principles and practice (London, Continuum), 105–116.Kinloch, N. (2001) Parallel catastrophes? Uniqueness, redemption and the Shoah, Teaching
History, 104, 8–14.Kochan, L. (1989, December 22) Life over death, Jewish Chronicle, p. 25.Landau, R. (1989, August 25) No Nazi War in Jewish History? Jewish Chronicle, p. 20.Novick, P. (1999) The Holocaust in American life (New York, Houghton Mifflin Co.).Shoemaker, R. (2003) Teaching the Holocaust in America’s schools: some considerations for
teachers, Intercultural Education, 14(2), 191–200.Short, G. (1995) The Holocaust in the National Curriculum: a survey of teachers’ attitudes and
practices, Journal of Holocaust Education, 4(2), 167–188.Short, G. (2003) Lessons of the Holocaust, Educational Review, 55(3), 277–288.Short, G. & Reed, C. A. (2004) Issues in Holocaust education (Aldershot, Ashgate).Spiro Institute/Holocaust Education Trust (1997) Lessons of the Holocaust (London, Spiro
Institute/Holocaust Education Trust).van Driel, B. (2003) Some reflections on the connection between holocaust education and inter-
cultural education, Intercultural Education, 14(2), 125–139.
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Appendix
(i) Background information:
Have you studied the Holocaust in school? If so, when did you learn about it and inwhich subjects?
Have you studied the Rwandan genocide in school? If so, when did you learn aboutit and in which subjects?
Did you do anything special in school in preparation for HMD?
(ii) Students’ perceptions of HMD:
Which aspect or aspects of HMD, if any, made the most impression on you?
What, if anything, did you get out of the day?
(iii) The nature, extent and personal impact of lessons learnt about genocide:
Do you think there are any lessons to be learned from the Holocaust?
Does the Holocaust have any lessons for (a) for the international community; (b) forBritish society (including schools); (c) for your religion or for other religions; (d) foryou as an individual?
Do you think there are any lessons to be learnt from what happened in Rwanda?
Has the Holocaust affected your daily life in any way?
Do you think the Holocaust will affect your life as an adult?
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