“Why, what and how to teach about the Holocaust in the classroom” The International Task Force Recommendations By Emma O’Brien Why teach about the Holocaust? Christer Mattson IWM IWM Why teach about the Holocaust? The Holocaust was a watershed event, not only for the 20th century but also in the entire history of humanity. It was an unprecedented attempt to murder a whole people and to extinguish its culture. The Holocaust should be studied because it fundamentally challenged the foundations of civilisation. What to teach? The European context The Holocaust should be examined within the context of European history as a whole. The study of • antisemitism • Jewish life in Europe before the Holocaust • the aftermath of World War I • the Nazi rise to power can provide context for the events of the Holocaust. Map of Europe showing the fullest extent of the Nazi Domination of Europe, 1942 Rail routes used for deportation, 1941-1944 Einsatzgruppen killings, ghettos and camps IWM The local context Greek Jews from the provinces move into a designated ghetto area. Salonika, Greece, between November 1942 and March 1943. Comite International de la Croix Rouge USHMM www.ushmm.org Individuals in context • • • • • Victims Perpetrators Collaborators Bystanders Rescuers Reinhard Heydrich An ‘ordinary’ family man responsible for organising the murder of every Jewish man, woman and child in Europe. Irma Grese A young woman attracted to the Nazi movement from a young age who went on to exhibit a vicious temperament as an SS guard, first at Ravensbrück concentration camp and then Auschwitz and finally at BergenBelsen. Moise Gani Moise worked as a bookkeeper and administrator at the local electric company in Preveza, and he lived with his parents. In March 1944 the Jews of Preveza were deported to Auschwitz. There, Moise was assigned to Birkenau as part of the Sonderkommando, a work unit that took corpses to the crematoria. On October 7, 1944, the Sonderkommando in crematorium IV revolted, killing an overseer, disarming SS guards and blowing up the crematorium. Soon, others in the Sonderkommando, including Moise, joined in the uprising. Moise was killed in Birkenau in October 1944. He was 31 years old. USHMM www.ushmm.org Hana Senesh ‘I have to go. And if I fail, my death will not be in vain. Maybe the rumour will reach the Jews that an emissary from Palestine arrived and was caught and hearts will throb in the ghettos and in the woods: we have to hold on, we have not been deserted…and maybe salvation is near. Faith can work miracles.’ Archbishop Damaskenos In contrast to many Catholic and Protestant religious leaders in Europe, who either supported the Nazi policy of extermination of the Jews, or did nothing to stop it, Archbishop Damaskenos of Greece protested against the deportation of the Jews. The Germans proceeded with the deportations and Damaskenos instructed Police Chief Evert of Athens to issue false Identification cards and the church issued false baptismal certificates to any Jew who asked. Thousands of Jews were spared and both Police Chief Evert and Archbishop Damaskenos are honoured at Yad Vashem. Jewish Museum of Greece Proclamation signed by Mayor Kollas, the Prefect and the Chief of Police June 9, 1944, proclaiming that the Jews of the island had been rounded-up and that the economy of the island will rightfully revert to the Christian citizens. Jewish Museum of Greece Approaches to teaching about the Holocaust What was the Holocaust? Under the cover of the Second World War, for the sake of their “new order”, the Nazis sought to destroy all the Jews of Europe. For the first time in history, industrial methods were used for the mass extermination of a whole people. Six million were murdered, including 1,500,000 children. Other groups The Nazis enslaved and murdered millions of others as well. Gypsies, people with physical and mental disabilities, Poles, Soviet prisoners of war, trade unionists, political opponents, prisoners of conscience, homosexuals, and others were killed in vast numbers. A Greek Jewish family gathers for a group portrait surrounding a bar mitzvah boy clad in a tallit 1939. USHMM Photograph #12620 www.ushmm.org Enquiry based learning Photograph #97284 1933 Nina Molina prewar portrait of a Greek Jewish Family Sam Rouben with friends Photograph #33369 1935-1939 1935-1943 Photograph #33362 Photograph #42481 1930-9 Portrait of the Amarillo family outside their home in Salonika 1930-39 Photograph #97282 USHMM www.ushmm.org Vitalis Family 1941-2 A group of young Greek Jews pose in front of a tobacco store in Salonika IWM IWM USHMM www.ushmm.org Nazi officers and female auxiliaries (Helferinnen) run down a wooden bridge in Solahutte. The man on the right carries an accordion. Karl Hoecker is pictured in the center. The original caption reads "rain coming from a bright sky". 1944 USHMM [Photograph #34585] Group of Jewish friends from Lodz, on holiday at the Polish resort town of Sopot in the early 1930s. IWM Web Addresses • Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education www.holocausttaskforce.org • Imperial War Museum www.iwm.org.uk • United States Holocaust Memorial Museum www.ushmm.org