As the witnesses fall silent: Holocaust education for the new Millennium (Panel and Book Launch)

Session Submission Type: Group Panel

Description of Session

This panel coincides with the release of the book of the same title. The book and the panel bring together contributors who examine recent developments in Holocaust education around the world, with a particular focus on the United States, Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, as well as an examination of the emerging role of international organizations such as UNESCO in the global spread of Holocaust education.

The field of Holocaust education includes many organizations that are dedicated to the subject matter and to advancing teaching methods in the field, from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, Yad Vashem in Israel, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Anne Frank House. In part due to the work of these organizations and in part due to the extreme nature of the subject matter, Holocaust education is a subject not only of creativity and innovation, but of contestation and resistance. It is thus a fascinating topic for the study of new practices and their spread, and for the construction of meaning, memory and identity. It frequently evokes powerful emotional responses and engages attitudes and dispositions. For these reasons, it has a broader interest for educators and scholars beyond those focused directly on the topic itself.

The contributions are as diverse as the field. Stevick surveys the broad array of approaches taken by authors in the book. Fracapane narrates the history of international organizations and their aims as a veteran of many of them.

Relevance of the Panel to the Conference Theme and Comparative Education

Organizations such as UNESCO explicitly advocate the spread of Holocaust education for human rights purposes, most specifically, for the prevention of genocide. It is hoped that sensitizing students around the world to the processes and causes of the Holocaust can raise their perception of dangerous trends and their inclination to intercede. Put more broadly, it is hoped that the examination of one of the darkest chapters in human history, one rooted in dehumanization, can contribute to the kinds of humanization that are at the heart of the conference theme of Ubuntu this year.

Holocaust education encompasses a wide variety of approaches to education that address the concerns of a humanist global education. Its use of personal testimonies connected people to historical events, and developed feelings of empathy. The intersection of commemoration and education mixes traditional academic goals with more reflective aims. The use of historical sites and museums constitutes a common extracurricular approach to the subject. The particular challenges of conveying understanding of such a horrific history seems to invite innovative practices and approaches.

Structure of the Panel

Co-editor Doyle Stevick will open the panel by providing an overview of the curriculum, policy and practice issues raised across the book.

UNESCO Senior Project Officer and Focal Point for Holocaust Education Karel Fracapane will provide an overview of the international organizations that are leading the effort to advance Holocaust education all over the world.

Co-editor Zehavit Gross builds on Fracapane’s paper by examining the role of commemoration of the Holocaust around the world and its contribution to complementary aims including global citizenship education.

Contributor Magdalena Gross examines international site visits to Holocaust sites and its impact on the sense of identification of Polish-American youth with Polish and/or Jewish identities.

Contributor Corey Harbaugh surveys expert-trained American teachers of the Holocaust to understand the factors that shape their instructional decision-making and the nature of the pedagogical choices they make.

Contributor Christine Beresniova explores the role of hierarchy in aiding or hindering committed teachers’ efforts to teach a controversial topic in Lithuania; active support from school directors helped teachers deal with negative peer pressure, while foreign pressure on domestic institutions was seen as counterproductive.

Sub Unit

• General Pool

Chair

• Mark Mason, UNESCO International Bureau of Education

Individual Presentations

• Research into Holocaust Education Curriculum, Policy and Practice - Doyle Stevick, University of South Carolina

• International organizations in the globalization of Holocaust education - Karel Fracapane, UNESCO

• Globalization, Global Commemoration and Holocaust Education - Zehavit Gross, Bar-Ilan University, Israel

• Heritage Study-Tours for Polish-American students at Holocaust sites: Transformations of Historical Understanding and Identity - Magdalena Gross, Stanford University

• “What influences expert Holocaust education teachers, and how do they teach?” - Corey Harbaugh, Gobles High School, Michigan, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Fellow

• “Not unless they have to”: Power, Politics, and Hierarchy in Lithuanian Holocaust Education - Christine Beresniova, Indiana University, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Fellow

Discussant

• Ira Forman, U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti- Semitism