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| You are here: 2000 / Workshops, Panels and Seminars / Workshops on Education / Workshop 1 on Education, "Pedagogy: Theories, Tools and Results" / Presentation by Dr. Jacqueline Giere | |||||||||
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Participants Countries and organizations Conference documentation Conference programme 
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Report from Workshop 1 on Education: "Pedagogy: theories, tools and results" Presentation by Dr. Ido Abram Presentation by Dr. William R. Fernekes Presentation by Dr. Jacqueline Giere Presentation by Dr. Nili Keren Presentation by Mr. Christer Mattsson Presentation by Dr. Geoffrey Short Presentation by Ped. Director Shulamit Imber Presentation by Dr. Jacqueline Giere Giere, Jaqueline Presentation by Dr. Jacqueline Giere The presentation is based on the work of the Education Department in the Fritz Bauer Institute and is relevant for work with high school students of varying national origin, dealing with a society bearing the perpetrators' legacy. The theoretical considerations important to our concept concern the generational differences between teachers and pupils, multiculturality as a characteristic of schools today and the question of attaining a balance between history and commemoration, i.e. between pedagogical approaches to learning about the Holocaust and pedagogical consequences to be drawn from the Holocaust. Our concept applies a number of "tools" reflecting the theoretical concerns: - starting out where the pupils as adolescents really are, not where we wish them to be - creating an atmosphere of trust where opinions, even those not at first acceptable, can be expressed and discussed - working with an interdisciplinary approach, meaning involving the subjects of history, literature, art, music, drama, and ethics - working with a multiperspective approach, meaning looking at the same events from various angles,those of perpetrators, victims, bystanders and helpers. - trying to "complicate the thinking" by rejecting simple explanations and encouraging exploration of the many "gray zones" in the actions of all involved - acknowledgment of the presence of false parallels ("the Turks are the Jews of today's Germany") and working to discover why those parallels aren't true Five minute exercise (possibly - depending on the group, group size, etc.) to give everyone the chance to have one common experience in relation to our approach to this subject as a basis for later discussion: Text describing interview with Ephraim Wagner (to be read aloud) plus task students are asked to complete after hearing the interview. (Cf. attachment below) Request to the participants to think shortly what they might write, if they were to do the task The results of this approach have been an increasing willingness on the part of students and teachers alike to confront the subject, an increased interest in individual further exploration, the development of new forms of commemoration and a general awareness of the effects of society on oneself ... and the possibilities of action on society by oneself (whereby such an increased awareness is something not easily measured, especially if one hopes it leads to concrete actions ...) Our classroom materials area series of booklets, of which the second one combines the sections „Group Identity and Exclusion" and „The Volksgemeinschaft (the propagated NS society) and Persecution of Minorities: Scenes from Germany 1933 - 1938". One of the texts and exercises in the second half are taken from an interview with Ephraim, a former Frankfurt citizen who fled Germany in 1939 as a teenager and since lives in Jerusalem. During the interview he remembered an incident in 1935. On that day a group of Hitler-Youth pulled him from his bicycle and began beating him up. He looked around for help, and saw one of his best friends, a non-Jew named Guenther, standing nearby - he, too, suddenly wearing a Hitler-Youth uniform. He called to his friend to help him, but Guenther turned around and went away. Ephraim remembers feeling lonely and shut out. Fifty years later, Ephraim continued his story, he returned to Frankfurt to visit his granddaughter who was studying there. On a sudden impulse he took a look at a telephone book, found his friend’s name, and called him. The friend was surprised („You’re still alive!") and immediately suggested meeting the next day for „Kaffee and Kuchen" - coffee and cake -, a German custom since way back when. When Guenther came to pick up Ephraim, the latter said, „Before we take off, I’d like to tell you a story." He told him about that day in 1935. Guenther was shocked, he only vaguely remembered it. „And then, 50 years later," Ephraim continued, "he told me, formally, and, I do believe, completely sincerely, he was sorry. I guess the English proverb would be suitable here: ‘Better late, than never’!" After reading this story, or watching it on a video clip, the pupils first have time to write down their impressions. Often these notes reflect their feelings for Ephraim and his isolation. The next exercise asks them to write a ficitious letter: What might G?nther have written to other former classmates after his reunion with Ephraim? With this second step the pupils are required to deal with the perpetrators’ past. >> Back to top |
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Introduction Opening Session: Messages and speeches Plenary Sessions: Messages and speeches Workshops, Panels and Seminars
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| For information about this production and the Stockholm International Forum Conference Series please go to www.humanrights.gov.se or contact Information Rosenbad, SE-103 33 Stockholm, Sweden | |||||||||