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| You are here: 2000 / Workshops, Panels and Seminars / Workshops on Research / Workshop 1 on Research, Teaching About the Holocaust in the University Sector / Report from Workshop 1 on Research: "Teaching About the Holocaust in the University Sector" | |||||||||
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Participants Countries and organizations Conference documentation Conference programme 
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Report from Workshop 1 on Research: "Teaching About the Holocaust in the University Sector" Presentation by Mrs. Janice L. Darsa Presentation by Dr. Debórah Dwork Presentation by Professor Norbert Frei Presentation by Dr. Beate Kosmala Presentation by Dr. Marcia Sachs Littell Presentation by Professor Dan Michman Report from Workshop 1 on Research: "Teaching About the Holocaust in the University Sector" Report from workshop 2 on Research Moderator: Dr. Mattias Heyl
Summary: Presenters: Mr. Norbert Frei Ms. Beate Kosmala Dr. Deborah Dwork Dr. Marcia Sachs Littell Mr. Dan Michman Dr. Jan Darsa The discussion focused primarily about why it is important to teach about the Holocaust and how to train future teachers on this topic . All scholars pointed out that Holocaust must be studied in the same way as other subjects and that the importance of the Shoah is unique as betrayal of Western civilization. Teaching about the Holocaust could prevent the conditions that lead to other genocides. Norbert Frei, Chair of Modern and Contemporary History, Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany.Germany is a special case in teaching about the Holocaust. The story of historiography and of the popular sensibility in Germany from the first decade after the war until the stream of empirical Holocaust research actually under way is changed. Parallel to the research, the early nineties sees new development on the institutional level with memorials, museums, centers for Holocaust education. However, we are witnessing tendencies of a decontextualisation of the Holocaust. The risk is that the historical Holocaust is loosing much of its meaning. It should not be isolated from its historical context. Beate Kosmala, Center for Research on Anti-semitism in Berlin,Germany, a significant number of universities offer a wide range of courses on National Socialism: During the past five years, some 110 courses have been offered, with about twenty of them focused on the Second World War and the Holocaust. During the past few years, primarily younger historians have started new research projects on the theme of the social context of the Holocaust. It is here that researchers and teachers could and should work together. In fact, an enormous gap has arisen between what the specialist knows about the Holocaust and what can be conveyed in individual university courses. The best means of preventing the creation of myths and legends is to establish academic instruction on the history of National Socialism and its extermination policy. This is necessary in order to confront a sentimentalization of individuals. Deborah Dwork, Director of the Center for Holocaust Studies, Clark University We participants on this panel were asked whether every university should have a professor of Holocaust history on its faculty? My answer is an unequivocal “Yes”. Because the Holocaust was the brutal betrayal of Western civilization, the negation of the values for which the French revolution was taught and modern society are founded. We need to re-shift the focus, and thus the meaning and significance of the Holocaust. The reason why every university should indeed have a professorship in Holocaust history is not solely because of the end, the murders of the 1940s, but also of the beginning: that the Jews lost their civil rights, rapidly and with little civil protest in 1933. The universities has a role in our society as guardian of the values we hold dear. Clark university has two full-time professorship specifically in Holocaust history. The second question is: How to teach the history of the Holocaust to students who are not well-grounded in European history? Their initial ignorance is a pity , but also an opportunity for them to enter into the history of the Western civilization. In the United States at present, tremendous resources are devoted to memorializing the Holocaust, but the base of knowledge and scholarship on which such efforts must rest is insecure. We have failed to invest to a similar degree in research and teaching at University level. Marcia Sachs Littell ,Temple University Philadelphia Can education helps to make it possible to predict and prevent the conditions that leads to genocide ? Can such education develop better citizens ? Programs of studies must have administrative support and these studies must be not ”ghettoized” within the departments of Jewish studies. It is necessary to move away from featuring Jews as only victims. Indeed, victimology is fatal to interfaith cooperation. At Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, the first Masters of Art program in Holocaust and genocide teachers training program has been started. In the US, classroom teachers are expected to find ways to solve ethnic conflicts, and :the Shoah has become the litmus test by which to study and measure others acts of genocide in 20 th century and to try to prevent new ones. Dan Michman, Chair Arnold and Leona Finkler Institute oh Holocaust Research Bar-Ilan University There can be no worldwide standard “recipe “ for teaching about the Holocaust. Teaching history is always context-related and dependent on former knowledge. Teaching about the Holocaust in or outside Europe cannot be the same. Courses about the Holocaust are taught by many universities , but the major teaching as well as research centers are in Germany, Israel, United States, where they focus on different aspects: In Germany on the perpetrators, in Israel on Jewish aspects, and in the US on memory. But in most cases these aspects are not integrated, and the aspect of Jewish life and strategies for survival are usually neglected. Jan Darsa Senior Program Staff and Director of the ”Facing History and Ourselves” What do the students know about the Holocaust? Just a little, and it’s necessary to integrate the Holocaust within a wider context and try to teach it step by step and not to paralyze students with too many facts . It’s important to explain how a democracy like Germany during the Weimar period became a totalitarian state. It’s important not to teach the Holocaust only through the eyes of victims, attention should also focus on the life lived by Jews before the Holocaust. Discussion: The discussion focused on the importance of teacher training and to try avoid that, with all the attention given to the Holocaust, it loses its uniqueness. Conclusion: It was noted that not one of the many politician who were present during the Forum attended the workshops while the aim of the Forum was indeed a chance for them to hear from and talk with academics. We have to remember that Holocaust is part of a general background that should be studied. Liliana Picciotto Fargion , CDEC Fondation Milan Alessandra Chiappano ,Ministry of Education Italy ITALIAN DELEGATION >> 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 | |||||||||