The author's eighth-grade ELA curriculum is rich with opportunities for students to bear witness to a variety of experiences. Besides the Holocaust unit, they read "Ghost Boys" by Jewell Parker Rhodes (2018) while exploring police brutality and segregation; "The Giver" by Lois Lowry (1993) while investigating government…

The Israel-Hamas crisis that started in October of 2023 has led to an increase in hate acts targeted at Jewish and Arab students. In response, the U.S. Department of Education sent a letter reminding educational leaders of their responsibilities to address this behavior. This paper offers examples of the kind of conduct educational leaders are…

Drawing on Noddings' work on religion and education (1993), moral education (2002), and citizenship education (2005\, 2015), this article contemplates how educators both in public schools and parochial Jewish schools might teach students to care about critical issues confronting the Jewish community historically and contemporarily. Its premise is…

This article proposes the "badge of complexity"--a model that embodies the arguments for and against Holocaust stories for children--followed by a poetic and thematic mapping of Israeli Holocaust literature for young children.

This article addresses the challenges and pathways of Holocaust education in post-communist countries through two case studies. I first examine historiographical, institutional and cultural obstacles to deep and meaningful treatments of the Holocaust within Latvian and Romanian schools. Drawing upon the unique experiences both countries had with…

Holocaust education has been most successful in creating empathy, historical understanding and present responsibility against racism/antisemitism and towards human rights by telling true stories of children, women and men who were victims of these crimes during the Nazi period, while also raising awareness of the consequences for the present. The…

Museums have the capacity to enhance social cohesion, which is the product of a trusting, connected community. History museums and historic sites, in particular, can serve communities by stimulating dialogue on difficult issues, accurately representing all the people of a nation, and creating forums for discussion among groups with disparate…

Teaching and studying the Holocaust is a complex and sensitive undertaking. The dynamics of dealing with a modern, technologically advanced state's attempt to annihilate all members of a given group of people for racial reasons involves tortuous twists and turns that challenge the most sophisticated of thinkers, leading to a situation in which…

Jewish history and the dynamics of anti-Semitism should be incorporated into social work curricula, and students should explore their own ethnic identities and religious backgrounds. This self-exploration enables them to be open to new information and aware of misinformation. Role playing can help students practice responses to incidents of bias.…

Scholarly interest in Jewish studies, discouraged during Communist rule, is experiencing a renaissance in Poland. However, because the Jewish community is largely gone from Poland, much of the research must be conducted outside the country. It is felt that earlier censorship has stimulated interest in Jewish studies. Polish scholars feel their…

Explicates a rationale for, and several approaches to, teaching about the Holocaust. Some insights to be gained include the value and necessity of democratic institutions; understanding the ramifications of prejudice, racism, and stereotyping; and the responsibilities of individuals and organizations when faced with abuses of power. (MJP)

This essay addresses six pedagogical issues that English language arts teachers should consider in preparing to use Holocaust literature to address "intolerance and bigotry" in their teaching. Teachers should ask themselves: (1) Does the literature unit emphasize anti-Semitism as a cause of the Holocaust?; (2) Does the unit provide all…