Voltooid verleden tijd? Het verband tussen kennis over de nazi-genocide en democratische attitudes bij adolescenten in Brussel

Schools are expected to educate children to become democratic citizens by providing “civics” or history courses. It is believed that the formal curriculum affects each pupil’s level of awareness, which in turn influences civic competencies and social attitudes. This supposition is explicitly stated in ‘holocaust-education’ programmes and in ‘civics’courses. Accordingly, knowing about the atrocities of the Nazis would stimulate tolerance, and thus counter prejudice. The  current  contribution  tests  this  supposition  using  surveydata  (2002)  from  773  French-speaking and 469 Flemish-speaking last-grade pupils from secondary schools in the Brussels-Capital Region. The survey probed for knowledge on the Nazi genocide and attitude scales (ethnocentrism and anti-democracy). The supposition about the connection between knowledge and tolerance holds partially for the Flemish, but not for the French-speaking sample. Knowledge may be a necessary, but is certainly not a sufficient, condition to foster tolerance. (By the author)