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Using archival documents, memoir, and testimony to teach about Jewish families during and after the Holocaust Carson Phillips suggests the use of archival documents, memoir and recorded testimony to engage students in learning. Use the three survivor testimonies below, from Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Croatia, in conjunction with those in the Gurewitsch essay (pp. 48–55) for a rich and varied look at the fraught experiences of Jewish families struggling to survive and, ultimately, rebuild their lives. (By the publisher) Holocaust Memorial Day in schools - context, process and content: a review of research into Holocaust education The Holocaust was officially remembered in Britain for the first time on 27 January 2001. This is to be an annual event and it is intended that it will provide a focus for work in schools. The paper reviews the findings of research into Holocaust education and discusses the implications for teachers intending to respond to this important initiative. (By the author) Entering the World of a Holocaust Victim: Schoolchildren Discuss a Ghetto Memoir – a Case Study Despite Adorno's famous dictum, the memory of the Shoah features prominently in the cultural legacy of the 20th century and beyond. It has led to a proliferation of works of representation and re-memorialization which have brought in their wake concerns about a 'holocaust industry' and banalization. This volume sheds fresh light on some of the issues, such as the question of silence and denial, of the formation of contemporary identities — German, East European, Jewish or Israeli, the consequences of the legacy of the Shoah for survivors and for the 'second generation,' and the political, ideological, and professional implications of Shoah historiography. One of the conclusions to be drawn from this volume is that the 'Auschwitz code’, invoked in relation to all 'unspeakable' catastrophes, has impoverished our vocabulary; it does not help us remember the Shoah and its victims, but rather erases that memory. (By the author) Holocaust Education in Post-Communist Romania As Israeli historian Leon Volovici noted in a recent article, Romania today is marked by the concurrent presence of a prolific nationalistic media with strong anti-Semitic accents and a swell of events dedicated to the history of its Jews. This remarkable paradox is perhaps just one more example of the originality of Romania’s post-communist transition, the more so since the object of both trends is becoming less and less numerous every day: there are only about 9,000, mostly elderly Jews living in contemporary Romania. After 45 years of “relative silence” imposed by the communists and eight more years of “relevant silence” imposed by the neo-communists, as of 1998 the Holocaust is finally mentioned and discussed, but “in the third person”, as it were: it’s true, it happened, but not in Romania! (By the author) "Why Do We Always Have to Say We're Sorry?" A Case Study on Navigating Moral Expectations in Classroom Communication on National Socialism and the Holocaust in Germany Against the background of the pedagogization and internationalization of Holocaust memory discourse, this contribution focuses on the specific conditions of history classes on National Socialism and the Holocaust in Germany. Using a case study, this article shows both how the meanings of these subjects are communicatively negotiated in history classes and how these classroom discourses relate to the specific context of the culture of memory in Germany. Particular attention is given to the question of guilt and the concomitant moral expectations—which can be interpreted as a specific condition of the memory of the Holocaust in the successor state of the Third Reich. Within this context, the central questions of my study are: (1) How do today's youth in Germany navigate the moral expectations that are implicit within the established historical narratives on the Holocaust? (2) How do ethnically and nationally linked conceptions of memory play a role in youth's sense-making about the Holocaust? (By the author) "Hitler is a Bully" Middle School Students’ Perspectives on Holocaust Education in Greater Victoria, British Columbia This study investigates middle school students’ interest in learning about the Holocaust, which methods are the most effective at teaching the Holocaust and how the testimony of Holocaust survivors can be retold to the next generations of middle school students. In order to answer these research questions, my study uses surveys with three classes of current middle school students in Greater Victoria, British Columbia, a focus group with graduate students at the University of Victoria and an interview with Larissa Weber, the director of the Anne Frank Exhibition in Berlin. These quantitative and qualitative results are analyzed using a mixed methods approach. The middle school students’ perceptions regarding effective educational methods when teaching the Holocaust in my limited sample (n=77 in the first survey and n=58 in the second survey) suggest that there is a connection between personal narrative and empathy when teaching the Holocaust in middle school classrooms. These findings are contextualized with a summary of the history of Holocaust education in Canadian public schools and a discussion regarding the role of empathy in learning about the Holocaust. (By the author) A ‘Curtain of Ignorance’: An Analysis of Holocaust Portrayal in Textbooks from 1943 through 1959 If textbooks are supposed to be an honest and impartial portrayal of historical events, they should remain the same over time. However, when examining one event across different editions of the same textbook, it becomes apparent that this is not the case. This study seeks to examine how the beginnings of the Cold War may have influenced how the Holocaust was discussed during the 1940s and 1950s. Results indicate that as Germany transformed from an enemy to be defeated into an ally needed to stop the advance of Communism, discussion of the Holocaust became more muted. While the beginnings of the Cold War may not be the only factor in this phenomenon, the results of this study indicate a methodological process in which textbooks could be used to create critical and historical thinking in today's classroom. (By the author) The Holocaust Museum as an Educational Resource: A View from New York City This article deals with the role of the Holocaust museum as an educational resource. It presents a case study of the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City and considers its strengths and weaknesses in the light of research into how the Holocaust is taught in British and North American high schools. Among other things, the research shows that Jewish history tends to be equated with persecution and that anti-Semitism and the role of the church in sustaining it are often ignored. It further shows superficial treatment of a range of topics including Jewish resistance, rescue and the fate of non-Jewish minorities under the Nazis. The article pays particular attention to the way the museum deals with these issues and with the question of Jewish renewal in the post-Holocaust period. (By the author) “What Happened to Their Pets?”: Third Graders Encounter the Holocaust Though widely believed to contain moral lessons of import for audiences of all ages, the Holocaust is often considered too complex, too appalling, too impenetrable, or too emotionally disturbing a subject to be taught to young children, even if taught only in its most “preparatory version,” to use Jerome Bruner’s famous phrasing. The subject matter, after all, deals at its core with human brutality, barbarous indifference, and industrialized mass murder. Nonetheless, a burgeoning market in materials designed to expose young children to the Holocaust implies that students are learning about the topic in earlier and earlier grades, a phenomenon that may be referred to as “curricular creep.” Such a trend raises the question of whether students should be exposed, purposefully and formally, to the horrors of the Holocaust, or, conversely, whether curricular creep should be somehow corralled. Although authors have weighed in on the ethics of Holocaust education, its history, practices, and materials, few have discussed its rightful place in the elementary school curriculum. Fewer still have empirically examined what the Holocaust looks like when taught to a young audience. (By the author) Does vicarious experience of suffering affect empathy for an adversary? The effects of Israelis’ visits to Auschwitz on their empathy for Palestinians Empathy for the adversary is part of peace education. Does the vicarious experience of suffering affect empathy towards the suffering of an adversary? Specifically, does the visit of Israeli youth to Auschwitz affect their empathy toward the Palestinians? Three hundred and nine high school students participated in the study: One half went on the journey, while the other, comparable half, served as a control group. Findings tended to support the hypotheses. The journey increased empathy among participants with initially more positive attitudes toward the Palestinians but it also decreased empathy among those with initially more negative ones. The choice of nationalistic lessons about the holocaust affected feelings of pride and identification with the victims but not empathy. The choice of universalistic lessons affected feelings of fear and helplessness and contributed to increased empathy. Conclusions are drawn pertaining to peace education programs aiming at increasing empathy toward an adversary. (By the author)