Teaching the Holocaust: The relevance of children's perceptions of Jewish culture and identity

The Holocaust is now part of the history curriculum for all 11-14-year olds in maintained schools in England and Wales. In this paper it is argued that for the Holocaust to be taught effectively, teachers will need to have some idea of how children within this age group perceive Jewish culture and identity. The empirical core of the paper attempts to go some way towards meeting this need. Seventy-two children aged between 12 and 14 were interviewed in order to explore their knowledge of Judaism, the nature of any misconceptions they may have about the faith, the extent to which they appreciate the commonalities between Judaism and Christianity and their awareness of anti-Semitism. The paper concludes with a discussion of the policy implications of the findings. (By the author)