Twenty-one US States mandate secondary-level Holocaust Education. Three more encourage it. Few of these states provide resources to prepare teachers to teach this complex historical event and its legacies. Holocaust education is not mandated at the university level in any state. Still, there are emerging threats at state-funded universities (and others) to teaching courses that deal with difficult histories. And, as with many other historical events, there is a large gap between what scholars know and what teachers teach. While this is always problematic, it is particularly troubling regarding events like the Holocaust, which has been misused and minimized for various political ends.

This roundtable features an interdisciplinary panel comprised of educators, researchers, and practitioners who will discuss Holocaust education at the secondary and university levels.

Questions will include:

1. How do you grapple with helping your students understand (at least some of the) complexity of the Holocaust?
2. How do you expand on/challenge simplistic moral/ethical attitudes when examining the Holocaust?
3. Holocaust instructors who are not in the field of Holocaust Studies often have knowledge that is outdated or inaccurate. What resources do you recommend to Holocaust instructors or which do you use with your students?
4. Why is it important to study the Holocaust when there are so many other important topics/events to teach? What is it about the Holocaust that you want students to take away?

Participants

Moderator:

Sarah M. Cushman brings their two decades of experience in Holocaust education and their perspective as director of HEFNU, which has been a critical actor in the development of the academic field of Holocaust Studies and university level Holocaust education.

Discussants:

Rachel N. Baum has been teaching the Holocaust at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee for over 25 years. In her comments, she will reflect on how she has changed her courses over the years and what it means for a non-historian to teach Holocaust history & critical reading skills today, when democracy and the teaching of history are so vulnerable.

Morgan Blum Schneider brings her perspective as an advocate for innovative and interactive Holocaust education. In her comments, she will reflect on best practices for teaching the Holocaust and the future of Holocaust education in the post-survivor era.

Michael Geheran, Assistant Professor of History and Deputy Director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at West Point, brings his experience in program development, curricular innovation, and teaching the Holocaust.

Alexis Herr is a comparative genocide historian, scholar, and educator. In her comments, she will address the benefits of including comparative genocide analysis as part of state-mandated Holocaust education.