Why Teach the Holocaust?

Why do you teach the Holocaust?

I have spent the past 25 years in classrooms of all shapes and sizes – elementary, secondary, post-secondary – both teaching and studying the history of the Holocaust. The most frequent question that I have been asked over these years is: Why do you teach the Holocaust?

Max Eisen & I at the 'sauna' in Auschwitz-Birkenau - the site where Max was processed when he arrived in 1944. Max is one of the many survivors who asked his listeners to continue to bear witness for him once he no longer could.

Now, this question is rooted in several different contexts.  First, I am not Jewish. Occasionally if this is something that we end up discussing, there is usually a point where someone asks, If you’re not Jewish, then why do you teach the Holocaust? In one particular exchange that stands out in my mind, I even had a classmate in a graduate level multicultural children’s literature course take the question one step further and ask, If you’re not Jewish, then why do you even care?

To be honest, I have difficulty answering the why question in this context. Throughout my career I have had the privilege to meet and bear witness to hundreds of survivor testimonies. All the survivors have had one common request: to continue to tell their stories when they are gone. Nobel Prize Laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel once said, “I believe firmly and profoundly that whoever listens to a witness becomes a witness, so those who hear us, those who read us must continue to bear witness for us. Until now, they’re doing it with us. At a certain point in time, they will do it for all of us.”^[1]

I have taken this request very personally and dedicated most of my professional career to carrying out this commitment. I simply feel it’s my responsibility. Regardless of my religious beliefs. While my religion is part of my identity, it does not prevent me from speaking up or becoming a voice for someone who is different from me. The empathy and compassion that I have fostered in my life have come through story and I truly believe empathy and compassion are key in repairing the harm and hurt in our world.

The second context for this question Why teach the Holocaust? is rooted in the passage of time and the endless chronicle of world atrocities. The Second World War ended 81 years ago. The cry of ‘Never Again’ that echoed around the world following the liberation of the concentration camps has rung hollow, with ‘Ever Again’ being the more appropriate phrase. Therefore, the context to this version of the question is with more recent examples of genocide, why continue returning to the Holocaust?

Photo Source: Ed Stein in Rocky Mountain News Nea, 2006

I teach about the Holocaust because I believe our understanding of human rights is rooted in the Holocaust. What I mean by that is the way in which we discuss human rights and human rights abuses today, the guiding documents and agencies that point to these atrocities, were all formed in the aftermath of the Holocaust. The formation of the United Nations (1945), the adoption of the genocide convention (1948), the writing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) – all foundational in upholding human rights today (although the effectiveness of these organizations and documents in remaining true and upholding their purpose is a whole different discussion).

If we are ever going to make ‘Never Again’ true, we must improve the governing bodies and documents that guide the protection of humanity. And in order to improve these governing bodies and documents, we must understand where they came from and why they were established.

The reality is antisemitism, hate and intolerance in all forms did not end with the liberation of Auschwitz and the tens of thousands of camps across continental Europe. There is much work yet to be done.

So I ask you, why do you teach the Holocaust?

^[1] “The Many Legacies of Elie Wiesel,” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, https://www.ushmm.org/learn/holocaust/the-many-legacies-of-elie-wiesel.