Teaching about the Holocaust demands a high level of sensitivity and keen awareness of the complexity of the subject matter.
The BHEC recommends that teachers review the following guidelines before beginning their instruction.
- Teaching About the Holocaust, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Why Simulation Activities Should Not Be Used, Anti-Defamation League
Excerpt of a letter written by a Holocaust survivor to educators,
published in Teacher and Child by Dr. Haim Ginott, child psychologist and author
Dear Teacher,
I am a survivor of a concentration camp. My eyes saw what no man should witness:
Gas chambers built by learned engineers,
Children poisoned by educated physicians,
Infants killed by trained nurses,
Women and babies shot and burned by high school and college graduates,
So, I am suspicious of education.
My request is: Help your students become human. Your efforts must never produce learned monsters, skilled psychopaths, educated Eichmanns.
Reading, writing, arithmetic are important only if they serve to make our children more humane.