Today is Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day. This week’s post is about the importance of Holocaust education. Most of us know how important it is to teach about the Holocaust so that something similar never happens again. However, genocides still occur today, antisemitism still occurs today, and there are plenty of young people who are ignorant to the atrocities of the Holocaust.
Antisemitism is very much alive and well, and Marissa was reminded of this just a few weeks ago with a simple news notification on her phone. A high school had fired their football coach after finding out he had been using “antisemetic” terms in lieu of football plays. In the news articles, only three terms are mentioned so it is unclear if these were the only terms used or if they’re just the only terms that were made public. The terms that were used are “dreidel”, “rabbi”, and “Auschwitz.” This instance brought up the fact that although education officials in the state highly encourage Holocaust education in public schools, it is not required. In fact, Holocaust education is only required in 17 states.
But, how important is mandatory Holocaust education? The answer: very. According to a survey done by the Claims Conference, there are critical gaps in people’s knowledge on the Holocaust. The following are statistics from the study:
- Nearly one-third of all Americans (31 percent) and more than 4-in-10 Millennials (41 percent) believe that substantially less than 6 million Jews were killed (two million or fewer) during the Holocaust.
- While there were over 40,000 concentration camps and ghettos in Europe during the Holocaust, almost half of Americans (45 percent) cannot name a single one – and this percentage is even higher amongst Millennials.
If you are interested in learning about more statistics from the study (including some positive statistics) we highly recommend checking out the study. If you don’t have the time, or would just prefer something more visual, you can check out the graphic below from Wilshire Boulevard Temple’s Instagram page to see some of the statistics.
While Amanda has not been in middle/high school for quite a few years, her experiences with antisemitism are not outdated. When Amanda was in the eighth grade, working with her tablemates on a civics assignment, two of the students in her group decided to make some…interesting remarks. One student turned to the other and said, “Should I say it?” and the student who was asked encouraged the first student. The student then said, “Hey Amanda, how was the Holocaust?” As you can imagine, a thirteen year old Amanda didn’t know what to say. Amanda turned to her school’s administration, who found no wrongdoing on the part of the students who asked Amanda this question.
In high school, Amanda was met with another antisemitic event. In her senior year, when walking home from school with some friends. One of these friends decided to push Amanda’s magen david charm into her neck and say “Jew”, to which Amanda replied “so what?” This “friend” said it again, to which Amanda responded, again, “so what?” Without responding this “friend” walked away. She then stopped, turned to Amanda, gave the Nazi salute, and said “heil Hitler”. This happened in broad daylight, with several witnesses. None of those witnesses said anything. Since Amanda had no faith in the ability of the school to solve this issue, she didn’t go to the office. However, this “friend” stood next to her in the choir. Amanda could not even look at this girl, let alone stand next to her at a school concert. She brought the issue to her choir teacher so that she could be separated. Not only did this choir teacher separate Amanda and this “friend”, but he also reported it to the office, and that student was punished. This time, Amanda received an apology, but that apology was accompanied by “my grandma says stuff like that all the time, so I didn’t know it was bad.”
While we were talking and planning for this post Marissa had a realization. When she was going to share her experiences with antisemitism she realized she was starting her sentences with phrases like “it’s not that bad.” The “it’s not that bad” situations were finding swastikas drawn on public places, including Marissa’s old temple building (potentially while she was still inside for a youth group sleepover…but that’s another story). But why do these things feel “not as bad?” Seeing swastikas drawn feels almost normalized but they shouldn’t. It shows that we, as a society are becoming desensitized to things that we shouldn’t be. These things (not just antisemitic graffiti) happen so frequently, with little to no repercussions, that we sometimes don’t even bat an eye at them anymore (at least it feels like that sometimes). We need to figure out how we can solve this problem. It can’t be just the Jewish people trying to solve this, we all need to work together otherwise nothing will change.
However, it should be mentioned that the history of swastikas wasn’t always bad. Swastika’s had a positive connotation until Hitler came along and ruined that. Swastikas have been a part of many cultures and religions including Hinduism, Buddhism, and Norse mythology. It was a symbol of love and “well-being” until it was stolen and used for the opposite. The use of swastikas as a symbol the way Hitler intended is not only hurtful to Jews, but also to the people it was stolen from.
There have been too many excuses made for this kind of behavior. We have said “oh, well it’s not THAT bad,” too many times. There is no reason for ignorance. We must have comprehensive Holocaust education in every classroom, in every state. What does this education look like? Well, it’s different depending on who you’re referring to. No matter what grade you talk about, however, it all starts young. We must teach our children from a young age to accept all people. Amanda teaches her first grade students that no one should be treated unfairly because of what they look like, what their religious beliefs are, or what their abilities are. Her students learn about a variety of holidays; not just the ones they celebrate. Her children know that there are people who hurt others because they are “different”, and they are encouraged to change the world by treating others with kindness. Older students are capable of learning more details about antisemitism. We must teach them. We must demand that they be taught. Only when students know what people are capable of, are they able to change the world.
As previously stated, only 17 states require Holocaust education in schools. Even those states who have mandatory Holocaust education could use some serious work on how that education looks. We encourage you to do some research on how your state handles Holocaust education and see what you can do to help make sure it does. Much of that information can be found on your state’s Department of Education website.
The first step to ending hate is education.
Until next time stay safe, wear a mask, and wash your hands.
Love,
Amanda & Marissa
P.S. You may be interested in why we wrote “antisemitism” instead of “anti-Semitism”. The Anti-Defamation League has a great explanation on this.
