This presentation, "An Overview of the Holocaust from a Critical Perspective," in its various forms (1 1/2-hour, 2 1/2-hour, 1/2-day or Full-day seminar), provides a panoramic view of the Holocaust, from the late first century break of Christianity from its foundation in Judaism, to the liberation of the concentration, labor, transit, and extermination camps in 1945. The "critical perspective" relates to the most-often-overlooked emphasis on the supersessionist break-away by the fledgling Christian enterprise and the ensuing formation of anti-Jewish theology—known as the Adversus Judaeous tradition—which many now agree was the beginning of the long road of blood and ashes that led to Auschwitz.
“The list of ‘bystanders’—those who declined to challenge the Third Reich in any way—that emerges from any study of the Holocaust is long and depressing. Few organizations, in or outside Nazi Germany, did much to resist Nazism or aid its victims. Assisting European Jews was not a high priority of the Allied governments as they sought to defeat Hitler militarily. The courageous acts of individual rescuers and resistance members proved to be the exception, not the norm. And it has become abundantly clear that [the Churches'] failure to respond to the horrid events...was not due to ignorance; they knew what was happening. Ultimately, the Churches' lapses during the Nazi era were lapses of vision and determination."
To a great extent, this inertia defined the organized Christian community. Churches throughout Europe were mostly silent while Jews were persecuted, deported and murdered. In Nazi Germany in September 1935, there were a few Christians in the Protestant Confessing Church who demanded that their Church take a public stand in defense of the Jews. Their efforts, however, were overruled by Church leaders who wanted to avoid any conflict with the Nazi regime. Internationally, some Church leaders in Europe and North America did condemn the Nazis' measures against the Jews, and there were many debates about how Christians outside Nazi Germany and Nazi-occupied territory should best respond to Hitler's brutal policies. These discussions, however, tended to become focused more on secondary strategic considerations -- like maintaining good relations with colleagues in the German Churches -- than on the central humanitarian issues that were really at stake.” [1]
Despite the decreasing effectiveness of Holocaust educational efforts and the neglect of the teaching and remembrance of the Shoah outside of the Jewish community, the Holocaust has taken on the significant role as a source of values in our society. As Michael Berenbaum, professor, writer, lecturer, and Director of the Research Institute of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, has noted,
“In a world of relativism, it has taken its place as the Absolute. We know what is good. We don’t know what is bad. But we do know that the Holocaust is evil, absolute evil.” [2]
On the other hand, Berenbaum also writes of some of the consequences of being assigned that role:
“As the Holocaust enters the American classroom, it is being Americanized, seen through the prism of American categories and asked to play an important role in the needs of twenty-first century society. It is used as a means to teach issues of racism, pluralism, tolerance, and democracy. Some properly complain that this American representation of the Holocaust fails to deal with some basic aspects of the Holocaust. Since anti-Semitism is not a major issue in contemporary American life, the role of anti-Semitism is often de-emphasized in American classrooms. Since teachers are not well trained in Jewish history, Jewish life before the Shoah is virtually omitted. And there is a serious and perhaps even widening gap between the findings of contemporary scholarship and what takes place in the classroom. Yet, there is a growing interest among teachers and a growing willingness to participate in training sessions.” [3]
This graphics-heavy PowerPoint presentation, due to its progressive-sequential historical construction, without going into elaborate theoretical explanation, accomplishes two objectives simultaneously:
1. It addresses the greater historical context of what has come to be known as the worst systematic, state-sponsored genocide of a targeted people group in human history…
2. … while also addressing the 2,000-year history of Christian Anti-Semitism, which is now widely accepted to be a primary contributory factor in the silence of Christian Europe as the Nazi regime successfully implemented “the Final Solution to the Jewish Problem” in the heart of Christian Europe.
“An Overview of the Holocaust from a Critical Perspective” addresses the greater unfolding of events from a broad, sweeping historical perspective, allowing the audience to get a “feel” for the flow of related events in one session of learning. Exposure to such a broad, panoramic overview is designed to contribute to an individual’s basic understanding as it relates to fathoming the How? and Why? such a long-term, visionary, methodical effort to achieve such catastrophic objectives could have possibly occurred.
The “Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research” is an intergovernmental body whose purpose is to place political and social leaders' support behind the need for Holocaust education, remembrance, and research both nationally and internationally.” [4] The findings of its nation-by-nation Holocaust Education Report concerning the United States include the following:
“… according to “The National Study of Secondary Teaching Practices in Holocaust Education” recently conducted by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, a significant portion of teaching about the Holocaust is done in English or language-arts classes, wherein it is more often approached in a thematic manner (e.g., intolerance) than in an historical (or chronological) manner. [5]
“An Overview of the Holocaust from a Critical Perspective” addresses the increasingly common reality that the Holocaust is not being taught in History Departments nationwide, perhaps to the detriment of us all.
NOTES:
[1] Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research, n.p. [cited 16 January 2012]. Online: http://www.holocausttaskforce.org/.
[2] Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research, Holocaust Education Report, “Country Report on Holocaust Education in Task Force Member Countries, United States,” n.p. [cited 16 January 2012]. Online: http://www.holocausttaskforce.org/education/holocaust-education-reports/unitedstates-holocaust-education-report.html.
[3] Michael Berenbaum, “Consciousness of the Holocaust: Promises and Perils,” Dimensions: A Journal Of Holocaust Studies, 15, no. 1 (May 2001): 30, published by the Anti-Defamation League’s Braun Holocaust Institute, n.p. [cited 16 January 2012]. Online: www.adl.org.
[4] Berenbaum, “Consciousness of the Holocaust,” 27.
[5] Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research, Holocaust Education Report, “Country Report on Holocaust Education in Task Force Member Countries, United States,” n.p. [cited 16 January 2012]. Online: http://www.holocausttaskforce.org/education/holocaust-education-reports/unitedstates-holocaust-education-report.html.
“In a world of relativism, it has taken its place as the Absolute. We know what is good. We don’t know what is bad. But we do know that the Holocaust is evil, absolute evil.” [2]
On the other hand, Berenbaum also writes of some of the consequences of being assigned that role:
“As the Holocaust enters the American classroom, it is being Americanized, seen through the prism of American categories and asked to play an important role in the needs of twenty-first century society. It is used as a means to teach issues of racism, pluralism, tolerance, and democracy. Some properly complain that this American representation of the Holocaust fails to deal with some basic aspects of the Holocaust. Since anti-Semitism is not a major issue in contemporary American life, the role of anti-Semitism is often de-emphasized in American classrooms. Since teachers are not well trained in Jewish history, Jewish life before the Shoah is virtually omitted. And there is a serious and perhaps even widening gap between the findings of contemporary scholarship and what takes place in the classroom. Yet, there is a growing interest among teachers and a growing willingness to participate in training sessions.” [3]
This graphics-heavy PowerPoint presentation, due to its progressive-sequential historical construction, without going into elaborate theoretical explanation, accomplishes two objectives simultaneously:
1. It addresses the greater historical context of what has come to be known as the worst systematic, state-sponsored genocide of a targeted people group in human history…
2. … while also addressing the 2,000-year history of Christian Anti-Semitism, which is now widely accepted to be a primary contributory factor in the silence of Christian Europe as the Nazi regime successfully implemented “the Final Solution to the Jewish Problem” in the heart of Christian Europe.
“An Overview of the Holocaust from a Critical Perspective” addresses the greater unfolding of events from a broad, sweeping historical perspective, allowing the audience to get a “feel” for the flow of related events in one session of learning. Exposure to such a broad, panoramic overview is designed to contribute to an individual’s basic understanding as it relates to fathoming the How? and Why? such a long-term, visionary, methodical effort to achieve such catastrophic objectives could have possibly occurred.
The “Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research” is an intergovernmental body whose purpose is to place political and social leaders' support behind the need for Holocaust education, remembrance, and research both nationally and internationally.” [4] The findings of its nation-by-nation Holocaust Education Report concerning the United States include the following:
“… according to “The National Study of Secondary Teaching Practices in Holocaust Education” recently conducted by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, a significant portion of teaching about the Holocaust is done in English or language-arts classes, wherein it is more often approached in a thematic manner (e.g., intolerance) than in an historical (or chronological) manner. [5]
“An Overview of the Holocaust from a Critical Perspective” addresses the increasingly common reality that the Holocaust is not being taught in History Departments nationwide, perhaps to the detriment of us all.
NOTES:
[1] Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research, n.p. [cited 16 January 2012]. Online: http://www.holocausttaskforce.org/.
[2] Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research, Holocaust Education Report, “Country Report on Holocaust Education in Task Force Member Countries, United States,” n.p. [cited 16 January 2012]. Online: http://www.holocausttaskforce.org/education/holocaust-education-reports/unitedstates-holocaust-education-report.html.
[3] Michael Berenbaum, “Consciousness of the Holocaust: Promises and Perils,” Dimensions: A Journal Of Holocaust Studies, 15, no. 1 (May 2001): 30, published by the Anti-Defamation League’s Braun Holocaust Institute, n.p. [cited 16 January 2012]. Online: www.adl.org.
[4] Berenbaum, “Consciousness of the Holocaust,” 27.
[5] Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research, Holocaust Education Report, “Country Report on Holocaust Education in Task Force Member Countries, United States,” n.p. [cited 16 January 2012]. Online: http://www.holocausttaskforce.org/education/holocaust-education-reports/unitedstates-holocaust-education-report.html.