Educating about the Holocaust (EaH) raises a host of educational and pedagogical questions: What should be our goals as educators? What can be considered successful Holocaust education? EaH also raises issues about memory, culture, and time: How does EaH reflect the cultural surrounding in which it takes place? How do new atrocities interact with the memory of the Holocaust? In addition, EaH raises philosophical challenges relating to our worldview and to our beliefs about human beings. Some of these questions require pedagogical and developmental knowledge, others entail self-reflection and introspection. Still others require conducting research to reach reliable answers. In this course, we will use all three sources of knowledge. We will consider goals, methods, and messages of EaH, while attempting to uncover hidden educational and philosophical assumptions. We will review our beliefs about humanity and the role of education, by exploring the choices made by perpetrators, bystanders, victims and helpers during the Holocaust, and we will learn how to conduct a small educational study, by considering Holocaust education and its challenges after October 7th, 2023.

2025 Course Syllabus