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Holocaust education in Jewish schools in Israel: Goals, dilemmas, challenges

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Abstract

Research has shown the Holocaust to be the primary component of Jewish identity (Farago in Yahadut Zmanenu 5:259–285, 1989; Gross in Influence of the trip to Poland within the framework of the Ministry of Education on the working through of the Holocaust. Unpublished M.A. thesis, Ben-Gurion University, Beer Sheva, 2000; Herman in Jewish identity: A socio-psychological perspective, Sage, Beverly Hills, 1977; Levy et al. in Beliefs, observations and social interaction among Israeli Jews. Louis Guttman Israel Institute of Applied Social Research (Hebrew), Jerusalem, 1993; Ofer in Jews in Israel: Contemporary social and cultural patterns. Brandeis University Press, Hanover and London, pp. 394–417, 2004a) and to contribute significantly to Jewish Israelis’ sense of belonging to the Jewish people. Though the Holocaust is a central event in Jewish history, Holocaust education is mandatory in the state education system in Israel, and some research has investigated the impact of this education, the field has not been conceptualized systematically (Blatman in Bishvilei haZikaron 7:15–16, 1995; Feldman in Bishvilei haZikaron 7:8–11, 1995; Ofer in Jewish Educ 10:87–108, 2004b; Schatzker in Int J Polit Educ 5(1): 75–82, 1982). This article attempts to organize the existing knowledge on the subject through a meta-analysis of the foundations and basic premises of Holocaust education in Israel, using the most important literature in the area. It first suggests a conceptual framework, organizing by period the changing attitudes toward the Holocaust in general and Holocaust education in particular. It then describes Holocaust education over the years, and finally analyzes the goals of Holocaust education, along with its major dilemmas and challenges.

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Notes

  1. Israelis engaged in a lively (and at times, violent) debate over whether to accept the payments Germany offered as “compensation” for the Holocaust.

  2. Rudolf Kastner was a Jewish journalist who made a deal with Adolf Eichmann: 1,685 Hungarian Jews were allowed to leave Hungary for Switzerland instead of being sent to Auschwitz, in return for money, gold and diamonds. In a pamphlet, Malchiel Gruenwald accused Kastner of having collaborated with the Nazis by negotiating with Eichmann. Gruenwald was sued for libel; in 1955, the court ruled that Kastner had indeed, in the words of the judge, “sold his soul to the devil”. Kastner was assassinated in 1957.

  3. Kapos were Jews in the ghettos who were chosen by Nazis as their representatives, to ensure that the “final solution” would run smoothly. As collaborators with the Nazis, some were exceedingly sadistic and vicious, and after the Holocaust were brought to trial in Israeli courts.

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  1. School of Education, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel

    Zehavit Gross

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Gross, Z. Holocaust education in Jewish schools in Israel: Goals, dilemmas, challenges. Prospects 40, 93–113 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11125-010-9142-x

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