Subscribe to Print Edition | Fri., May 09, 2008 Iyyar 4, 5768 | | Israel Time: 06:23 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
  Back to Homepage
Rosner's Domain
Diplomacy
Defense Jewish World Opinion National
Print Edition
Advertising
Books Arts & Leisure Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File
Last update - 15:03 12/01/2008
Holocaust scholar: 'Jew' has become curse word among German youth
By Ofer Aderet, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Holocaust, Germany, education

German schools are failing in educating students about the Holocaust, a new study by a political education center has found, as German youth, who one historian said use the word "Jew" as a common curse in daily discourse, are increasingly distant from the suffering of the victims of Nazism.

According to a study commissioned by the Federal Agency for Civic Education, a political education center known by its German acronym BPB, history courses no longer manage to teach Germany's younger generation of the horrors of the Nazis.

In the report, which appeared in the German educational magazine Focus-Shula, teachers are quoted as saying that they are having trouble impressing upon school children the horrors of the Holocaust, and have stated that their tools for teaching about the Shoah are not effective.
Advertisement
"The entire time we stood before the crematoriums of Auschwitz, the students took more interest in the types of pipes used to pump in the lethal Zyklon B gas, and not the fate of the Nazis victims," a teacher was quoted as saying.

In their words, this generation's students are less sensitive to the horrors of the Holocaust than any before.

The research also examines the role that immigrants have played in the changing attitudes towards the Shoah. Experts are quoted in the study as saying that there is a marked rise in the number of Muslims in Germany, many of whom see the teaching of the Holocaust as a veiled endorsement of the policies of the state of Israel.

"Out of fear of the students' reactions, many of the teachers avoid teaching this chapter of history in order to not be viewed by some students as supporters of Israel."

"The word 'Jew' has turned into one of the most common curse words among students in both east and west Germany," said Gottfried Cosler, a Frankfurt-based Holocaust scholar.

Robert Sigel, a historian who contributed to the study, is of the opinion that students are taking a great interest in the Holocaust, but that the methods in which the subject is taught today are in need of improvement.

"Often time the teachers, especially the more devoted ones, get carried away, and demand way too much of themselves," Sigel told Focus magazine. "They want to teach the facts and at the same time get across a moral message, call for education and tolerance, deal with the extreme right and prevent anti-Semitism. They put all this material into the subject, and it's too much."

Susan Orban, a historian at Yad Vashem, says that the Holocaust should be taught using methods that have proved successful in the past.

"Today's kids live in different times than that of Anne Frank," Orban said. In order to bridge the generational gap, she submits a different approach, "for example, asking them to imagine that they have to abruptly leave their homes and start a new life elsewhere." Such a method, according to Orban, would speak more directly to the children's hearts and minds than descriptions of the horrors of the concentration camp.

Sigel expressed similar sentiments, adding that the children of immigrants have shown particular interest to the victims of Nazism given that many of them suffered from racial persecution, religious intolerance, and even genocide in their native lands.


More Jewish World news and features

Related articles:
  • Esther Solomon / Break the chain
  • Israel seeks fresh Holocaust reparations deal with Germany
    • Bookmark to del.icio.us  
     
    Stronger than its ills
    The 60th anniversary celebrations are accompanied by a bad taste.
    Rise in racism
    Israeli Arabs say institutionalized racism has increased.
      1.   israel and curse words 17:35  |  geroge 11/01/08
      2.   Haaretz Role in Growing anti Semitism 17:40  |  GZLives 11/01/08
      3.   Lessons about the Holocaust does not work in the UK either 17:42  |  Chris Linthwaite 11/01/08
      4.   Holocaust history and the Germans 17:50  |  Dror 11/01/08
      5.   Duhh? There Germans 17:52  |  Robert 11/01/08
      6.   it`s hard to stay sensitive to a topic when .. 17:58  |  Sarah 11/01/08
      7.   Good thing we have our own country this time 18:01  |  MarkC 11/01/08
      8.   Am Israel haî 18:16  |  sam 11/01/08
      9.   The Holocaust ended in 1945 - time is passing 18:24  |  Stephen Murray 11/01/08
      10.   Dear Jews - Leave Germany before it is too Late! 18:29  |  Linda Rivera 11/01/08
      11.   H-SHEM MADE ALL PEOPLES DIFFERENT 18:35  |  MOSHE 11/01/08
      12.   TO # 8 STEPHEN MURRAY - TAKE A PILL YOU ARE SICK 18:38  |  MOSHE 11/01/08
      13.   Spanish Paper: ALL European Life DIED in Auschwitz (1) 18:42  |  Linda Rivera 11/01/08
      14.   ZIONISTS HARM HOLOCAUST 18:42  |  Jedd 11/01/08
      15.   Spanish Paper: ALL European Life DIED in Auschwitz (2) 18:44  |  Linda Rivera 11/01/08
      16.   #2 GZLives,Correct,Haaretz is the leading promoter 19:03  |  TOMY 11/01/08
      17.   The Jew is derogatory in Latin America, Europe, US, Canada and 19:06  |  American Patriot 11/01/08
      18.   Blind spots 19:08  |  Mark 11/01/08
      19.   Moshe - Hitler would agree with you 19:11  |  MAN 11/01/08
      20.   geroge- if you are right 19:17  |  ME 11/01/08
      21.   And what Linda? Go to New York? :) 19:17  |  HA 11/01/08
      22.   "Jew" a curse word??? 19:19  |  akiva (zionist) 11/01/08
      23.   Yes, #3 Linthwaite, we gathered as much from reading your posts. 19:24  |  Dr. L. Brnd 11/01/08
      24.   #2 Ditto for me 19:27  |  Joshua 11/01/08
      25.   welol i certainly get outraged when someone calls me a jew 19:36  |  muslim 11/01/08
      26.   its a shame, jews still in germany 19:41  |  ryddi 11/01/08
      27.   the greatest crime of the century 19:44  |  hollingsworth 11/01/08
      28.   #21 Dr L Brnd 19:47  |  Chris Linthwaite 11/01/08
      29.   "Araveem" is a common curse word among Israeli Jews. 19:48  |  Mohamed 11/01/08
      30.   Germans did not learn from history, neither Jews 19:59  |  Chris 11/01/08
      31.   And why 20:14  |  Dav 11/01/08
      32.   Mohamed - We do sympathize with you 20:21  |  Americans 11/01/08
      33.   MARK - Maybe I`ve forgotten but 20:36  |  GZLives 11/01/08
      34.   Why "Araveem" is a curse word, Mohammed! 20:39  |  Mohammed 11/01/08
      35.   Americans .. time is Mohammed`s side? 20:40  |  GZLives 11/01/08
      36.   # 9 Stephen Murray : "he Holocaust ended in 1945 - time is passin 20:47  |  17 11/01/08
      37.   This is simply ONE PERSONS OPINION... nothing more. 20:48  |  POP 11/01/08
      38.   "Jew" Curse Word 21:05  |  Sue 11/01/08
      39.   Holocaust "Jew" 21:05  |  Robert Lovell 11/01/08
      40.   Jew = Police Jew = asshole 21:15  |  John 11/01/08
      41.   Mohamed, what about "yidbach al yahud"? 21:18  |  Jake 11/01/08
      42.   Chris #28 21:21  |  Jake 11/01/08
      43.   Nobody likes jews, but we all love israelis 21:27  |  Voice of Reason 11/01/08
      44.   values are taught in the home 21:30  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 11/01/08
      45.   #27 Be proud you have Hamas, and Fatah, they love your people 21:31  |  Tom 11/01/08
      46.   Not much has changed in 1600 years 21:33  |  Boris 11/01/08
      47.   to Linda Rivera 21:49  |  TAZ 11/01/08
      48.   #26 Linthwaite, "the Holocaust" is all about "uprooting"? See #21 21:54  |  Dr. L. Brnd 11/01/08
      49.   Where Jews should live 22:07  |  Leo 11/01/08
      50.   hollingsworth and the Bolshevik bogey 22:20  |  Jake 11/01/08
      51.   So, wo ist Axel der Deutsche? 22:20  |  Morris Valentine 11/01/08
      52.   Holocaust: this is all we here about Jews 22:24  |  christoph 11/01/08
      53.   Jake - Your examples to Mohammed 22:43  |  Peter 11/01/08
      54.   To Morris Valentine, cool down Sir please 22:45  |  Mark B. 11/01/08
      55.   to Mohammed 22:53  |  judith 11/01/08
      56.   Dangerous nonsense 23:13  |  Angel 11/01/08
      57.   To Sue 23:27  |  angel 11/01/08
      58.   #25 23:28  |  Motke Chabad 11/01/08
      59.   more compassion 23:33  |  Agtnostidox 11/01/08
      60.   what kind of jews are we talking about,.. 23:35  |  hollingsworth 11/01/08
      61.   German cowardice 23:36  |  john 11/01/08
      62.   Must deal from strength #1 23:38  |  utagawa 11/01/08
      63.   Length of memory 23:43  |  Joan Stuchner 11/01/08
      64.   We must defend ourselves #2 23:44  |  utagawa 11/01/08
      65.   Holocaust Land 23:45  |  ron 11/01/08
      66.   Make the word "Jew" a compliment 23:47  |  Scott Katz 11/01/08
      67.   Holocaust is unique 23:49  |  john 11/01/08
      68.   #47Mark B 23:49  |  roland 11/01/08
      69.   14/Jedd - Yes - Zionism Harms Shoah Memory 23:50  |  Scott Katz 11/01/08
      70.   To Mark B 23:50  |  T.A. 11/01/08
      71.   #44 valentine 23:52  |  axel 11/01/08