As Americans Debate How to Teach Our Complicated History, What Can We Learn from How Germans Teach the Holocaust to German Citizens?

Presentation Type

Poster

Presentation Type

Submission

Keywords

Holocaust, Memory, History, Slavery, Pedagogy, Vergangenheitsaufarbeitung, Truth and Reconciliation, Holocaust

Department

History

Major

History

Abstract

This semester I am assisting History Professor Stewart Davenport at the very beginning of his next research project comparing Truth and Reconciliation work in Germany after the Holocaust, South Africa after apartheid, and the United States after slavery and racial segregation. Our work builds upon Susan Neiman’s important book, Learning from the Germans: Race and The Memory of Evil (2019) and the process called Vergangenheitsaufarbeitung, which translates as “working off/coming to terms with the past.” German memory culture, as it is known, includes physical memorials, public acts of commemoration, literature, film, as well as highly personal family conversations. For this project, we are looking at the German education system’s history curriculum. Focusing on pedagogy, the project has two animating sub-questions: 1. How do Germans currently teach the Holocaust to German citizens, grade school through college? And 2. How did this historical curriculum evolve into its current form? What is its history from 1945 to the present? Like surveying the landscape before breaking ground on a construction project, this semester we have worked to develop a bibliography of the scholarly literature (in English) that is both focused and thorough. Working with Marc Vinyard at Payson Library, as well as scholars at other institutions, we now have a bibliography of almost 70 sources, divided into the following five categories: Holocaust Education Theory and in General; Holocaust Education in Germany; German and Holocaust History; German Memory Culture; and Atonement. Although seemingly small, developing this bibliography is the vital first step in humanities research.

Faculty Mentor

Stewart Davenport

Funding Source or Research Program

Academic Year Undergraduate Research Initiative

Location

Waves Cafeteria

Start Date

24-3-2023 2:00 PM

End Date

24-3-2023 4:00 PM

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Mar 24th, 2:00 PM Mar 24th, 4:00 PM

As Americans Debate How to Teach Our Complicated History, What Can We Learn from How Germans Teach the Holocaust to German Citizens?

Waves Cafeteria

This semester I am assisting History Professor Stewart Davenport at the very beginning of his next research project comparing Truth and Reconciliation work in Germany after the Holocaust, South Africa after apartheid, and the United States after slavery and racial segregation. Our work builds upon Susan Neiman’s important book, Learning from the Germans: Race and The Memory of Evil (2019) and the process called Vergangenheitsaufarbeitung, which translates as “working off/coming to terms with the past.” German memory culture, as it is known, includes physical memorials, public acts of commemoration, literature, film, as well as highly personal family conversations. For this project, we are looking at the German education system’s history curriculum. Focusing on pedagogy, the project has two animating sub-questions: 1. How do Germans currently teach the Holocaust to German citizens, grade school through college? And 2. How did this historical curriculum evolve into its current form? What is its history from 1945 to the present? Like surveying the landscape before breaking ground on a construction project, this semester we have worked to develop a bibliography of the scholarly literature (in English) that is both focused and thorough. Working with Marc Vinyard at Payson Library, as well as scholars at other institutions, we now have a bibliography of almost 70 sources, divided into the following five categories: Holocaust Education Theory and in General; Holocaust Education in Germany; German and Holocaust History; German Memory Culture; and Atonement. Although seemingly small, developing this bibliography is the vital first step in humanities research.