David Cesarani, a research professor at the University of London; Jennifer Gerwlivch, dean of English at Father McGivney Catholic Academy in Markham; and Elke Gryglewski, a senior educator at the House of the Wannsee Conference Memorial and Educational Centre in Berlin, each face unique challenges in teaching about this dark period in history.

Cesarani, who discussed his experiences teaching inner-city students in London, England, said many difficulties in teaching about the Holocaust come from what a teacher hopes to achieve through those lessons.

“The challenges in teaching about the Holocaust and how you evaluate the success depends very much on what your goals are,” he said.

“Are you teaching the subject because it’s an important part of the European historical experience? Are you teaching it to try and encourage notions of good citizenship? Are you using it to counter racism? Are you using it to counter bigotry of all kinds? Are you teaching it because you think teaching about the Holocaust is a way to prevent genocide?”

Achieving or not achieving your goal also depends on who is being taught, Cesarani added.

“The success in achieving these goals depends very much on the kinds of audiences you’re addressing, and the kind of obstacles in the way of getting any of those messages across.”

Gerwlivch, who spoke about teaching Catholic high school  students in Ontario, said that for her, the biggest challenge in teaching about the Holocaust has been the diverse population at Father McGivney Catholic Academy.  

Students there come from all over the world, including places such as Israel, Jamaica, and Pakistan, and not all of them are Catholic, she said.

“As the student population at McGivney is diverse, one of the key considerations in creating and delivering Holocaust education programs is that students often bring their own difficult histories to the classroom. Some of these students have come from countries that are experiencing war or civil unrest. Some have been in refugee situations. Many experience family conflict. Many experience personal loss, and many have dealt with violence, both in Canada and abroad,” Gerwlivch said.

Gryglewski, who spoke about teaching young Germans who have Palestinian backgrounds, said that one of her main challenges in teaching about the Holocaust is the lack of opportunities available for students without pure German backgrounds.

“We [Germany]… have a very unhelpful school system,” she said. “Due to very racist integration policies during the last decade, the majority of school kids with a non-German background are the lowest of the low. Many of them finish school without having a degree.”

The educators also spoke about the different methods they use to overcome the challenges they face in teaching about the Holocaust. Cesarani spoke of his experiences teaching students at the City and Islington College in London, the majority of whom were black.

“With black students, one of the greatest challenges was their impatience with the subject…what really concerned [most of] them was transatlantic slavery, and whether or not they had an opportunity to study it. What they thought was that here was a chance to explore the black experience of slavery.

“It caused a degree of frustration,” Cesarani said, adding that the students would often ask why he was only discussing Jews as victims, not Jews in their role as slave traders.

Because most of the exposure that students at City and Islington College had to Jewish people was through the media, Cesarani said he spent a lot his time “unpacking” those myths.

“It’s difficult, because there is a completely distorted perception of what is happening in the Middle East,” he said.

Jennifer Gerwlivch used a different tactic than Cesarani: reaching out to her students through literature.

“In the Grade 9 and 10 course, I try to incorporate Holocaust education into units on poetry, speaking on personal voice,” she said.

In the Grade 11 course, Night by Elie Wiesel and Lord of the Flies by William Golding are required readings.

“When we teach Night, students are invited to discuss and analyze passages from the text and how they relate to the central meaning of the course.”

The Grade 12 English course has Gerwlivch’s students reading the graphic Holocaust novel Maus by Art Spiegelman.

“What I’ve found is that through story, I’m able to make [the Holocaust] relevant to them,” she said.

“Overall I have found that in my experience, students are interested in learning about the Holocaust, regardless of their cultural background, regardless of their religious background… these are the things that stick with them, and for me that confirms what I’m doing through literature is significant.”

Gryglewski, meanwhile, uses another method entirely.

Since October 2007, she has been working with 16 Berliners with Palestinian backgrounds. They are aged 13 to 17, and most don’t have much in the way of formal education.

They learn about the history of National Socialism, their family biographies, and the history of Palestinians. Despite complaints from other teachers about a lack of interest, and anti-Semitic remarks and attitudes they often find from German students with Palestinian backgrounds, Gryglewski said her experience was different.

“[My] general impression was that Muslim youngsters did not refuse to deal with the Shoah,” she said, adding that they all chose to participate in the project voluntarily.