Mr. Nagourney says inter-
est in the program is not
what he envisioned.
"I would have hoped there
would have been a more
immediate and quicker
response," to the curricu-
lum, especially in cities with
large Jewish communities,
he said. "But there's always
a lot of politics involved in
Holocaust education."
He notes that many
teachers themselves never
learned about the
Holocaust, "and they may
not be motivated to do extra
work on what is potentially
a very scary subject. If all
you know of the Holocaust
is Night and Fog, there's a
real question of how you can
communicate that to your
students and what end that
would serve, anyway.
"There's also a limited
amount of class time.
Discussing the Holocaust
may raise so many ques-
tions that teachers feel it's a
lot safer not to deal with it
at all."
As a way to relieve such
concerns, Life Unworthy of
Life gives step-by-step
instructions to teachers
about how to teach the
Holocaust. This is comple-
mented by the seminars Mr.
Nagourney hosts for the
educators.
Another issue is the stu-
dents.
"To many of them, 1939 is
the same as 1399 is the
same as 1599. They have no
sense of history," he says.
"If you ask me, 'Is the
Holocaust being taught
today?' I would say, 'Both

Right:
From Barb
Demlow's
teaching
materials:
"You have to
pass kindness
before you learn
anything else."

more so and better than in

the past.' Are teachers tak-
ing advantage of Holocaust
curricula? Yes. And are stu-
dents capable of learning it?
Some of them are."
rank Buford teaches
in Bloomfield Hills.
Barb Demlow
teaches in Ferndale.
Mr. Buford is Catholic.
Mrs. Demlow is Jewish.
Both teach the Holocaust
and believe there is nothing
more important they can do.
Frank Buford teaches
advanced placement classes
in Western heritage at

F

Andover High. He wasn't
satisfied with how textbooks
(such as Western Heritage;
see adjacent story, "What
Will the History Books
Say?") presented the
Holocaust, so he built up his
own "mini unit" on the sub-
ject. He uses Life Unworthy
of Life and a number of
films, including one of the
liberation of Bergen-Belsen.
"It's the worst day of the
year," when he runs the
film, he says. "It's painful to
watch."
Often, students will weep
as the film is shown.

Though a large number of
his students are Jewish, few
come to Mr. Buford's class
with any real knowledge of
World War II or the
Holocaust. "I'll ask them,
`Didn't you learn this in
Sunday school?' and they
say, 'No.' "
A native Detroiter, Mr.
Buford gives a test at the
end of the course in which
students are asked to define
or identify such terms as
Kristallnacht and "Final
Solution," Gestapo and I.G.
Farben.

MENDING page 56

Custodians Of
The Future

B

urt Ansell isn't con-
tent to let the future take
care of itself.
A member of the Anti-
Defamation League's Re-
gional Advisory Council,
Mr. Ansell, of Birming-
ham, has been named
chairman of the new
Holocaust Education
Coalition (HEC), a local
organization whose goal is
to promote Holocaust edu-
cation in U.S. high schools
and sponsor educational
programs for the general
public.
"Surveys show that
many high-school students
today are unaware of the
Holocaust, -and some who
are aware believe its hor-
rors have been greatly
exaggerated," he said.
"All are fair game for
the revisionists, who deny
that the Holocaust hap-
pened. The HEC believes
that today's high-school
students, as custodians of
the future, can safeguard
that future only if they
remember the past."
Member organizations
of the HEC are the Jewish
Foundation for Christian
Rescuers, the ADL-Mich-
igan Region, the Children
of Holocaust Survivors
Association in Michigan
(CHAIM), the Ecumenical
Institute for Jewish and
Christian Studies, the
Holocaust survivors orga-
nization Shaarit Hap-
laytah, the Jewish Corn-
munity Council of
Metropolitan Detroit, the
Michigan Jewish Con-
ference, and the Univer-
sity of Michigan-Dearborn.
The HEC's first project
will be raising money to
provide classroom materi-
als for schools nationwide
that wish to include
Holocaust coverage in
their courses. Materials
will consist of the Life
Unworthy of Life curricu-
lum and feature a teacher
guide, 30 student text-
books and a 60-minute
video of survivors' testimo-
ny.
The HEC also hopes to
be on the program when
the national B'nai B'rith
Youth Organization meets
next month.
"We'll request that each

CUSTODIANS page 56

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