EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK Learning. From Hate W e must teach public school students about the Holocaust so the building blocks of cruelty against the Jewish people never take form again. Unless we spotlight the images of Hitler's "final solution to the Jewish problem," America runs the risk of not seeing that Europe's Jews confront what National Director Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League calls the worst of times since Nazi Germany. The best way to embed the horror unleashed by Hitler into the public psyche, and to suppress seeds of bigotry and hatred, is for Jewish and gentile high school students to study the Holocaust together. But such study isn't mandatory in most districts. The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum reports that the Holocaust is required study in California, Florida, Illinois, Mississippi, New Jersey and New York. At least 14 other states recommend or encourage it. Michigan has no formal Commission on Holocaust Education, but does have many Holocaust ROBERT A. survivors, scholars and programs. SKLAR Jews need to learn about Holocaust propa- Editor ganda and persecution to stand united against mass aggression. But we'd be far more effective in this pursuit if we had the support of far more righteous gentiles than the few brave souls who stepped up in the 1930s and '40s. Teaching about tolerance and social justice is good, but to do so against the backdrop of the dynamics in Europe and America during the German death camp era is better. Birmingham, Berkley, Novi and West Bloomfield are among the Oakland County school districts with some Holocaust studies. With parental prodding and support, the Farmington school district, where the new Holocaust Memorial Center is located, recently included the "calculated and focused genocide of Lincoln European Jews in the Holocaust" as a key concept in its 10th-grade social studies curriculum. To its credit, the district has embraced diversity initiatives over the years. In June, it helped Oakland Schools organize a training session at the HMC for educators. As a followup, I'd love to see HMC visits become integral to curriculum. Future Help Needed Like many districts, Farmington doesn't require HMC visits. But as the home district for the world-class museum, the dis- trict must do the right thing and find $3,200 a year so stu- -dents in required 10th-grade history classes and in appropriate electives can visit the HMC. Linda Stulberg, the child of a survivor, and her husband, Bob, generously offered to cover that cost for the 2004-2005 school year. The long-range bur- den shouldn't rest with this Farmington Hills couple. What about a combined field trip fee and district subsidy? Farmington schools would be a model if they said that no student's education is complete without a museum experience to see how Nazi Germany renounced human rights to murder 6 million Jews and 5 million gypsies, homosexuals, illiterates, disabled people and others deemed unworthy. "With the alarming rise in global fanaticism, terrorism and anti-Semitism against the backdrop of revisionist propagan- da," the Stulbergs wrote in a letter to the Detroit Jewish News, "the need for such programming is greater than ever." And it is. Over the past 20 years, more than 1.7 million public, private and religious school students have visited the HMC, formerly in West Bloomfield. Non-public schools reg- ularly bring groups. Funding methods vary for these schools. Insightful Teacher In 1973, Margaret Lincoln moved with husband Gary from Ann Arbor to Battle Creek, where she is a library media spe- cialist at Lakeview High. A 2002 U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Mandel Fellow, she teamed with Lakeview social studies teacher Scott Durham to create an online Holocaust instructional unit. Last week, she earned the School Library Media Collaborative Award for enriching Holocaust education. In a cogent 2002 Multimedia & Internet Schools online paper, she stressed that the Holocaust must be studied precise- ly because it happened. She wrote: "Today's high school stu- dents and their parents were not alive at the time of the Holocaust. Through appropriately designed learning activities, they can be alerted to the vigilance necessary to prevent the reoccurrence of a similar tragedy." Well put. Perceptively, Lincoln explains that social studies teachers are obligated to meet curricular objectives, to adhere to state stan- dards and benchmarks, and to prepare students for standard- ized tests. But many teachers, she says, have deluded them- selves into believing there's no time in tight course schedules to teach about the Holocaust, com- pelling as the subject is. Heed Lincoln's retort: "Teaching about the Holocaust allows students to consider such issues as indifference toward suffering, use and abuse of power, prejudice, racism and the disintegration of civilized values." In a conversation on Monday, she reminded me that the typical survivor is about 80. So each day, we have fewer primary witnesses to speak in class- rooms and share their story firsthand. 'As educa- tors," Lincoln said, "we have to figure out how these lessons can be imparted to students." She gets it. At the June 22 dedication of the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills, I thought about the scratched lens through which we view the dark days of the not-so-dis- tant past. The center is a poignant memorial to Hitler's vic- tims. But we were really there, 1,000 strong, to declare, "Never Again!" Before the ribbon was cut, Abe Weberman, president of Shaarit Haplaytah, an ever-dwindling group of survivors, spoke for just 35 seconds. Still, his message was powerful. "Our organization," he said to HMC founder and CEO Rabbi Charles Rosenzveig, "will continue to help you in mak- ing sure the story and lesson of the Holocaust will forever be learned and remembered." Dr. Guy Stern is the director of the HMC's International Institute of the Righteous. "What we are proposing to do in this Institute," he said, "is to find out what motivates people of all persuasions throughout history, across borders, to d _ o the right thing where the majority is inclined to do evil." I hope he succeeds in his desire to attract school groups. The Holocaust Memorial Center won't reach its full poten- tial without the rhythm of public school students learning what happened, and why, so they can help assure any selective targeting of people whose only fault is that they are a minority never happens again. ❑ Get hooked ok soserkize pod. Voltateer alf4ke.. •Join iARC's Young Adult Committee Fulfill Teen Community Service •Answer JARC Telephones • Share Shabbat Dinner at a JARC Home • Catalog JARC Archives and Library • Develop a Personal Friendship with Someone Served by JARC ...and much more! jam For 35 years helping people with 'disabilities be fully included in community life. (248) 538-6610 Ext. 339 wwwjarc.org 30301 Northwestern • Suite 100 Farmington Hills, mi 48334 7/ 9 2004 5