Teaching history, so it doesn’t repeat

Months before synagogue shootings, state added Holocaust history to school curricula

When Connecticut legislators passed a bill requiring the Holocaust be taught in schools starting this fall, they did not know the subject of anti-Semitic violence would be so relevant two months after the new year began.

State Sen. Toni Boucher, R-26, the legislator who tried to move the bill forward for a decade before succeeding this May, happened to be in Pittsburgh a few days before a man shot and killed 11 people worshiping in the Tree of Life synagogue.

The “weekend was devastating,” she said recently. “It chokes me up to think we need this so badly right now, because only is it through the education of our young people that they can be sensitized, and have compassion and empathy for all other people.”

The state Department of Education has made lessons on “genocide education and awareness,” and the Holocaust in particular, available to school districts for several years.

In New Haven’s schools, social studies teachers are to receive professional development next week on “building background knowledge” on the new mandate.

New Haven Public Schools COO Will Clark said in an email that he knows students have had lessons and exposure to Holocaust topics in the past, but the professional development is intended to make sure teachers know to follow the state mandate “and that teachers are aware of some of the tools, lessons and best practices available.”

According to a copy of the professional development agenda provided to the Register, teachers will hear from state officials on the requirements of the mandate and will see presentations on the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide, the Bosnian Genocide and the Rwandan Tutsi Genocide for an hour each.

The new law requires that the subjects be taught in Connecticut public schools as part of their social studies curriculum. Local school boards were permitted to use existing lessons to satisfy the law, which was passed by unanimous votes in both houses of the General Assembly.

“It is incredibly disturbing that we have seen an uptick in hate crimes and hate speech over the last year — including assault, bomb threats and vandalism — in nearly every region across our country,” Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said on signing the bill this spring.

“Equally as disturbing are recent statistics showing that two-thirds of American Millennials don’t know what Auschwitz is and 22 percent of Millennials say they haven’t heard of the Holocaust,” he said. “We are simply not doing enough to teach our young people the extreme and deadly mistakes of the past. Holocaust and genocide awareness are not just essential curriculum, but critical.”

In Fairfield, Gregg Pugliese, director of social studies for the district, said issues of diversity, tolerance and human rights are essential aspects of the curriculum at all levels.

Holocaust education is taught in a variety of courses.

“It is first introduced in middle school and covered as part of the unit on World War II,” Pugliese said.

Greenwich middle school students start with a historical lesson about the end of World War I, the Geneva Convention, Adolf Hitler’s rise to power and his use of propaganda, Eastern Middle School Assistant Principal Joanna Savino said.

As a class, they read “Night,” Elie Wiesel’s autobiographical account of his experience at Auschwitz; and in small groups complete another book on the Holocaust based on their reading level.

Teachers focus on presenting how someone such as Hitler could gain a following after Germany’s defeat using rhetorical skills, Savino said.

Holocaust survivor Judith Altmann has visited regularly to speak to the student body.

“This frail, old woman up there, she captivates our 13and 14-year-olds,” Savino said. “They’re just mesmerized by what she’s saying about the experiences, the trauma. To meet an actual survivor is humbling to them.”

Eighth-graders across the three middle schools also visit the Holocaust Museum during their annual field trip to Washington, D.C.

The passing of the new legislation was a good time for educators to reflect on their curriculum, Savino said.

“For me, personally, I was a little surprised that wasn’t a curriculum mandate,” she said. “We need to be mindful of what is propaganda. That’s important for our kids to understand — to be aware of how easily people can be influenced, so that way we don’t fall prey to those evils in the world.”

Rabbi Mitchell M. Hurvitz of Temple Sholom in Greenwich said he felt validated as a Jewish person when Connecticut legally mandated Holocaust and anti-genocide education.

Hurvitz has visited Greenwich public and private schools — for programming specific to the Holocaust and for presentations on the Jewish faith.

Statewide, the problem of anti-Semitism is spreading.

Last year saw the largestever increase in anti-Semitic harassment and violence, from 26 counts in 2016 to 49 in 2017, according to the Connecticut branch of the Anti-Defamation League.

The league is still compiling data for 2018, but as of now, the trend shows no signs of stopping, ADL Associate Director Andy Friedland said.

“It’s been a busy year, unfortunately,” Friedland said.