12 Dec, 2022
Education, youth and lifelong learning are at the centre of the ‘Camp des Milles’ memorial, a best practice for honouring the memory of the victims of the Holocaust and the fight against all hatred – offline and online – alive.
27 January marks the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The date marks the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. However, remembering these horrors is also becoming a challenge: what should we do when there are almost no living survivors left to tell their stories? When antisemitism is on the rise again? What policies can be supported to keep these memories alive through education?
“Our duty to remember remains immense. I am convinced that education is the best way to prevent antisemitism”, said Anne Rudisuhli, Member of the Bouches-du-Rhône, France Departmental Council, where the ‘Camp des Milles’ memorial is located.
“Unfortunately, we see a return of antisemitism in France and in the rest of Europe. We also regret to see that some teachers in certain classes encounter difficulties in teaching Jewish history, and in particular the history of the Shoah. Some teachers are victims of harassment from students and therefore tend to minimize or ignore this part of history” she continued.
To raise awareness about this issue, Rudisuhli introduced an amendment during the recent European Committee of the Regions plenary session, in a debate on fighting antisemitism to strengthen the pedagogical accompaniment of history teachers when they transmit the history of the Holocaust:
“The European Committee of the Regions expresses its concern at the recurrence of antisemitic acts in schools and the increasing difficulty that some teachers are experiencing in teaching about the Shoah, and agrees that teachers should be empowered to address antisemitism, the Shoah, Jewish life and history, including in multicultural classrooms; Stresses, therefore, the importance for Member States to provide teachers – especially history teachers – and school headmasters with enhanced pedagogical support in their teaching of the Second World War period and more generally when addressing the issue of antisemitism. The European Committee of the Regions also points out that in order to review and improve the teaching materials used in the Member States and regions, structured exchanges with teachers are particularly necessary”.
In addition, her Department takes other actions such as an annual students’ visit to the ‘Camp des Milles’. Learn about it in the full article from Renew Europe CoR here.
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