On 6 March 2016, six survivors of the Holocaust came together at The National Holocaust Centre and Museum with Bill Niven, Professor in Contemporary German History, to discuss the future of Holocaust education. It is our privilege to host such discussion, and a priority as we move towards a time when survivors are no longer present to tell their stories. Indeed, survivors  have always been central to our work and currently speak to thousands of school children each year as part of our education programmes.

 

We express our thanks to Hanneke Dye, Iby Knill, Joan Salter, Martin Stern, Ruth David, and Steven Frank for taking time to share their thoughts with us and contribute to development of our future programmes. We also express our thanks to Bill Niven for taking time to chair the debate.

 

Involving survivors in how their stories will be remembered, related, and taught in the future is an import aspect of our work. The participants in this roundtable brought a range of backgrounds and experiences, both during the Holocaust and in their lives afterwards. Their perspectives on questions from the seemingly obvious such as what are the lessons from the Holocaust, and how can these be taught? Through to the more abstract, such as should survivors of other genocides tell their stories as education programmes continue beyond living survivors of the Holocaust? Should members of the second generation begin speaking to audiences more commonly?

Getting the perspectives of survivors within these debates is essential, and we are running out of time to do so.Discussion on the day was split into three sessions which each focused on a different aspect, or challenge which we will be confronting in the future; 1) lessons from the Holocaust; 2) pedagogical approaches to teaching the Holocaust; 3) the role of testimony. Each session is available as a stand-alone film, and within a film covering all three sessions. You can access the films via this page, and our film library located here.

Finally we thank the staff of the National Holocaust Centre and Museum, the film team, and the volunteers, without whom the day and discussion would not have happened.