Through survivor’s testimony, students become stewards of history – entrusted with the knowledge of someone else’ experience. However, as a society, we have to prepare ourselves for a time when Holocaust survivors will no longer be able to visit classrooms or meet with students. Based on the survivor testimonies in But I Lived, our Educational team has created teaching materials (units, lessons, and activities), which can be adapted to different countries and contexts. Our project is committed to creating flexible educational resources so teachers can feel confident and knowledgeable teaching about the Holocaust as part of the curriculum.

Holocaust & Human Rights Education

The study of the Holocaust and other genocides help students think about the use and abuse of power, and the roles and responsibilities of individuals, nations, and states when confronted with issues of social justice and human rights violations. Aligned with Global Citizenship Education and Human Rights Education, values espoused in various History and Social Studies curricula, the study of these events helps young people recognize prejudice, bigotry, and religious intolerance, and develop an awareness of the value of diversity in a pluralistic society, including sensitivity to the positions of minority groups.

While the perpetration of each genocide is unique, there is the possibility for universal learning – modern dictatorships, terrorism, and ideology make future genocide a real possibility. Students, even at a young age can relate to a subject matter that includes themes such as moral dilemmas, obedience to authority, individual responsibility, and family relationships. The experience heightens a student’s sensitivity to suffering and injustice everywhere. Genocide education that addresses global citizenship and human rights “seeks to provide learners with membership in an international community through fostering knowledge and skills” (Bajaj, 2011, p. 489).

Much has been written about the challenges of teaching genocide (Foster, Pearce, & Pettigrew, 2020). The complexity of the subject matter, such as the Holocaust, is daunting. Because of the enormity of the crime, educators must take precautions against overwhelming young people with statistics and imagery; while underplaying the atrocities may minimize the inhumanity (IHRA, 2019). In many cases, educators have relied on survivors, museums, and archives in order to compensate for the lack of classroom resources.

Graphic Narratives in the Classroom

Graphic narratives support the development of students’ critical and media literacy (Boatright, 2010; Hoover, 2012), critical thinking skills that are indispensable to an informed citizen (Seelow, 2010). As well, they encourage students to adopt inquiry habits, such as examining the historical events surrounding a narrative. Close reading is often required, as students have to consider the text as part of the image, the sequencing of the panels, the tension between the images and the text, and the use of gutters (Dunn, 2015, p. 259).

Additionally, reading and writing graphic narratives can be motivating for struggling students and reluctant readers. Developing multimodal literacy skills is a necessity for school and workplace success in the 21st century. The graphic narrative, as opposed to film or academic texts, allows the reader to pause and reflect, or to move backwards and forwards in the text (Hughes, King, Perkins, & Fuke, 2011).

There are many expert resources on how to read graphic narratives. Additional resources are recommended in the Teachers’ Resource section.

Teaching through Testimony

Testimony interjects personal, palpable emotion into the often clinical telling of history and disrupts the flow of typical historical narratives. These eyewitness accounts give a face and a voice to victims, to which viewers can relate (Bickford, 2008; Felman & Laub, 1992). For example, Holocaust survivor testimony places a face on a massive event and emphasizes the human, relatable stories of real people. It helps students to grasp the reality of an unreal event and history becomes imbued with emotion. Testimonies help to demonstrate the human and personal dimension of history without dramatizing the effects of historical events on survivors.

As a society, we have to prepare ourselves for a time when survivors will no longer be able to visit classrooms or meet with students (Harding, 2014). While it is impossible to replace the influential experience of hearing a Holocaust survivor, the powerful use of testimony can inspire students. A survivor’s testimony is not simply a recollection or story, students become stewards of history – entrusted with the knowledge of someone else’ experience (Simon & Eppert, 1997).

Unlike the collective narrative of a textbook or a fictionalized story, educators and students grapple with the challenges of testimony as a source in history as there is an inherent tension between the intimate, personal narratives and the researched histories written by scholars. Testimony does not offer a completed, totalizing account of events. It is local, individual, and personal (Glejzer & Bernard-Donals, 2001). The deft educator engages learners through testimony and combines students’ emotional responses with historical analysis; helping students develop a rich understanding through the layering of testimony, historical record, and scholarly history.

Historical Thinking

Teachers are engaging students with historical events in order to develop historical understanding and skills. Through the interrogation of historical accounts, using multiple primary sources, and reconciling different narratives, students are able to construct historical knowledge. If educators provide an unproblematic view of history or social studies education is conceptualized in this way, it serves to preclude critical thinking. The Big Six of Historical Thinking (Seixas, Morton, Colyer, & Fornazzari, 2013) has been hugely influential on Canadian and international Social Studies curricula. Therefore, it behooves us, as educators, to encourage students to engage fully in historical thinking.

Human Rights and Global Citizenship Education

The United Nations Sustainable Development Group (2020) suggests that rights based approach promotes social cohesion, integration, & stability; builds respect for peace and non-violent conflict resolution; contributes to positive social transformation; is sustainable; produces better outcomes for economic development; and builds capacity. This approach to education is an important lens on curricula.

Study of genocide assists students think about the use and abuse of power, and the roles and responsibilities of individuals, organizations, and nations when confronted with human rights violations, while developing an understanding of the ramifications of prejudice, racism, anti-Semitism, and stereotyping in any society. It helps students develop an awareness of the value of diversity in a pluralistic society and encourages sensitivity to the positions of minorities.