This paper provides concrete suggestions for teaching two Holocaust testimonies, Irene Hauser's diary and Ruth Klüger's memoir "Still Alive." Hauser's and Klüger's texts effectively illustrate the differences between diaries and memoirs while recounting similar experiences. Such a comparative analysis, I argue, achieves two goals: First,…

The following paper considers how integrating Holocaust graphic novels that prominently feature non-Jewish characters can be effective in introducing Jewish students to new perspectives on contemporary understandings of the Holocaust. Drawing on the results of recent studies about rising anti-Semitism and Jews' concerns for their safety, feelings…

This study advances scholarship that will support educators toward sound pedagogical uses of the testimonial archives that have been established to preserve the life experiences of individuals who experienced Nazi persecution. The preservation work is well established. The work of education scholars and practitioners who are tasked with both…

In this plática, we share how we have deployed the methodologies of critical reflexión and plática~testimonio/haki~shahadat, which helped us enact a decolonial praxis of solidarity with intentional acts that grounded us in border thinking and opened the possibilities of creating an otherwise of love and harmony. We illustrate a praxis of…

In the research subfield of social media memory studies (Birkner & Donk, 2020), digital memory of relevant historical events has its own scholarship and avenues of publication (e.g., Garde-Hansen et al., 2009; Hoskins, 2011). As for the specific area of Holocaust studies, with the passing of the generation that witnessed and experienced the…

Inspired by the work of the social and cultural historian Tim Cole, Stuart Farley decided to look again at the way he teaches the Holocaust. He wanted to focus on the geographical concept of place as a way of enabling his Year 9 students to build far more diverse narratives, which took full account of the chronological diversity of people's…

"After the death of the last witnesses the memory of the Holocaust must not be left to historians alone, now is the time for works of art" Aharon Appelfeld. This study focuses on the role and contribution of monuments to educating about Holocaust commemoration in Israel. Holocaust monuments are located throughout Israel, from north to…

This qualitative interview study explores the perceptions five USC Shoah Foundation Master Teachers who integrate Holocaust survivor and witness testimony via IWitness, a web resource from the USC Shoah Foundation, on students' development of empathy. Findings of this study suggest that the personalized nature of engaging with testimony in…

This article discusses the relation between emotions and testimony, by asking the questions: What do emotions do? Are emotions possible and desirable starting points for teaching difficult and complex subjects such as injustice and historical wounds? This article explores the 2015 image and testimony of Alan Kurdi, lying on a beach of the…

In this article, the authors detail a curriculum unit used by Ms. Brown and a second English Language Arts (ELA) teacher, Ms. Smith, with their high school students. The unit centered on a comparative genocide framework developed by the Comparative Genocide Project at Arizona State University. The framework detailed seven key themes common across…

The aim of this article is to examine the frameworks that educators use, especially how they conclude teaching and learning about genocide, and to suggest readings and other sources for use. The narrative arc that educators establish by choosing where to begin and where to end is a powerful indicator of their course goals and teaching rationales.…

Purpose: The purpose of this contribution is to analyse a set of Holocaust survivor testimony transcripts in order to find out their educational value regarding the connection between antisemitism of the past and the present. The narrative analyses are used to generate questions that might be relevant for addressing certain curricular aims within…

The purpose of this study was to explore how learners make meaning of their experiences at exhibits depicting narratives of the Polish Righteous Among the Nations of the World, free-choice learning contexts. The study focused on two exhibits at a university in the mid-Western United States. The conceptual framework of the study integrates…

How can we bridge the emotional and cognitive study of Holocaust testimonies in Israel? Can empathy be used as a stepping stone to critical reflection? And how can teachers address the manipulative popular interpretation of these testimonies in Israel, which seemingly place them beyond critical reflection? We examine these questions through an…

Situated at the intersection of research on Holocaust education and embodied literacies this study examines how an arts-based instructional approach engaged middle school learners in developing empathetic perspectives on the Anne Frank narrative. We addressed the research question: What can adolescents who are using their bodies to gain empathy…