All modern nation-states have periods of difficult history that teachers fail to address or address inadequately. The authors present a framework for defining difficult histories and understanding what makes them difficult. These events 1) are central to a nation's history, 2) contradict accepted histories or values, 3) connect with present…

This article examines the relationship between school and cultural knowledge of Second World War in contemporary Poland. Drawing on analysis of 126 student responses to well-known photographs (photo elicitation), the author addresses what it means for schoolchildren to learn about an aspect of a contested past, the Holocaust, within the frame of…

This article highlights the role of teachers in confronting traumatic, hidden wartime histories in communities traumatized by them. The study illuminates patterns based on field observations, emails, and surveys of 60 teachers who participated in a Holocaust teacher preparation program in Poland during the summer of 2010. The teachers surveyed…