Teaching The Holocaust:
Exploring Pedagogical Dilemmas
Avi Patt, University of Hartford
Alan Marcus, University of Connecticut
• Pedagogical Dilemmas
• Teaching the Holocaust and Genocide with Film
• Teaching the Holocaust and Genocide with other documents
Perpetrators
Survivors
Liberators
Bystanders
Resisters
Rescuers
Collaborators
Victims
What risks do we run in reading fiction texts alongside the
survivor narratives? How can we use these texts to better
understand the events of the Holocaust?
What is most important when deciding whether to
use graphic content to teach the Holocaust?
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Meets goals for the lesson
Does not require parent permission
Students will not get upset
Does not show any dead/mutilated bodies
Appears in USHMM exhibit or online
Approved by department chair or principal
Creates historical empathy
Reinforces widely held beliefs/truths
Provides important evidence of the past
Can events during
the Holocaust be
utilized to show that
similar things occur
today without
making either event
seem trivial?
How do we best meld together teaching about the Holocaust with
discussions about other Genocides and current conflicts around
the world without diluting the importance of the Holocaust?
How do we compare genocides, yet not relativize or set up
scales of comparative suffering?
Pedagogical Dilemmas When Teaching The Holocaust
• How do we account for and address the moral and
historical complexity of the Holocaust
• How do we choose and evaluate materials for teaching
about the Holocaust
• In what ways are fiction and non-fiction documents
trustworthy sources for learning about the Holocaust?
• What challenges to teaching the Holocaust are created
by potentially graphic content?
• What are appropriate ways to connect the Holocaust to
other genocides and to modern society?
• How do you teach such complex events in a limited
amount of class time?
How do we choose and evaluate materials for teaching
about the Holocaust?
In what ways are fiction and non-fiction documents
trustworthy sources for learning about the Holocaust?
Teaching the Holocaust and Genocide with Film
Film as a unique historical “text”
• Potential risks or drawbacks of
history movies:
• Conflating imaginary and real
people/events
• Seeing the past only through
current values (presentism)
• Movies as unique kind of
historical document
• Content knowledge concerns
Film as a unique historical “text”
• How can history
movies be used
educationally?
• Purposeful and connected
to broader learning goals
• Tied to learning activities
beyond just watching
• Used to build “historical
film literacy”
Framework for Uses of Film (I)
From “Teaching history with Film” by Alan Marcus, Scott
Metzger, Richard Paxton, and Jeremy Stoddard
Developing Empathy
• Caring (about the past and for its consequences)
• Perspective Recognition (identifying past views and values)
Framework for Uses of Film (II)
Developing Analytical or Interpretive Skills
• Primary Source (document contemporary to the period)
• Secondary Source (document about a past period)
Framework for Uses of Film (III)
Raising Controversial and Historical Issues
• Contemporary Controversial Issues (linking past to present)
• Historical Issues (linking present to past)
Framework for Uses of Film (IV)
Bringing the Past to Life
• Visualizing the Past (recreating/representing past eras)
• Film as Narrative (storytelling for a particular perspective)
Teaching the Holocaust and Genocide with Film
Teaching the Holocaust and Genocide with Film
• Why to never
use The Boy in
the Striped
Pajamas to
teach about
the Holocaust.
• Less violence
• “Easier” to watch
• Students can relate to the main characters
• Historically inaccurate
• Narrow in perspectives presented
• Misleading
Criteria for Choosing Films to Teach About the Holocaust
• Adherence to the Historical Record
• Minimal use of fictional elements
• Reliance on historical evidence and scholarship when creating
the film
• The ability to develop history empathy
• Historical figures are represented accurately and shown to be
complicated multi-dimensional figures
• The film depicts alternative perspectives on history in contrast
to what students might otherwise see in their textbooks or
regular lessons
Criteria for Choosing Films to Teach About the Holocaust
• The political, social, and ideological values reflected in the film
do not overly distort the historical narrative and/or can be
effectively used as part of the activities with the film.
• Other resources are available to use with the film
• The film clearly supports the goals of the lesson
• The genre of the film is appropriate
Schindler’s List (1993)
Europa Europa (1990)
The Pianist (2002)
Defiance (2008)
Amen (2002)
The Counterfeiters (2007)