Website: The Dark Side of Holocaust Education

May 7, 2020 | By Ruth Wisse

The Dark Side of Holocaust Education
with Professor Ruth Wisse
Thursday, May 7, 2020 | 7:30 PM EDT

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and educational programs like “Facing History” were intended to act as a deterrent against anti-Jewish aggression: “Never Again.” Was this a realistic expectation? Was retelling the Nazi annihilation of one-third of the Jewish people expected to inspire confidence in the Jews or in Judaism? With anti-Semitism on the rise—and with Jewish identity and commitment among many diaspora Jews in decline—we need to ask whether the emphasis on Holocaust education bears any responsibility. And with so much Holocaust education now focused on treating every form of national pride or particularism as the seed of hatred—all in the name of liberal pluralism—we need to ask: Has Holocaust education been turned against the Jews?

In Part II of our series, Professor Ruth Wisse, recently retired from Harvard and now a distinguished senior fellow at the Tikvah Fund, will continue to diagnose the state of Jewish politics in the modern age.

“The Liberal Betrayal of the Jews” lecture series is generously sponsored by Zach Fasman and Andrea Udoff.

More podcasts: