#Palestine / Israeli education system overlooking non-Jewish Holocaust victims

The Israeli education system primarily focuses on the #Holocaust experienced by Jewish people, and traditionally minimizes the stories of other victims. While the curriculum does technically include references to non-Jewish victims – such as Roma and people with disabilities – these references are often minimal and occur on the periphery of the main Holocaust narrative.

A new educational kit developed by “Morasha” aims to provide a more comprehensive understanding of these non-Jewish victims, but currently, only one of 45 lesson plans offered by the Ministry of Education addresses these groups. The Ministry claims the curriculum includes these references, but the article suggests this is a limited and understated representation of the full scope of victims.

The article highlights that the #Nazi regime persecuted numerous groups beyond just #Jewish people, including political opponents, professional criminals, immigrants, Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexuals, and those considered "asocial." These groups were identified with different colored triangles in concentration camps. There's a surprising lack of awareness about these other victims, even among Israelis, despite their significant suffering. The education system often minimizes or omits their stories.

[...] In this regard, Novik says that familiarity with the stories of the non-Jewish populations persecuted during the Holocaust is essential for understanding the Nazi regime and its ideology. 'When you learn about the Holocaust only from the Jewish perspective and describe it as a relatively isolated event historically and socially, it doesn’s provide a complete understanding of how dark and oppressive regimes harm everyone — both within the societies they lead and within the groups of 'others' within them — and of the fact that the very existence of such regimes depends on this suppression, division, and scapegoating,' she says.

[...] The first steps taken against homosexuals in Germany were directed against LGBTQ+ clubs and publications. The Nazis looted the Institute for Sex Research, violently attacked its employees, and subsequently closed it down. Prior to that, the institute’s library was burned during the infamous Berlin book burning. The Nazis also seized the patient records and used them to create the "Pink Lists" managed by the Gestapo, which included names of men suspected of homosexuality.

[...] The assessment also shows that homosexuals were persecuted and murdered in Germany alone, while the regime "encouraged" homosexuality in the countries it conquered, believing it would limit the birth rate. Within Germany, they were the first victims of the Nazi regime's medical experiments. However, unlike other persecuted groups, their suffering did not end with the war, as homosexual relationships continued to be illegal, and prisoners who had served their sentences remained in prison even after the change of government.

In respect to the rise of extreem forms of Nationalism in #Israel, the #USA and in Europe, it was interesting to read the following:

[...] Through the assessment, which is open for use by teachers in the education system, one can learn, for example, that the first concentration camps in Nazi Germany were established as early as 1933, and they imprisoned political opponents and those suspected of being such, without being brought to trial or convicted in a legal proceeding, based on the fact that they were defined as a "security threat." Students are asked to answer questions that encourage critical thinking, such as why political opponents are the first to be sent to concentration camps, and why the arrests were called “arrests for protection” – whom were they intended to protect and from what.

[...] Furthermore, the assessment emphasizes the important role played by the compliant cooperation of many citizens with the regime's extreme measures – even when they were directed against their own family members – and the indoctrination they underwent, which caused them to adopt the Nazi worldview."

Hebrew https://www.haaretz.co.il/news/magazine/2025-04-18/ty-article-magazine/.highlight/00000196-3e60-d124-a5d7-be761bbf0000 or https://archive.ph/WxYcV

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