Holocaust and Genocide Education

The Holocaust was the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its allies and collaborators. By studying the Holocaust we learn the importance of speaking out against bigotry and indifference, promoting equity, and taking action. Ensuring students learn about additional instances of genocide, alongside the Holocaust, negates the narrative that such an event is isolated, or limited to specific societies and times.

Holocaust Education

Holocaust education is history, literature, social studies, psychology, art, and so much more. By studying the Holocaust we learn the importance of speaking out against bigotry and indifference, promoting equity, and taking action. Studies show that Holocaust education both improves students' critical thinking skills and encourages "upstander" behavior: willingness to act upon civic awareness and confront hatred in all its forms.

Holocaust Education Best Practices

Beginning September 1, 2020, middle, junior high, and high schools that teach about the Holocaust must follow Holocaust education guidelines and best practices, according to RCW 28A.300.115. The guidelines and best practices, developed by the Holocaust Center for Humanity (HCH) on behalf of OSPI, are designed for educators regardless of experience and content knowledge. These materials adhere to the requisite guidelines for teaching about the Holocaust and Genocide, with options for in-person and remote instruction. Some of the lessons considered to be best practices include:

• Pre-War
• Flight and Rescue
• Ghettos and Camps
• Confronting Racism and Genocide

Holocaust Center for Humanity

Through the Holocaust Center for Humanity's website, you can book members of its Speakers Bureau and virtual Field Trips to augment your Holocaust lessons, as well as reserve teaching trunks and artifact kits, attend professional development sessions, and much more!

For more information about HCH's resources, contact Branda Anderson, HCH Teaching and Learning Specialist.

Genocide Education

The Holocaust is not the only genocide in history. Ensuring students learn about additional instances of genocide, alongside the Holocaust, negates the narrative that such an event is isolated, or limited to specific societies and times. These resources focus more particularly on events from the 19th century onward, although genocide certainly occurred in previous eras. By studying genocide more broadly, students will identify and understand processes and structures that make genocide possible, providing them with the tools to interrupt those processes beforehand.

Below you will find practices and resources appropriate for engaging more broadly with the study of genocides outside of the Holocaust. Similarly, when teaching about the Holocaust, and when teaching about other genocides, according to RCW 28A.300.115, it is required to use the best practices and guidelines curated and approved by the Holocaust Center for Humanity.

Genocide Education Best Practices & Resources

Deep Dive: Genocide & Enduring Lessons

• What is Genocide?
• Examining the Stages of Genocide
• Map of Countries with Statistical Genocide Risk

Country Case Studies

• The Country Case Studies represent areas of focus for the Simon-Skjodt Center at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum; they are not an exhaustive list of mass atrocities in the past and present. You will find information on historical cases of genocide and other atrocities, places where mass atrocities are currently underway or populations are under threat, and areas where early warning signs call for concern and preventive action. Countries include Bangladesh, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burma, Cambodia, Central Africa Republic, China, Cote d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Mali, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Zimbabwe.