Independent News about Estonia
Holocaust Remembrance and European Concerns – Cui Prodest?
On the occasion of the of the 65th anniversary of the Auschwitz death camp’s liberation, the EU’s fundamental rights agency has made an study which shows that beyond the Holocaust, the information that young people have on current human rights issues is almost negligible.
The report tried to examine the role of historical sites and museum in Holocaust education as well as human rights education at school level and to do that, the European body surveyed 22 memorial sites, education and culture ministries around all Member States (except Cyprus ) and also carried out group discussions between teachers and students in some test-countries as UK, Netherlands, France, Austria, Poland, Germany, Italy, Lithuania and Czech Republic.
And the results of this study showed how both teacher and students groups have doubts on the link between human rights and Holocaust education.
The surveyed Holocaust commemoration sites also scored poorly in terms of linking the historical facts with current human rights issues.
The importance on raising awareness on human rights issues was in fact connected to only one of the 22 between sites and museums included in the study while all the other focused on historical knowledge.
Useful or not?
Nobody can deny that the Holocaust was a horrible fact of history that we must feel ashamed of being human. This is a fact and should not be part of any discussion anymore.
On the other hand, tho, it is also embarrassing how we have to attend every year a parade of news covering all possible dates that recall the Holocaust forgetting – at the same time – other infamous massacres that occurred not long ago.
As if the simple fact that they did not happen in Occident would be enough for erasing them from our memories.
The massacre by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia? Nothing.
The genocide that Hutu radicals did in Rwanda only 15 years ago? Completely forgotten.
The extermination of Kurds in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq? No one drops a line.
And, honestly, it also feels a shame to as Israeli leaders year after year make wreaths, visits to concentration camps, mass speeches and so on while encircling the Palestinian population into a giant concentration camp as Gaza.
Because, drawing parallels, also the wall of shame they keep building between the West Bank and themselves could easily bring back to the mind the one that corralled the Jewish people in the Warsaw Ghetto.
It is great and wise to have days for remembering the mistakes we made and it is a great thing to see that even institutions care about us all keeping in mind what human rights are and how important those are for us.
But I cannot stop asking to myself what is the point to study the mistakes we made in history if we keep repeating them?
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The reader may be interested to know that the Yahoo! worldwide group Remember_The_Holocaust 's goal is to promote human rights and toleranceeducation in the memory of the Holocaust victims.Indeed, in addition to the history of the many facets of th state sponsored mass murder of Jews, the group has posted several articles about the Khmer atrocities in Ca,bosia, most recently about the education among young Cambosians about that horrible past confronting one of the perpetrators'the continuous massacres and mass rapes of civilians in the East Congo, the child soldiers and massacres in Northern Uganda, the mutual massacres between muslims and Christians in Nigeria, India and indonesia, just to cite most recent horrors; the mass murders in Rwanda and 15 year massacres in Burundi ; the violation of human rights in Iran which is well known, the hanging of teeens and homosexuals there. . The membershop os worldwide and very active, but regretful thereare no members from Estonia.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by nadiasindi, Estonian Free Press. Estonian Free Press said: Holocaust Remembrance and European Concerns – Cui Prodest? http://ff.im/-f0uoF [...]
In addition to the forum Yahoo! Remember_The_Holocaust which has a worldwide membership from all five continenrs , as I cited, dealing with human right and tolerance education in memory of the Holocaust victims, the public education in the United States does connect the study of the history of the Holocaust with human rights
if you should receive this, hopefully you'll respond, as my own rasion d'ertre is Human Rights Education Literacy——of which I arrived, from studying The Shoah, ——this comment, struck me, as a former teacher, public, private, & parochical, & at Jewish Synogogue, specifically——-& my 'take away' does not bear-out your statement about US connecting HR w/teaching fo the Holocaust——-w/in the US Jewish Community, & those engaged in The Rememberance remembering, the conclusions of this Commissions report are the same.——–
I'm grateful for stumbling onto 'you & the yahoo group web site'—–of which I'll be connecting with
I was also intrigued re; your appointment & tasked position w/the state of Maryland
the true marvel of computers & the random possibilities it presents, eh— were you effective in implementing this?
a simple request, here's my e-mail address, if you would give me a heads-up that you've received this—–if you find any of this/me evocative—after-all our deliberate focus is one w/each other & I'm assuming the group—-look forward to our connecting
gershon
. i was appointed by the Governor of Maryland, on a task force to implement, Hilocaust, genocide, human rights and toleranceeducation in the University system of Maryland. localised vuiew from Estonia, the world may be parochially perceived through narrow lenses. The world is more than just the usual European zenophobic quarrels. Of course, I as an American living in Washington DC area, similarly admit I know little about Estonia and its issues. Historically, Estonia has in the main a good record in protecting its relatively few jewish inhabitants from the Nazis murderers, except for the instance where some Estonians sadly collaborated with Nazis. ,
The following is on the web on Wikipedia: "Holocaust in Estonia refers to the Nazi crimes during the occupation of Estonia by Nazi Germany. There were, prior to the war, approximately 4,300 Estonian Jews. After the Soviet 1940 occupation about 10% of Jewish population were deported to Siberia along with other Estonians. About 75% of Estonian Jews, aware of the fate that awaited them from Nazi Germany, escaped to the Soviet Union; virtually all the remainder (between 950 and 1,000 people) were killed by Einsatzgruppe A and local collaborators before the end of 1941.[1] Roma people of Estonia were also murdered and enslaved by the Nazi occupiers."
As we commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day, I think it is fitting that we should look to the United Nations statement of commitment in 2004 which said that we should recognise that the Holocaust shook the foundations of modern civilisation.
Its unpr ecedented character and horror will always hold universal meaning.
The Holocaust must have a permanent place in our collective memory. We honour the survivors still with us, and reaffirm our shared goals of mutual understanding and justice.
•We must ensure future generations understand the causes of the Holocaust and reflect upon its consequences. We vow to remember the victims of Nazi persecution and of all genocide.
•