We Must Rethink Holocaust Education

On May 29, President Trump signed into law the “Never Again Education Act,” expanding the federal government’s role in developing and providing educational materials about the Holocaust.

Unlike many of President Trump’s remarkable contributions to the promotion of religious freedom and the fight against anti-Semitism, this one had broad bipartisan support. Thanks to work by genuinely non-partisan groups – especially Hadassah, which boasts members in every congressional district in America – the bill passed both houses of Congress by overwhelming margins.

But a new law and increased funding are only enabling mechanisms. Countless millions spent on decades of Holocaust programs, curricula, and exhibits have not stopped rising anti-Semitism. Worse, Holocaust education appears to have taught an entire generation of anti-Semitic activists how to wield a distorted Holocaust narrative as a weapon against Jews.

We believe that the problem has been one of focus. Far too many Holocaust curricula, including that of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum – the entity empowered by the new law to promulgate educational materials – use the Holocaust as an example of cruelty and oppression that different from other events (if at all) only in degree, and liken it to whatever oppression occupies the front page.