Teaching the Shoah in the Twenty-First Century - Topics and Topographies

This book is a collection of essays arising from the international conference The Legacy of the Holocaust: Teaching the Shoah that was held at the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 1999. Hundreds of scholars and educators gathered for five days of seminars, workshops and academic sessions each of which addressed specific topics and pedagogies for teaching the Shoah. The essays selected for inclusion in this book represent the thoroughly developed views that a group of scholars/ educators advanced at the conference. Their contributions address major concerns of educators and scholars already established in the field, as well as those of individuals just venturing into the arena. Each essay explores a distinctive Shoah related topic, or proposes an innovative pedagogical approach for effectively presenting the Holocaust to students. This book would be of interest to any person engaged in the study of or research into the Holocaust, or for educators seeking innovative and proven classroom methods for teaching the subject.

There are two portions to this work: topics and topographies. The Topics section will afford close readings of a variety of Holocaust related subjects, many not commonly taught. The topics cross traditional disciplines and extend a complexity of issues arising from purely traditional considerations of the Shoah (i.e. historical, literary or cultural). Topographies introduce specific methodologies that educators have developed for teaching the Holocaust. Instead of dwelling on “tried and true” canonical practices, these contributors advance genuinely resourceful methods for presenting standard Holocaust texts. Contributions in both categories provide suggested reading and viewing lists, which for educators involved in the field, for students investigating the topic, or interested lay readers will prove invaluable.