Lessons of the Holocaust : A response to the critics

The Holocaust currently forms part of the National Curriculum in England and Wales and is mandatory in several other countries. Its teaching is frequently justified on the grounds of providing a range of important lessons. However, in recent years this claim has met with a growing scepticism, not least because of the persistence of genocide over the past half century. In the course of this article I outline and respond to the views of three historians--Lionel Kochan, Peter Novick and Nicholas Kinloch--who question the social and moral significance of Holocaust education. In contrast to their pessimism I contend that the Holocaust does contain useful lessons, not only for individual students, but for the educational system as a whole.