German universities neglect Holocaust studies

 I 24 News reports:

Trying to come to grips with its past, Germany has invested significant resources in Holocaust research, but in one aspect its efforts appear to be lacking: Educating university students on the topic. German universities offer an insufficient number of courses about the Holocaust, claims a new study, strengthening experts' outcry over the overall neglect of the field.

Reviewing the course list of 79 German universities over the last two years (excluding institutions focused on science, medicine and music), researchers of the Center for Digital Systems (CeDiS) in Berlin found that on average each of them offers only 1.5 courses in connection with the Holocaust per semester.

A quarter of the reviewed institutions were found to offer no such lectures or just one course in the last four semesters. “It is clear that not at every university a basic knowledge about the Holocaust is provided,” deemed the study.

These findings illustrate the extent of the problem, says political scientist Dr. Johannes Tuchel, who advised the researchers. “We have no basis for teaching the Holocaust in German universities and it's a problem, an institutional problem.”

“Holocaust studies were never established in the academic world,” he continued. “Germany has a strong tradition of Holocaust research but it does not translate into a strong tradition of teaching. In other countries, like the US or the United Kingdom, these are accepted topics for teaching.”

read more