9
November
2010

Excursion to the past - teaching for the future: handbook for teachers

To mark the 2010 anniversary of "the night of the broken glass", the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) publishes a handbook for teachers: Excursion to the past - teaching for the future. The handbook emphasises the link between teaching about the Holocaust and other Nazi crimes, and teaching about human rights and democracy.

Teachers and guides of memorial sites or museums are key to ensuring that the connection is recognised between Holocaust and human rights education. However, there is a lack of human rights training available for both groups. The FRA thus encourages national governments to better integrate education on the Holocaust and human rights into their school curricula to reflect the significance of human rights in both the history and the future of the EU.

What is the role of Holocaust-related sites in today's societies? What do they off er to young people? What should be considered by schools and teachers when planning a visit to such a site? And how can teachers make best use of such visits for teaching about the Holocaust and human rights?

This Handbook provides a number of examples, hints and historical background information, which will help teachers and students to make visits to Holocaust-related sites and exhibitions a meaningful and enriching experience.

FRA Director Morten Kjaerum: "There is a significant lack of material available for teachers highlighting the link between the Holocaust and events like the "the night of the broken glass" with human rights. Most school curricula do not include specific studies on the Holocaust and human rights. Testimonies of Holocaust survivors will soon become voices of the past; teachers need new tools for transmitting the lessons learned by past generations. This handbook equips teachers with ways of showing the possible consequences for our future when failing to respect human rights nowadays."