Snyder Signs Bill Requiring Genocide Education In Michigan

LANSING (AP) - The Holocaust and the 1915 massacre of Armenians must be taught in Michigan public schools under a law signed by Gov. Rick Snyder.

At the same time Tuesday, Snyder released a letter noting that not all governments and nations accept the definition of genocide as put forth by the United Nations. He says decisions about how to teach the history in grades 8-12 should be made in each community.

Historians estimate that as many as 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks in an event widely viewed by historians as genocide, the term also used by Snyder. But Turkey denies the deaths were genocide and disputes the death toll.

An estimated 6 million Jews died in the Holocaust during World War II.