Teaching About Onlookers' Role In The Holocaust
By Dr. Marciene Mattleman
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - In celebration of the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the World War II Auschwitz concentration camp, the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington DC has organized a nontraditional exhibit for classroom instruction: the study of onlookers.
The exhibit, continuing through 2017, examines the behaviors of neighbors, teachers, policemen, students and workers who witnessed crimes against Jews, gypsies and homosexuals and other groups perceived as "racially inferior."
The exhibit is recommended for middle school and above.
The theme collaboration and complicity asks, if you were a neighbor, what are some of the reasons you might turn someone in or not turn someone in. But this frame work does not replace teaching about the Holocaust, but broadening the scope, and professional development for teachers is available. Some educators have noted that the focus is similar to being a bystander in the federal anti-bullying campaign.
Read more in Education Week.