Learn
"If you don't know at least part of the story, if you don't know that there is a story, then we shall bequeath upon our descendants a sense of shame. We could not save those who died but we can save them from dying again because to forget is to kill them again. So why should the next generation in the 21st century live with that shame? For the dead and the living, we must bear witness."
Elie Wiesel
The Champaign Urbana Jewish Federation Holocaust Education Center aims to educate the community about the Holocuast and antisemitism in general. Below are some links and information to help you get started.
Holocaust Education in Illinois
Antisemitism
Download Public Act 094-0478
In 1990 Illinois became the first state in the country to mandate each public elementary school and high school to include in its curriculum a study of Holocaust history. In 2005 The mandate, Public Act 094-0478, was expanded to include other cases of genocide.
Download list of Genocide Web Sources (pre and post Holocaust)
Download Illinois Mandated Units of Study Guidance Document
Illinois Mandated Units of Study Guidance Document serves as a guide for districts, schools, and teachers in interpreting the current mandated units of study in Illinois.
Download article by Samuel Totten:
Addressing the "Null Curriculum": Teaching about Genocides Other than the Holocaust
Antisemitism is often referred to as history’s oldest hatred and can be defined as strong hostility and hatred of Jews. The Holocaust (1939-45), often viewed as the most extreme example of antisemitism in contemporary times, is just one of many examples of this historic hatred which dates to ancient times and continued throughout much of Europe and elsewhere during the Middle Ages. Throughout history, Jews have been denied citizenship and forced to live in confined areas known as ghettos. Anti-Jewish riots known as pogroms occurred throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, resulting in the death of countless Jews. It is important to note that antisemitism did not begin nor end with the rule of the Nazis in Germany and continues to rear its ugly head even in today’s world.
- Anti-antisemitism? A Battle Rages Over the Jewish Hyphen
- Antisemitism: Organizations, Websites, Programs
- The Case Against Academic Boycotts of Israel
- Defining Antisemitism (US Department of State)
- IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism
- Teaching and Editing at Worlds' End: Collective Trauma and Individual Witness in American Holocaust Poetry
The above resources are intended to provide important information for those trying to better understand this historic yet current issue.