We Need Nation Wide Mandatory Holocaust Education, NOW!

Auschwitz and Belsen concentration camp survivor Eva Behar shows her prisoner number that was tattooed on her arm by her Nazi captors. photo credit: Christopher Furlong / Getty Image

by Russell Taub
Policy Advisor and Political Strategist- Wyckoff NJ

Just recently , this past Thursday, March 3, 2022, the ADL announced that anti-Semitic propaganda in the United States rose by 27% in 2021.

In a 2020 study by the Pew Research Center, they found more than half of Americans didn’t know the number of Jewish victims that were killed in the Holocaust but knew what it was.

With the rise of anti-Semitism, we need congress to act immediately. We can’t rely on the FBI anymore or the Department of Justice to fight the rise of anti-Semitism. They believe President Trumps taxes are more important than anti-Semitism. We, the Jewish community, must act ourselves and make our voices heard. One of the ways that we can fight the rise of anti-Semitism in America is by education and not violence.

Many states in America, and just recently Arizona, passed legislation to force teachers to teach Holocaust Education. This is one way to go about it and that's passing legislation state by state. However, it's not always enforced. For example, In Rhode Island, the state legislature passed almost the same legislation twice, and books about the Holocaust were taken off the shelves of public schools in Providence, Rhode Island. Therefore, a federal response would be the best way to fight anti-Semitism. The federal response would be for the U.S. Congress to pass a bill making Holocaust Education a requirement. The ideal new law is which, school districts, independent charter schools, and private schools must teach about the Holocaust and other genocides.

This is one easy, bipartisan issue, that both sides of the aisle can achieve. There is no reason or excuses on why they can't pass this legislation. The framework of the legislation already exists because both Republican and Democrat states have done it. Everyone talks about it and NOW, when the country needs it, no one wants to do it.

I encourage everyone to call their members of Congress and Senate and ask them to pass legislation requiring mandatory Holocaust Education. I encourage everyone to ask in writing their official position on it and hold them accountable for that.