One of the most common and urgent questions asked by many Holocaust educators is what form teaching about and commemorating the Shoah will take in the not-too-distant future, when the survivors are no longer with us. What will Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremonies look like? In which way will roots trips to Poland differ without an accompanying survivor? And most importantly, how will we be able to transfer the importance and relevance of Holocaust memory to future generations without them speaking to the eyewitnesses themselves?
Yad Vashem has, of course, been preparing itself for this eventuality since it came into existence in the 1950s. By recording and gathering testimonies of survivors – first written and audio, and in recent decades, video – the World Holocaust Remembrance Center has ensured that the personal stories of those who witnessed the darkest of periods in human history will last in perpetuity.
For educators, however, the challenge is perhaps even greater. As Shulamit Imber, Pedagogical Director of Yad Vashem's International School for Holocaust Studies and Fred Hillman Chair in Memory of Janusz Korczak, succinctly explains, "whereas historians talk about the past, educators must give the past a meaning."
For more than two decades, Imber and her colleagues at Yad Vashem's International School have recognized the value of survivor testimony, and are now considering the challenges educators will face when that generation has passed from the world. In an exclusive interview for Yad Vashem Jerusalem, Imber was joined by two other senior members of staff at the International School – Director of the Educational Guiding Department Masha Pollak-Rosenberg, and Deputy Director of the European Department Dr. Noa Mkyaton – in assessing and tackling this thought-provoking topic.
Why does hearing survivor testimony make such an impact on an audience?
"When people meet survivors, they suddenly realize that history is about humans, and that helps them connect to the event," says Dr. Mkyaton. "Hearing about how they tried to cope with persecution, what decisions they made within a world of 'choiceless choices,' and their tremendous efforts to rebuild their lives after the Holocaust – all these contribute to the realization that we are first and foremost talking about a story of humanity."
Pollak-Rosenberg concurs. "Hearing from and meeting with survivors allows a personal connection, awakens empathy, and enables one to internalize that the Shoah happened to people (and was committed by people, too). These people were no different from ourselves. That is what creates an emotional connection, and engenders a curiosity to learn more."
"We won't be able to replace the survivors," Imber adds. "When they are no longer with us, it just won't be the same. In order to understand why this is so, we have to first ask – what did the survivors contribute to Holocaust education that is so important? The answer is that they gave us something beyond their testimony, more than simply relating their experiences in a particular period of time. What impacts their audiences is actually meeting with them, conducting a dialogue with them. When people meet a survivor, they connect to them and become committed to their memory, as well as to finding meanings from the Holocaust."
Will we be able to recreate these feelings when meeting with survivors is no longer possible?
"We must remember that meetings with eyewitness to the events of the Holocaust have already begun to dwindle," says Pollak-Rosenberg. "For many years already, it has been increasingly rare to hear from a survivor who was an adult during the Shoah, and can talk about his or her experiences as a parent, the head of a family, or his or her professional life. Of course, we have preserved the experiences of the survivors by creating filmed testimonies that represent the broadest and richest spheres of Jewish life before the war. We also use the creative writings and artworks of that generation – these can certainly contribute to an understanding of how real people felt and interpreted the events of the time."
"We have a range of testimonies at our disposal, both at Yad Vashem and worldwide, that we can use in Holocaust education," agrees Imber. "However, they do not all have the impact we are trying to recreate in the absence of the survivor. For example, if a survivor describes how she was starved in Auschwitz, that may not be enough. But if she says, 'Because I was starved in Auschwitz I am more aware of helping others in need" – that is something any student, any human being, can relate to. Teachers will have to work hard at choosing those testimonies that give meaning to the Holocaust."
Dr. Mkayton concurs but warns, there is "no miracle solution… we will have to continue using recorded testimonies knowing that they will never replace a personal encounter with a survivor."
Is there a danger, then, of losing the main educational messages when trying to find more creative ways to engage young people with the story of the Holocaust? "
Meeting with survivors certainly evokes an emotional, almost visceral, connection with the experience being described," says Imber. "We have found that this experience can also be engendered through the use of interdisciplinary materials, such as art, music, literature and poetry. Nevertheless, everything must be placed in its historical context, and one must be careful not to trivialize the event – for example, by using animation without explaining the background – but utilizing these kinds of materials is an extremely effective way to engage with the students in order to generate the empathy and commitment that meetings with survivors created."
Pollak-Rosenberg points out that "every generation asks their own questions and searches for new ideas. It is important that we have testimonies that we can use for future generations, but we must also understand the post-survivor era could lead to a different kind of discussion, one that delves deeper into topics that would be difficult to discuss in the presence of survivors."
However, Imber is wary of going too far too soon. "There are some interesting developments being undertaken today, but we must remember there are no shortcuts in Holocaust education. We need to be open-minded in assessing new ideas, but always have in mind that what we are trying to do is produce that feeling of empathy and commitment to Holocaust memory, which the survivors so naturally managed to create."
This article originally appeared in the "Yad Vashem Jerusalem Magazine," volume 87.
