The Future of Holocaust Education

Joe Hayman, former Managing Director of the Holocaust Educational Trust (HET), joined us on 9 February 2022 for a personal reflection on the challenges and demands of Holocaust education in the twenty-first century.

We heard about Joe’s own disappointing experience of learning about the Holocaust at school in the 1990s and the shocking reaction of one of his peers. We then learned more about HET’s important work with survivors and its ambassador programme. In a time of misinformation, especially online, the importance of educating young people and creating new generations who are committed to informing and countering misappropriation and denial of the Holocaust has never been more important.

Looking ahead, to a world where direct witnesses of the Holocaust are no longer with us, Joe stressed the importance of preserving and protecting the history and memory of what happened and defending the truth. Here, the 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th generation are already contributing, but Joe stressed that it is the duty of all to ensure that Holocaust education must always be human, and not just reduced to numbers and statistics.

You can view the full talk on our YouTube channel, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgU_Ds0gAjw&t=1259s