Jewish Studies and Holocaust Education in Poland

This volume examines how people in Poland learn about Jewish life, culture and history, including the Holocaust. The main text provides background on concepts such as culture, identity and stereotypes, as well as on specific topics such as Holocaust education as curriculum, various educational institutions, and the connection of arts and cultural festivals to identity and culture. It also gives a brief overview of Polish history and Jewish history in Poland, as well as providing insight into how the Holocaust and Jewish life and culture are viewed and taught in present-day Poland.
This background material is supported by essays by Poles who have been active in the changes that have taken place in Poland since 1989. A young Jewish-Polish man gives insight into what it is like to grow up in contemporary Poland, and a Jewish-Polish woman who was musical director and conductor of the Jewish choir, Tslil, gives her view of learning through the arts. Essays by Polish scholars active in Holocaust education and curriculum design give past, present and future perspectives of learning about Jewish history and culture.

Lynn W. Zimmerman is Professor of Education at Purdue University Calumet, Hammond, Indiana. She served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Poland, 1992–1994, a Fulbright Scholar, University Wroclaw, Poland in 2009, and taught Intercultural Communication courses at Tischner European University, Kraków, Poland.

By Lynn W. Zimmerman with Contributing Scholars
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 216
Bibliographic Info: appendix, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2014
pISBN: 978-0-7864-7861-3
eISBN: 978-1-4766-1360-4
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents


Introduction 1

Culture, Identity and Stereotypes 7

The Historical Context 20

Jewish Student NGOs in Present-Day Poland (1999–2013):

Being Here by Piotr Goldstein 38

Jewish Studies and Holocaust Education at Polish Universities 49

The Center for Holocaust Studies at the Jagiellonian University

in Kraków: Studies, Research, Remembrance by Jolanta

Ambrosewicz-Jacobs, Elisabeth Büttner and Katarzyna Suszkiewicz 58

Holocaust Education in Polish Public Schools 78

The Legacy of the Holocaust in Poland and Its Educational

Dimension by Piotr Trojański 93

NGOs and Their Role in Holocaust Education and Jewish Studies 117

Memory, Non-Memory and Post-Memory of the Holocaust:

Coming Out of Amnesia in Post-Communist Poland? by Jolanta Ambrosewicz-Jacobs 121

Museums: Their Role in Holocaust Education and Jewish Studies 140

The Role of the Arts in Holocaust Education and Jewish Studies 152

Teaching About the Holocaust through Music by Izabella Goldstein 159

Jewish Culture Festivals in Poland 166

Conclusion 187

Epilogue 190

Appendix: Further Reading 191

References 193

About the Contributors 201

Index 203