“That 300,000 adults in Ireland have passed through the education system and still believe that the Holocaust is a myth represents abject failure,” said Dublin-based art dealer Oliver Sears, founder of Holocaust Awareness Ireland, about a recent survey which claims that almost one in ten Irish aged 18 to 29 believe the Holocaust is a ‘myth’.
Agreeing with Mr Sears, the Chair of The Jewish Representative Council of Ireland, Maurice Cohen, said this “is not a failure of memory. It is a failure of education and of responsibility.”
The survey, commissioned by the New York-based Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (the Claims Conference), also said that 19% of the participants believe the Holocaust happened, but the scale has been ‘exaggerated’.
“The murder of six million Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators was a systematic, state-organised genocide carried out in full view of Europe,” Mr Cohen said. “These facts are not contested by serious historians and are not open to reinterpretation based on social media trends or political fashion.”
However, the survey also shows “something important and hopeful,” Mr Cohen said. “An overwhelming majority of people in Ireland believe Holocaust education matters and believe it should be taught in schools. That consensus must now be acted upon.” For Mr Sears, “it is very encouraging” that 92% of people believe the Holocaust should be taught in schools.
“Combatting Holocaust denial and distortion on the internet and social media must be a priority,” Mr Sears believes. For Mr Cohen, “Teaching that truth is not about the past. It is about the kind of society we choose to be now.”
“As the Holocaust moves away from us in time, we must redouble our efforts to educate young minds to whom this legacy will be entrusted,” said Mr Sears. He believes this “difficult, dark and deeply distressing subject” needs to be taught with sensitivity, and for that, “specialised training” needs to be provided to educators.
“The expertise exists in Ireland and, with help from the Claims Conference and the Department of Education, programmers can be spooled up and rolled out,” Mr Sears said.
Holocaust education cannot be treated as a footnote, an optional module, or a box-ticking exercise,” Mr Cohen said. He believes the subject must be taught “clearly, factually, and seriously. Not as distant history, but as a warning about what happens when hatred is normalised, lies are indulged, and moral courage fails.”
