- For several years, many teachers have come up against persistent negationist theories concerning the historical episode of the Shoah.
- The regional teacher training institute organized a study day on the subject.
- This period of history is also subject to erroneous interpretations which are anchored by cinema or literature.
How to approach the Holocaust at school? This is the question that many teachers ask themselves up to high school. In the Lille Academy, the teacher training institute (Inspé) of Villeneuve d'Ascq, near Lille, has just offered a study day on the subject in order to give some learning keys.
Because for several years, there are many teachers who come up against persistent negationist theories concerning this episode in history. In Hauts-de-France as elsewhere. "This is especially the case in the second degree where, according to the territories, the teachers find themselves confronted with identity reactions on the part of pupils refusing to admit the historical reality", underlines Corinne Vézirian, project manager at the 'Inspe.
Societal issues more lively than others
"There are more vivid societal questions than others, but we refuse to refuse the obstacle," says Sébastien Jakubowski, director of Inspé. This is why we regularly offer themed training days which can evoke the place of Islam or the violence of wars. To say that memory must be transmitted is not enough. It is necessary to reactivate this memory in teachers to give it substance. "
So how do we talk about the genocide of the Jews during the Second World War? Can the film Schindler's List be used with pupils? "We must recognize that we all make bad interpretations of this period, rooted in cinema or literature," explains Corinne Vézirian, project manager at Inspé. For example, few people know that the images of liberation from concentration camps, which are often shown in documentaries, are, in fact, reenactments. "
Deconstructing false information
In this need for precision, a new term is likely to appear in the history books: "center of killings" instead of "extermination camps". “They weren't camps. The victims were executed on arrival and industrially. In Auschwitz, there was a concentration camp and a killing center: two separate places, ”explains Corinne Vézirian.
Hence the interest in updating scientific contributions and historical research. "It is better to use historically indisputable sources to more easily deconstruct false information circulating on the internet," says Corinne Vézirian, saying that "it is not necessary to use images of horror to show the horror. "
Read our Holocaust denial file
What is valid for teachers is also valid for parents. The Holocaust Memorial, partner of this training day, offers on its site, a page called "Sarah's attic" and dedicated to 8-12 year olds. "We can, for example, retrace the individual journey of a Jewish child during the war from historical documents," says Corinne Vézirian. It is a scientific and rigorous way of working on education for citizenship ”.
Society
One of the last Auschwitz survivors died in Allauch
Elections
What happened "must never happen again", says Emmanuel Macron at the Shoah Memorial
- Lille
- Jewish
- Holocaust
- denial