Holocaust

Does Germany's Holocaust Education Give Cover to Nativism?

The anti-antisemitism of German Holocaust education is based on the implicit premise that immigrants will identify with a sense of shame held by ethnic Germans. If those immigrants ask instead whether contemporary nativism could result in their own persecution, it is seen as a sign of their non-Germanness. 

Jared McBride Sheds Light on the Darker Parts of Ukraine's History

by James Thornton Harris

The issue of Ukrainian collaboration with Nazi genocide has been a propaganda point in the war with Russia. Historian Jared McBride talks about the complexities of ethnic violence and the complications of archival research in Russia and eastern Europe. 

As More Schools Ban "Maus," Art Spiegelman Fears Worse to Come

“It’s a real warning sign of a country that’s yearning for a return of authoritarianism,” Spiegelman tells Post columnist Greg Sargent of the challenge made against his graphic-format Holocaust history by residents of Nixa, Missouri. 

How Maus Changed the Place of Comics in Culture

Two new books trace the path of Art Spiegelman's masterpiece from an underground serialized story to an educational text, a process which has unfortunately tended to shape the work to the needs of a society that is obliged to teach about the Holocaust but uncomfortable learning about it. 

New Revelations about Catholic Action (and Inaction) During the Holocaust

Suzanne Brown-Fleming leads the Vatican Archives Initiative for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and hopes that unsealed documents will reveal more about the motives behind the Vatican's ambivalent actions. 

Is Holocaust Education Making Antisemitism Worse?

by Dara Horn

It's becoming clear that more lessons about the Holocaust won't address the problem of antisemitism in contemporary America, because it places both Jews and prejudice against them in another time and place. 

The Pope at War: Pius XII and the Vatican's Secret Archives

by James Thornton Harris

David Kertzer's book argues that defenders of Pope Pius XII's actions during the Holocaust mistake his defense of the prerogatives of the Catholic Church for a defense of the victims of Nazi persecution and genocide. 

Adolfo Kaminsky, 97: Forger of Identity Documents Saved Thousands of Jews

Experience as a stain-remover in laundry work helped the teenaged Kaminsky to remove supposedly indelible ink from French ID cards, enabling Jews to escape deportation. 

Reissued 1933 Novel in Translation Captures Fascism's Rise Around You

Lion Feuchtwanger's "The Oppermans" captures the complexity of a dilemma faced by German Jews in 1933: whether a society has become sufficiently hostile to a minority group to force its members to leave. 

A Stranger's Gift: Family Photos from Before the Holocaust

Software engineer Daniel Patt has developed an artificial intelligence program that can expedite the searching of photos from repositories like Yad Vashem and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, and has provided strangers with the gift of a connection to their relatives. 

Historian Sarah Federman Tracks French National Railway's Role in Holocaust Transport

"Last Train to Auschwitz" looks at the railways as a means of escape for some, but also a tool of collaborators. 

Monuments to the Unthinkable

by Clint Smith

German and European memorials to the Holocaust contrast starkly with an American memorial culture where the Confederate dead are revered, former slave plantations are tourist attractions, and state legislatures are seeking to ban the teaching of the nation's history in full. 

The Schlesinger Diaries—A Gift to Historians that Keeps Giving

by Rafael Medoff

The late historian's diaries highlight discrepancies between Schlesinger's public defenses of Franklin Roosevelt and his private knowledge of FDR's attitudes toward Jews and positions on the Holocaust. 

Texas GOP Candidate for Congress Wrote Anne Frank Sequel Wherein Jewish Teen Finds Jesus in Auschwitz

In Johnny Teague's narrative, Anne Frank asks whether Jews have failed to recognize the Messiah. He insists that his story does not claim Frank ever converted to Christianity. 

The Moral Corruption of Holocaust Fiction

A popular book for young readers strips the Holocaust of its horror, and its victims of their Jewishness in favor of banal lessons about empathy and kindness. 

The US Response to the Holocaust Was Part of a Longer Pattern of Appeasing Fascism

by Roger Peace

The Roosevelt administration's refusal to accept large numbers of Jewish refugees was of a piece with a pattern of diplomatic and economic solicitousness toward Nazi Germany. 

Fascists' PR Plan? Distance from Associations with Jewish Genocide

by Ruth Ben-Ghiat

Despite the efforts of denialists, the Holocaust remains a significant obstable to public acceptance of fascism. Contemporary far-right politicians have adopted the position that genocide was a step too far beyond an otherwise good ideology. 

The Holocaust Documentary Disappointingly Skirts Big Questions of FDR's Responsibility

by Martin Ostrow

In another documentarian's view, the series unduly frames Roosevelt as a captive to global politics and antisemitism, not a leader with the power to change them.

A Holocaust Mystery: Ken Burns Gets Lost in a Bermuda Triangle

by Rafael Medoff and Monty N. Penkower

At the 1943 Bermuda Conference, British and American diplomats offered a symbolic show of concern for Jewish refugees, but made no substantial commitment to help. Ken Burns's recent holocaust documentary passes over this event. 

An Email From a Stranger Sent Me on a Quest for Family and Self

For a Canadian-raised child of Hungarian Jewish refugees, an email sparked a research project that unlocked mysteries about his family.