Lessons from the past that have yet to be learned

There are concepts that must be repeated several times until those to whom they are addressed fully grasp them. In certain cases, this communicative effort becomes essential. The Shoah (the Jewish Holocaust) and human rights fall into this category of absolutely essential topics, as they reaffirm the basic concepts of respect for others—especially those who are different—and for oneself.

The Department of Jewish Studies is organizing the course "The Shoah: The Human Condition and Memory" for the third time, with the aim of training teachers and educators in both formal and informal settings. This academic initiative is supported by the Council for Secondary Education and the National Directorate for Human Rights of the Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC).

The course has Polish professor Edyta Kwiatkowska-Farys, who holds a Ph.D. in Philology and serves as Cultural Attaché at the Polish Embassy in Buenos Aires. She will speak about Janusz Korczak, a Jewish-Polish doctor, writer, and educator who was murdered by the Nazis.

Below, David Telias, Coordinator of the Department of Jewish Studies at Universidad ORT Uruguay, delves into the most important concepts of the course:

- How are the human condition and memory intertwined?

- As far as concepts are concerned, they are undoubtedly viewed from many different perspectives, since memory is a determining factor in shaping what we call the human condition of the individual. Memory is, in fact, one of the key factors that distinguishes humans from the rest of the animal kingdom.

A man without memory would be nothing more than an animal doomed to repeat history. Memory is what allows us to overcome the mistakes of the past.

History—the study of the past—is something reserved for those who, for various reasons, devote themselves to it. Memory is what we receive from history through both formal and informal education, family traditions and customs, the stories of our elders, and many other sources. It constitutes the personal recollection that each of us has of the past and shapes the way we interact with others.

- What was Nazi Germany’s conception of the human condition?

- What the Nazis did was to strip Jews and other groups of their humanity (they started with people with disabilities, and then moved on to communists and homosexuals), so that they could do whatever they wanted with them. In the case of the Jews, that meant exterminating them.

According to Nazi racial theory, only Aryans were considered human; the rest were regarded as deformities of humanity or humans suffering from incurable and contagious diseases. In some cases, they could be "corrected" through interbreeding (according to Nazi ideology, the Aryan gene would prevail, and through successive interbreeding, complete "humanity" would eventually be achieved).

- How was the Nazi government able to create a climate of confrontation and violence against opponents of its regime and minorities?

- By stripping them of their humanity. At this point, I believe there are two plausible theories: the one put forward by Daniel Goldhagen and that of Christopher Browning that, while studying the same battalion of the Nazi SS reach different conclusions. Goldhagen believes the Nazis succeeded because there was a deep-seated, age-old anti-Semitism embedded in the German subconscious that made it easy to dehumanize Jews. Browning places greater emphasis on the power of the Nazi propaganda and educational apparatus.

At this point, I must clarify that what was done to the Jews was not the same as what was done to the other minorities persecuted by the Nazis. First, because there was no “final solution” for any other group—a significant distinction—and second, because opponents could be portrayed precisely as such—opponents—in order to blame them and persecute them.

To make the Jew guilty, he had to be dehumanized; otherwise, there would be no way to achieve it. Their fault, so to speak, was that they were not human and did not deserve to be, while the others (the opponents) were dehumanized by opposing the regime.

- Why should the memory of the Holocaust be a universal concern and not just a Jewish one?

- Because of their very existence. We must understand that the key distinction between the Shoah and other genocides, both before and after it, is that Jews were exterminated simply for being who they were—simply for being born. It is the only instance in which things reached this extreme. In all other genocides—none of which, of course, can be justified—there are specific reasons why one group sought to eliminate another. In the case of the Shoah, the motive is purely ideological. Jews deserved to die for the simple reason of having been born Jewish. Moreover, due to the pseudo-racial theories on which Nazism was based, it was the Nazis themselves who defined the victim’s Jewishness, and not the victim who defined themselves as Jewish.

This is very interesting because a person could claim that they were not Jewish, that they had never lived as a Jew, and that they had no contact with Jews, but if the Nazis knew that even one of that person’s grandparents was Jewish, that made them “infected” with the “virus” of Judaism, and therefore they had to die.

We know that the Nazis defined it that way. Historically, Judaism has defined itself very differently. And after the Holocaust, partly as a way to compensate for the suffering inflicted by the Nazis, the State of Israel decided to grant rights to anyone who could prove they had a Jewish grandparent.

- How does the course address the topic of human rights?

- It is impossible to understand the concept of human rights in the 20th century without knowing what happened during the Shoah. The United Nations’ 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights is clearly inspired by the events of World War II and, especially, the Holocaust. That is the focus of this course. The aim is to explore the origins of a concept that permeates all of us in Western civilization today and that we often use without considering when and how it emerged.

- Who is this course intended for?

- For teachers and educators in general, in both formal and non-formal settings, who need to address the topic of human rights in any of its aspects, whether for homogeneous or heterogeneous audiences.

- Why is it important for secondary school teachers to attend the course? Furthermore, what does the support that the Secondary Education Council and the MEC’s National Directorate of Human Rights provide for the course entail?

- In 2000, the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research was established at the initiative of the Swedish government. This organization includes nearly all European countries, Argentina, and, most recently, Uruguay, which currently holds observer status and will soon become a full member. When that happens, among other things, the Shoah must become a specific subject of study in the school curriculum. Teachers must be prepared for this, and this is a good opportunity to start doing so.

It is worth noting that the university offers this course completely free of charge, as we consider this to be a matter of great importance and feel that it is a contribution we can and should make to the Uruguayan educational system and, through it, to Uruguayan society.

As for the Human Rights Directorate and the Secondary Education Council, both organizations are working, each in their own capacity, on the issue of human rights and how to integrate the concept into the national education system. I believe they understand that what we offer is aligned with that goal, which is why they support us in every iteration of the course.

- What are the new features of this course compared to its two predecessors?

- The course is structured to bring participants up to a similar level of understanding on the subject, since it attracts educators from a wide range of disciplines with very different backgrounds—a challenge, but also an absolute asset to the course—and for this reason, certain topics are covered in every session.

Each year, the course offers an in-depth seminar on a specific aspect of the subject matter, and this year we decided to follow up on the statement made by the Polish government last year Janusz Korczak, in memory of the great Polish-Jewish doctor, writer, and educator who fell victim to the Nazis, to shed a little more light on an exceptional figure who educated and taught (for he fulfilled both roles) under very special and unique circumstances, without ever losing sight of humanity and instilling that same humanity in his students. Korczak was a figure whom the field of education should know and respect far more, and we want to contribute to that.

- How significant is it that one of the course instructors is Polish?

- Extremely important. After the collapse of the Soviet bloc, Poland began to reexamine its history. Today, it can be said that Jews have a place in that history (it should be noted that Jews made up 10% of the Polish population in 1939) and that the Polish government is making efforts to ensure that this remains the case.

It is truly a privilege for us to have Dr. Kwiatkowska-Farys, an expert in philology and the Cultural Attaché at the Polish Embassy in Buenos Aires, who will speak about Korczak.

Interview published in July 2012