I agree with the last sentence, however, understanding why the Nazis attempted genocide does not require students to put themselves in a Nazi soldier's shoes.N.E. Brigand wrote: ↑Fri Jul 08, 2022 11:56 pm
And while there's no need for the bill she was defending, the idea that students could better understand the Holocaust in part by getting "the perspective of a German soldier" doesn't seem insane to me. There is a 1984 German film and a 2002 British film -- the latter starring Kenneth Branagh and Stanley Tucci -- based on the minutes of the 1942 Wannsee conference at which the Final Solution was approved. Both were highly acclaimed. It's important to know why people did evil things, so we can prevent that evil from happening again.
The answers are known and clear, and will not be better understood by empathising with German soldiers, or focusing on those who allegedly didn't know what they were doing instead of those who knew perfectly well.
And there are already plenty of documented German perspectives we have that can help us learn about the Holocaust. Oskar Schindler's perspective, for one.
Let's notice the context Frelga mentions- we have neonazis today. We have visible groups of antisemites today, very vocal in social media and in politics (and I am of course not talking just about the US, although it is hard to avoid knowing about your politicians ). There is a serious issue with teenagers being radicalised into the alt-right and taught to blame their frustrations with life on anyone who is different. White supremacy groups have not disappeared. In addition, centrism has unhelpfully become a trend that proclaims level-mindedness and equal treatment no matter what the context.
So now we offer those kids who are already being targeted by white supremacist groups the perspective of a German soldier. Show the human. Create an opportunity to empathise. But what for, exactly? Will this be a German soldier who is morally conflicted, one who regrets his actions, one who fully believed in what he did, one who defected, or one who relished murdering people? Will he be an unwilling conscript, or a member of the Gestapo? What will having his perspective laid out alongside the perspective of those he murdered accomplish?
How will it affect the children already swayed by antisemitism and white supremacy, and how will it affect those who are Jewish, Rroma, Black....? Is the goal (good grief I hope not) a debate from both sides of the issue?
There is a quote in the article which provides more red flags:
They apologised, but first they made those suggestions. The world 'impartial' was used. That's not a slip of the tongue, you'd imagine someone talking about the Holocaust would not for a second think to remain impartial. Especially when teaching.An educator in Texas and an Indiana lawmaker have apologized in recent months after suggesting that teachers should remain “impartial” or offer multiple perspectives while teaching about the Holocaust.
And, finally, let's add the context of the current war in Ukraine. It's an extremely clear-cut situation: an unprovoked attack on an independent country with the intent to annex and eradicate the local population, seen as inferior. In other words, a genocide is being attempted.
Yet plenty talk about impartiality in this case, or urge people to look at Russia's perspective, even following a logic that says 'Russia had to defend itself against NATO and/or western corruption and Ukraine provoked it.' Westerners repeat this in their search for impartiality, for centrism. They call it 'a proxy war between USA and Russia' which may be the greatest insult of all as it erases Ukraine from both sides. Or, they buy into the lie that Ukraine was full of Nazis and that Russia is cleansing it of racism and violence.
Do we want the perspectives of Russian soldiers and the Russian people? Ok. We have them live. We see the protesters and the defectors. And we also see the rapists and murderers. Are their perspectives in any way equal in importance to the perspectives of the Ukrainian people? Do we need to seek them out and present them to students so that they might understand better why Russian soldiers are bombing shopping malls in Ukrainian cities?
I really don't think so.