Public Education Matters

Intro 0:07
This is Education Matters, brought to you by the Ohio Education Association.

Rep. Sarah Fowler Arthur 0:13
"What we do not want is for someone to come in and say well, obviously, the the German government was right in saying that a Aryan race is superior to all other races and therefore, that they were acting rightly when they murdered hundreds of thousands of people for having a different color skin." (SOURCE: https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/politics/ohio-politics/comments-about-the-holocaust-from-representative-sponsoring-divisive-concepts-bill-raise-concerns)

Katie Olmsted 0:47
That was State Representative Sarah Fowler Arthur speaking to News 5 Cleveland reporter Morgan Trau last year after she introduced House Bill 327 in the Ohio General Assembly. She was contending that her bill, which would prohibit educators from discussing so-called 'divisive concepts' was not going to force them to both sides the Holocaust -- which it would -- but in doing so, she also made it clear that she lacked the most basic knowledge of what happened during the Holocaust, where 6 million Jews and millions and millions of other marginalized people were murdered by the Nazi regime and their allies, because they had been "othered," having nothing to do with the color of their skin. I'm Katie Olmsted. And for the sake of full disclosure, I want to tell you this interview with Sarah Fowler Arthur was particularly painful for me to hear, because my family was among the millions of Holocaust victims. My great grandfather died at a concentration camp in France in 1942. My great grandmother was murdered at Auschwitz. My grandfather, their son, narrowly escaped Nazi Germany and came to the United States by himself as a 13 year old child, where he was adopted by a perfect stranger who knew if he was sent back to Germany, he would die. My daughter is named for the heroic woman who took my grandfather in. These are real people, real stories, and the tragedy beyond the unimaginable pain and senseless loss of human lives in all of this is that now, just a few generations later, too many Americans have no idea. People I know, people I love, who have no hate in their heart, just don't know the truth about what happened in the Holocaust, and why we must remember -- why we can't afford not to remember -- today. So much of that comes down to education. And while some extremists have been working in our Statehouse to try to further erode our students freedom to learn from the mistakes of our past, some community members in central Ohio are coming together to help local educators get the best resources available to teach their students about the Holocaust. As part of that work, they're hosting a free seminar for educators this summer from the group Echoes and Reflections. That's a joint program that includes the Anti Defamation League, the Shoah Foundation and Yad Vashem. Helping to lead that local group is Rabbi Rick Kellner at Congregation Beth Tikvah in Worthington, which full disclosure is my family's synagogue. But as Rabbi Kellner tells us, making sure everyone can receive an honest and reflective education about the Holocaust has huge implications not just for the Jewish community, but our entire community, too.

Katie Olmsted 3:40
Rabbi Rick Kellner, thank you so, so much for joining us for this podcast. We have so much to get to, but before we really dive into the what of all of this -- What can educators expect? What are the logistics of this seminar? -- I really think we should start with the why. Why is this sort of education program so important right now?

Rabbi Rick Kellner 4:06
In recent years, we've seen a significant uptick in antisemitic incidences, both verbal challenges with antisemitism and also physical attacks of antisemitism. And what we're seeing around the country has really caused great concern in the Jewish community. A few years ago here in central Ohio during the height of the COVID pandemic, when there were numerous restrictions, what we were seeing was a lot of misuse of Holocaust terminology and symbolism in local school districts. There were mask mandates that were compared to wearing a star in Europe during the Holocaust. There were school board meetings where there had been Nazi salutes that had been shown during a school board meeting. We realized that in addition into a misunderstanding of what these terms and what these symbols actually mean, there have been studies that have been shown that that young people do not have a full understanding of the impact of the Holocaust in terms of the number of victims, the concentration camps, the length, and the systematic nature of what the Nazis perpetrated. We felt here in central Ohio, that this was impacting us here. Many of our students were becoming victims of antisemitic incidences. We had a student who reported that in her history class, that the the, the teacher who would put up This Date in History did not put up that it was an international Holocaust Remembrance Day and the teacher responded, 'Well, there's there, I believe that the Holocaust happened, but since there's such a great debate about whether or not the Holocaust took place, I didn't put it up there.' And of course, with someone -

Katie Olmsted 5:56
Excuse me??

Rabbi Rick Kellner 5:57
This was a history teacher. Exactly.

Katie Olmsted 6:00
Wow.

Rabbi Rick Kellner 6:01
Yeah. So So we kind of felt that there's a real need for for meaningful Holocaust education, and and to dive in in a way that really help students understand the history, but also to say that it's not just that something that happened 75 plus years ago, but it's happening, antisemitism is still happening, and how we can understand what took place and be upstanders, so that we can do the work that we need to do to really create a world that is absent of hate, and that is filled with respect and honor of others, and an acceptance of the diversity that we are encountering in our world today.

Katie Olmsted 6:43
And I do think it's important that we know that it's not just the antisemitism that comes out of people not understanding the Holocaust. It's it's a question, I think of us accepting the "othering" of people. And that's - the Holocaust didn't start with concentration camps. It started with othering and making other people 'less than' and scapegoating and, and stripping away their humanity to make them the cause of your problems rather than actually looking for meaningful solutions to society's ills. And I think it might be hyperbolistic in many ways when people say, 'Oh, this is how it started.' But I think there is something to be said about hypervigilance, that we can never, ever go back to the conditions that led to the Holocaust in the first place.

Rabbi Rick Kellner 7:33
Exactly. The Holocaust did not begin with a plan to annihilate and murder 6 million Jews as well as 5 million others it began with with words, it began with propaganda. It began with changing of laws to eliminate Jewish participation in society. It began with with a pogrom in which Jewish stores and synagogues were, were ransacked and destroyed and burned and books were burned in the streets. And it certainly began as a fear of of the other and began in many ways as a as a rise of antisemitism. And there's a book that was that was published that was attributed to the Jewish community, of course, it was probably the, and still is the the most prominent of all conspiracy theories, but the book called The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was this fictional depiction of Jews gathering in a cemetery in the middle of the night trying to take over the world and one thing led to another and laws were created and and the Jews were othered, in Germany and in other places in Europe as well. And eventually what was happening at in the aftermath of World War I, and, and and the, the economic challenges that began during the Great Depression, really, the world needed someone to blame. And so when the world goes awry, often the Jews are at the center of who is to blame. And I think because the world has been so chaotic today, we are continuing to see that rise in antisemitism today. Because again, who do we want - who do people want to blame? The Jewish community becomes that 'other' that people want to blame.

Katie Olmsted 9:20
Well, you know, with the Jewish Space Lasers and all of I mean, the, the crazy things that you hear people say them out loud, and you go, how did that come out of your mouth with a straight face? But still they get propagated through our society. And part of that, I think, is because there's no - going back to the Holocaust education, there's no real sense anymore of the dangers of rhetoric like that.

Rabbi Rick Kellner 9:45
That's right. And I think what happens is, when we see and hear the words, that are they not even it's even before that we see those words, it's the feelings and emotions we have, where there's bias towards others, bias leads to action. The Anti-Defamation League has a Pyramid of Hate in which you can start to see all of the foundational feelings that we have and that moves up the scale that eventually leads to genocide when there's laws and things that are created that 'other' people and that put them on the outskirts and make them different. That's how we get to a place that took that that happens when there's genocide. And I will also add that it's not just a genocide that took place in the Holocaust, but there are genocides all around the world.

Rabbi Rick Kellner 9:45
How do we combat this? What do we do to take some of the vitriol out of this hate?

Rabbi Rick Kellner 10:35
This is a really important question. And there's not one answer that can be given. In an in a new article that's already published online but will be coming out in the Atlantic in the May issue of the Atlantic on the topic of Holocaust education, author Dara Horn talks about it, that it's not just Holocaust education that needs to happen, but it needs to be - at least from a Jewish perspective needs to be an exposure to Jewish life today. And I think this is one of the real exciting reasons why that the workshop we're putting together and the seminar we're putting together is happening in a synagogue is because it will allow people to see that synagogue life still happens, right? That it's not just the Holocaust that happened three quarters of a century ago. It's not just that it's to say like, No, we're still living, we're still we're still thriving, what are the messages that we we share with the community? What is it that we hope to, to bring to the world around us? When I I've had the honor of going to different schools and I, the first thing I share with them is especially when you know our kids in Ohio, learn about different religions in sixth grade, and I share with them that Judaism teaches that we build the world from love. And then I talk about you know, the holidays and how we are guided in in in bringing about a better place and how when we miss the mark, we strive to figure out how we can learn the values of Torah, so that we can make the world whole where where it's broken. And my my hope when I share these words is to say that, Oh, Judaism is not something that I read about in the textbook, but here I am, is a rabbi who lives this day in and day out. And by doing this seminar, in, in a synagogue, rather than a school building says Oh, Jewish life continues to thrive. And there's a there's a sanctuary that's right next to the room where we'll be doing it, where there's going to be a prayer service. And and kids are getting dropped off and picked up from from camp at our building. And it's a really exciting time. So I think, you know, helping people understand the realness of people is a way and getting to know people is a way to bring down the temperature and break down the barriers that build hate. That's that, to me is at the core of how we combat hate in our in our world.

Katie Olmsted 12:54
And I think one of the things of the seminar, one of the sessions is about analyzing propaganda, and teaching media literacy, which I think goes hand in hand with with combating that hate by educating people about the fact that, you know, we're real people in your community, we're good people in your community. I mean, I remember textbooks when I was in middle school, talking about the Jews as an ancient people, but totally ignoring the fact that there's a Jew sitting in your class right now. Me. And I'm a real human. But there's the much more nefarious side of that, that people don't have that experience with real Jews, or real humans. And they don't know how to see what's being said about Jews or anybody who's being othered and recognize it for the propaganda that it is. So what are you hoping educators take away from the seminar from that session, specifically? And then let's talk a little bit about what else they're going to learn.

Rabbi Rick Kellner 13:47
Echoes and Reflections offers a diverse menu of learning sessions. And one of the reasons we chose this one to offer was because some of the teachers who we're working with are hearing from their students, how did the - How did the Holocaust happen? How did millions of people buy in to the the ideology that the Nazis were sharing? And they were masters at propaganda and spreading their their message, and they weren't, you know, people in Germany were not just innocent bystanders that they, they, they, they were many that got caught up in what the Nazi regime was doing. There were many who risked their lives as well. They, and were upstanders and really, you know, hit Jews and did amazing things to fight back against the Nazi regime. But what I think is important about this lesson is what how do we identify propaganda today? One of our teachers talked about, you know, the things that he was hearing from his students was like, Oh, we see memes all the time on social media and the internet and TikTok and, and Instagram and what are those memes? Those memes are shaping people's opinions. And so how do we identify what is a legitimate source of information for us to really understand so that we can we can figure out how it is that we can identify propaganda today, identify what's what's what's a real, valuable resource for information. And to use the the Holocaust is a case study helps us recognize when there's something that just feels wrong. How do we distinguish the difference between opinion and fact, opinion and news? And how do we really figure out what it is that our own opinion should be? And what is our voice that we can create in in the world? And how do we know when something's false?

Katie Olmsted 15:39
And that's just one small part of this. It's a two day seminar that's going to be June 6, and June 7, with an optional third day, even for people who can't make the first few days of the seminar, anybody is welcome to come on a trip to the Holocaust and Humanities Center in Cincinnati.

Rabbi Rick Kellner 15:57
That's correct.

Katie Olmsted 15:58
What are your expectations for this seminar that's happening at Congregation Beth Tikvah this summer?

Rabbi Rick Kellner 16:03
One of the things that we hope educators take away is really valuable knowledge of not only the content and the history, but also really meaningful and effective ways to teach the Holocaust to the next generation. By and large, most people in this country who are teaching about the Holocaust are not Jewish. And so how is it that we as educators -- and I consider myself an educator, because I'm teaching all the time -- but how is it that we as educators can translate the information and help our students and young people understand what's happening, when this is something that may not have happened to us or our grandparents or great grandparents, and that's something and and don't have the personal stories to share. So whether it's understanding about the history, the conversations about the propaganda, or just using literature and art and poetry to tell the human story, recognizing that in many instances, in our, in our middle school and high school classrooms, it's our English and language arts teachers, and not our history teachers, who are are exposing our students to this topic and this historical moment, for the very first time. What's the background that they can give their students that supports their learning? And then also recognizing that they're still anti anti semitism didn't die. At the end of World War II. It's still going on. It is on the rise in this country. And how can we counter this hatred today? Those are really critical pieces that we hope educators are able to take away so that when they sit with their students and their students, we're like, how did how did this happen? How did it how did this how did this work? How did people understand and buy into this, that they'll have the answers? Now

Katie Olmsted 17:42
Now I know part of the conversation isn't just about how you can use literature and the humanities to enrich your curriculum. I think part of the conversation about teaching about the Holocaust has also been sort of a an information campaign about why some resources are not good to use. 'Boy with the Striped Pajamas.' I've seen a lot of pushback against using that in our schools, and I think a lot of educators in Ohio are gonna go, why not?

Rabbi Rick Kellner 18:07
As we were trying to figure out what our best approach would be what we could offer the community, one of the things that we learned is that bad Holocaust education is worse than no Holocaust education and "Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" is bad Holocaust education. There are a number of reasons for that. Number one is that it is unrealistic. A young boy at that age a Jewish a Jewish young boy at that age would likely not have actually been living in a concentration camp at that time. Upon arrival at a concentration camp, young children were immediately sent to the gas chambers. The, the young boy who was the son of the Nazi soldier would have been part of the Hitler Youth and would not have been oblivious to what was going on in the concentration camp, especially if his father was a Nazi guard. And the book helps to build compassion for the for the Nazis because the Nazi soldier's son is killed as well. And that is counter to the point, right? We shouldn't be building compassion for the Nazis as we as we talk about this, but to help really understand that he wasn't, they weren't innocent bystanders. They were they would have gone along with this. They would have known about what what was happening, and and that the unrealistic nature of this particular book is is is really problematic. And there are numerous other sources that are available to educators whether it is an a reading of Eli Wiesel's Night or the book Maus. Those are excellent resources. But the United States Holocaust Museum has a number of books that they recommend with age recommendations, and 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" is not on their on their list. And I hope that our educators who are using this book will look at the studies and actually really strongly consider an alternate resource for their learning.

Katie Olmsted 20:01
So I know several members of Beth Tikvah have been having conversations with districts around Central Ohio about curriculum like whether "Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" is an appropriate resource or how educators can do a better job around this issue instead. How have the local districts been receiving that information?

Rabbi Rick Kellner 20:21
When we began this work back in the middle of last summer, we decided that we really wanted to meet with the the districts that serve our congregation, because we're located in northwest, the northwest part of Columbus, we actually, our kids who come to the congregation attend at least 12 different school districts. So we narrowed it down to meet with six school districts, had really wonderful conversations with them initially, which was just to learn. Really, what are they teaching about the Holocaust? Where does it fit into their curriculum? What is it that they're doing in terms of diversity, equity, inclusion education, and just getting a basic understanding of where the topic is covered from anywhere between sixth and 12th grade. We then went back and met with some expert organizations from around the country, and did through that learning, and helping to recognize and understand that what we could really do to impact our students was to invest in our teachers. We, that's how the seminar came together. But it wasn't the only thing that we talked about. One of the things that we asked our our the school district to connect with the Anti-Defamation League, which has an office in Cleveland. They have a free program called No Place for Hate, which covers participants in the schools that participate in this program, are able to, to choose different programs throughout the year that meets all the social-emotional learning standards that are required by the state of Ohio. And so we have connected a number of different school districts to the Anti-Defamation League, and at least two or three are going to now start implementing this program in their schools. One of them, we've connected them or encourage them to connect with the Holocaust and Humanities Center to learn more about their upstander program and learn about their curriculum. And we've also shared with them the research on "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas." Some school districts are, have already told us they it's not part of their curriculum, and others are, are we're very intrigued to learn the research. And when I, when I share this with them, I say like I understand we're in a climate of like, of people wanting books banned. And I said, I'm not coming at it from that perspective. I really want to tell you that this is not a good resource for the for Holocaust education, and there are others. If they leave it in their libraries and have access to it, that's fine. But I really think that it's critical that we are teaching another resource. And then I also will say one other final piece is perhaps is that the Ohio Holocaust and Genocide Education Commission has recently created a website called holocaust.ohio.gov. That is a real, provides a real plethora of resource materials for educators on the topic. And we are sharing that website with the districts that we have have met with. And we do hope that this work reaches beyond the districts. And this is not just for the six districts that we've met with but because those are the districts that that where our students are living, that's where we started.

Katie Olmsted 20:21
And the Echoes and Reflections group, this program goes well beyond Central Ohio, too. They'll bring these seminars all over the country.

Rabbi Rick Kellner 20:39
Exactly. The Echoes and Reflections is a national organization. It is a partnership between leading organizations that combat antisemitism and focus on Holocaust education, and any school district anywhere in the country - of course, anywhere in Ohio - can work with Echoes and Reflections. They will come in for free and work with districts to understand how they can improve and deepen their content and knowledge in this area. And they have numerous learning opportunities. And we are hoping that this seminar becomes something that takes place on an annual basis. And we could run it for 10 years and probably not repeat a topic, you know, so there's that many offerings.

Katie Olmsted 24:17
Rabbi Rick Kellner, thank you so much for your time.

Rabbi Rick Kellner 24:20
Thanks so much for having me.

Katie Olmsted 24:24
Head to the show notes for this episode for that link to register for the free Echoes and Reflections seminar in Worthington this summer. You can also find a link for more on Echoes and Reflections and how you can bring them to your community as well. Until next time, stay well.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai