April 17, 2023 marks Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day. The Holocaust, perpetrated by the Nazi regime in Germany from 193345, claimed the lives of six million Jewish people.<\/p>\n
This year, Rachel Baum would like you to remember something in particular:<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery single person has a story that we get to hear if we\u2019re lucky,\u201d she said. \u201cThere are so many stories that we\u2019ll never get to hear. The number of Jews killed is enormous, are big, but it\u2019s important to see that it was six million individual human lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s one of the most important lessons that 51ÁÔÆæ\u2019s certificate in Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Studies tries to teach.<\/p>\n
51ÁÔÆæ began offering the certificate in 2019. Housed in the Sam and Helen Stahl Center for Jewish Studies, the certificate asks students to take a variety of courses focusing on not only the history of the Holocaust, but also on global politics and human rights, philosophy and ethics, and slavery and African American politics and history.<\/p>\n
The certificate is designed to prepare students for practical careers, such as museum curation, social work, or nonprofit work, but it\u2019s also meant to give students the perspective and tools to make a change in the world around them.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though the Holocaust ended in 1945, these issues are still very much with us,\u201d noted Baum, who is the deputy director of the Stahl Center. \u201cThe world is wrestling with issues of discrimination and hatred, and unfortunately, still genocide. We really want to prepare students to intervene in that world.\u201d<\/p>\n
The components<\/strong><\/p>\n Jewish people have been the target of violence throughout history, but the Holocaust marked the largest and most systemic, organized effort to eradicate that population. The stories of ghettos, gas chambers, and concentration camps are taught in history classes across the country. Six million Jews were killed in the span of 12 years.<\/p>\n But the certificate\u2019s classes ask students to look beyond the Holocaust.<\/p>\n \u201c(I noticed) students came in with the thought this was a terrible event, and … it ended in 1945,\u201d Baum noted.<\/p>\n But in reality, added Joel Berkowitz, \u201cThese issues still come up. The Holocaust is unique but also connected to other genocides. We need to understand the phenomenon if we\u2019re ever going to keep it from happening again.\u201d<\/p>\n Berkowitz is the director of the Stahl Center, and he, Baum, and their advisory committee designed the certificate to look at the Holocaust and other genocides from many angles, including through literature, film, and social science. The variety is meant to give students multiple perspectives and insights into learning the driving forces and the staggering costs of the Holocaust and other genocides.<\/p>\n And there have been a multitude of genocides throughout history, and many in recent memory in Rwanda, Bosnia, and Myanmar, to name a few. Even today, experts have debated labeling Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine or China\u2019s treatment of Uighur Muslims as genocide.<\/p>\n Because this type of persecution and prejudice is still happening, Berkowitz says the certificate strives to teach student the patterns that perpetrators seem to use to foment fear and hatred against a particular group.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the things we see in these kinds of courses is how language is often perverted and distorted in very deliberate ways,\u201d he pointed out. \u201cFor example, (Russian president Vladimir) Putin has very deliberately co-opted historical ideas and twisted them in that the pretext of the \u2018special operation\u2019 was to de-nazify Ukraine. In a very powerful country where the state runs the media, from what I understand, it\u2019s been largely accepted by the Russian people because that\u2019s what they\u2019re hearing from all of their broadcasters relentlessly.\u201d<\/p>\n Pushing back against extremism language and the patterns that precede persecution is where the \u2018human rights\u2019 portion of the certificate comes in. The certificate includes a number of philosophy courses to choose from, each asking students some hard questions: Are there inviolable human rights? Must they be codified or are they understood? How should our understanding of human rights affect laws and public policy?<\/p>\n By asking students these big questions, Baum and Berkowitz are preparing them to think critically and engage thoughtfully in the situations they might encounter beyond the classroom.<\/p>\n Combatting antisemitism and prejudice<\/strong><\/p>\n Those skills are increasingly important. As Chris Nuzum can attest, prejudice is alive and well in America today. He is majoring in Jewish Studies and working towards the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Studies certificate. As a Jewish person who is also a veteran and queer, he is no stranger to prejudice.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is so much antisemitism right now. It seems there is an agenda targeting minorities and creating a frightening \u2018other\u2019 \u2013 frightening Jews and frightening Chinese and frightening Mexicans coming over the border, without really understanding what is happening,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s something that I\u2019ve grown up with and spent the bulk of my life absorbing. I\u2019m at a place in my life where I\u2019m no longer willing to accept it. \u2026 It is personal.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s why his experiences taking classes within the certificate have been so impactful. He says that he has enjoyed all of his classes, and particularly the course \u201cRepresenting the Holocaust in Words and Images.\u201d The class was balanced with the stories of survivors, something that Nuzum felt gave an uplifting note to his studies.<\/p>\n The classes are challenging – not only academically, but emotionally as well. Nuzum describes the imagery as \u201ccrushing,\u201d but smiled as he recounted how Baum often sends her students pictures of baby hedgehogs to help them de-stress after a grueling lesson.<\/p>\n Sometimes she assigns homework: Step away from your books and do something life-affirming.<\/p>\n Baum, in turn, said she has been impressed by the sensitivity of her students.<\/p>\n \u201cSome of them have talked openly about their own trauma … but also, they just have such deep insight,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Holocaust education<\/strong><\/p>\n This certificate comes at an especially crucial time for American Holocaust education. A recent survey by the Claims Conference revealed that over two-thirds of Millennials and members of Gen Z know very little about the Holocaust, with one in 10 reporting that they had never heard the term before.<\/p>\n Baum and Berkowitz have noticed the trend, though Baum is proud that Wisconsin ranks among the best-educated states about the Holocaust. The solution, they said, is not only programs like the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Studies certificate, but also building community partnerships and increasing opportunities for students to learn about the material. For example, Berkowitz said, 51ÁÔÆæ\u2019s Stahl Center for Jewish Studies works closely with the Nathan & Esther Pelz Holocaust Education Resource Center – Baum sits on the organizations Board of Directors – and 51ÁÔÆæ instructors take students to visit Jewish Museum Milwaukee.<\/p>\n It\u2019s especially important because Holocaust survivors are growing older and passing away. Someday soon, no one will be left to tell their personal stories.<\/p>\n Baum and Berkowitz hope you remember those \u2013 and the untold stories \u2013 this Holocaust Remembrance Day.<\/p>\n By Sarah Vickery, College of Letters & Science<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" April 17, 2023 marks Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day. The Holocaust, perpetrated by the Nazi regime in Germany from 193345, claimed the lives of six million Jewish people. This year, Rachel Baum would like you to remember something in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32664,"featured_media":22593,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[1756],"tags":[1854],"class_list":["post-22585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-focus-2023","tag-april"],"yoast_head":"\n