Holocaust

Meeting of Ukrainian and European students

On the 30th of September a meeting between pupils of the Browari gymnasium and the international winners of Eustory history competition from Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Latvia, Poland, Slovenia and Rumania together with the executive director of Eustory, Gabriele Woidelko took place in the assembly hall of the Institute for Political and Ethno National Studies. The meeting was organized by the Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies and "Nova Doba". Topic of the meeting was the different ways of remembrance of the Holocaust in Europe and the way Holocaust is taught at school. First there was an introduction of each country. According to the students, especially national history of Holocaust as well as national movements of resistance are present in all the curricula, whilst the question of collaboration with the Nazi regime seemed not to be taught in most of the countries, except Poland, Slovenia and of course Germany. Another point presented by the students, was the way there states and the government support activities helping to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive, like funding museums and creating places of remembrance. Generally, big support can be only seen in Poland and in Germany, whilst for example in the Ukraine remembrance is mostly a project, which is based on individual efforts of teachers and NGO's. During the discussion the question of responsibility for the Shoah arose. An Ukrainian student had the point of view that only ideology is to blame whereas the general opinion of the guests from Europe was, that it's up to the individual, which way to go. All things considered it was a very informative and interesting meeting and the students expressed there thanks for the organization to Nova Doba and the Ukrainian Center for Holocaust education.