How is the Holocaust taught in Germany?

Question

There was a German exchange student in one of my High school classes. When we started discussing the Holocaust she completely denied it. She said that she had never heard anything about it growing up or in school and thought that our teacher was lying. She got pretty angry.

In German schools, how is the Holocaust, Hitler, n***s, and WW2 taught to students? What do they say happened?

Answer 1

I was able to find this, this seems to be the policy of the German government.

It is quite possible that the person in question came from a school that did not place this much emphasis on the subject, or whose family taught her differently. After all, in this country there are still lots of people who believe that there never was any problem for black people and that the entire Civil Rights Movement was nothing more than a Communist front.

Answer 2

I think they teach them all the facts, they certainly would not lie about what happened or say that it never happened. I'm pretty sure I read that Holocaust denial is a crime in Germany, so they would not teach the students that it did not happen.

In American schools I'm sure they teach about slavery, so the Holocaust is probably taught in the same manner in Germany-giving an account of what happened.

Answer 3

They do not teach the n**i, hitler . or holocaust in German schools. The country acts like it never happened and the only you will ever get admission of it is only if they have lived through it, as for younger Germans, they have no knowledge of it because it is not taught to them

Answer 4

Mz Misunderstood is partially right. Learning of the holocaust is postponed until 11-13th grade. However this coincides with the fact that school ends for over 65% of the German children at grade 10 at which point they take a Lehre. Meaning most German children never learn anything about the holocaust, save when they maybe watch a holocaust movie on TV.

However one of the toughest issues facing Germany today is neo-nazism. German schools are flooded with neo-n**i music and propoganda. It went even so far that the German government started initiatives to try and clean out the schools, or declare several bands criminal organizations and jail them. However it is a losing battle. According to "Der Spiegel," one out of every two East Germans and one out of every three West Germans under the age of 25 believes there were more positive than negative aspects to Hitler and the Third Reich.

There is also a marked rise in nationalism. The attacks on foreigners are increasing yearly. The NDP, a far-right party with many connections to the neo-n**i scene made it into the State government by winning over 10% of the vote in the State of Sachsen. The amount of German flags sold are very high. This has led to several political debates about patriotism. Especially since in Germany, patriotism takes the motto "We are better than everyone else" more often than "I am proud of my country." This has led to the lively debate led a few weeks ago if the current generation is not more like that of their grandparents/greatgrandparents than their parents.

So that denial, or refusal to accept the holocaust could arise is no surprise. It is one of three reactions. Either denial, or horror or simply taking the easy route out and saying the victims deserved it for their inferiority so you did no wrong.

Answer 5

Mz Misunderstood is talking absolute rubbish. Of course they teach historical fact in Germany. The German people have owned this terrible happening in their history since it all  came to light. They even hold Mass for the victims in their chapels of rememberence.