The Story in History is What Counts

War Horse author Michael Morpugo has an awesome article in the UK Daily Mail titled: When I wrote War Horse, I didn't hide the horror of battle. If children are to love history, we must tell them the brutal truth.  


Morpugo argues against the education system removing the "story" from History, instead "...judg[ing] success solely on whether children can pass exams, with little time to ensure they leave school with a passion for learning that will remain with them for life."


Technological and political advancements mean that today's generation of students are, by and large, less directly impacted by war than their predecessors.  To put it in plain terms: If the Cold War seemed unreal to Generation X, what must World War II seem like to today's high school students?


When the realities of war become nothing more than facts on a page to be memorized, tested on, and all too quickly forgotten...what is the point of teaching about the war in the first place?


And if human experience can be so easily boiled down into a trivial pursuit, what lesson does that teach our students about the weight of their own lives and actions on the world scale?


History matters because people matter.  When we forget the importance of history we forget one of history's greatest lessons: That lives are meant to be lived, not lost and valued as gifts to the world, not by the blood they shed on battlefields or in death camps.


Read Morpugo's article in the UK Daily Mail.


Then, join the MCHGRC as we discuss War Horse: How One Book, One Play, One Movie can teach peace.

Oh Silly Them...

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Marine Corps on Thursday once again did damage control after a photograph surfaced of a sniper team in Afghanistan posing in front of a flag with a logo resembling that of the notorious Nazi SS — a special unit that murdered millions of Jews, gypsies and others. 

The Corps said in a statement that using the symbol was not acceptable. 

However, it was a naive mistake made by Marines who believed the SS symbol was meant to represent sniper scouts and never intended to associate themselves with a racist organization, said Maj. Gabrielle Chapin, a spokeswoman at Camp Pendleton.

"Naive" and "Marines" don't normally go together in the same sentence.

The real question is, if the Marines don't recognize the infamous "SS" logo, what should we expect of today's students?

Open House - This Wednesday!

The Mercer County Holocaust-Genocide Resource Center will be hosting an Open House this Wednesday, February 1, 2012 from 4 - 7:30 pm.

Come check out our resources, meet our Advisory Commission members, and find out how we can serve your needs as a teacher, student, professor, or community member.

Did I mention there'd be food?

We're located on the West Windsor campus of Mercer County Community College, Library Building (LB), 2nd Floor.  If you're driving, you'll want to park across from the Security Office, near the Student Center (SC).

For a campus map, click here.

Questions?  Email mcholgen@gmail.com

We look forward to seeing you there!

Will more than 1 in 5 Remember?

Tomorrow is International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Today, it was reported that one in five Germans between the ages of 18 and 29 have no idea that Auschwitz was a Nazi death camp.  Not coincidentally, the same 1 in 5 figure (age aside) accounts for the number of Germans who are latently anti-Semitic.

Statistics like this remind me why we need to do more than take a few hours out of our schedule on one or two days out of the year to remember that the Holocaust was real, that its victims still walk among us, and that the horror of genocide is still a living reality on this earth.

Holocaust and genocide education is not a matter of becoming depressed by the reality of history and current events.  Rather, it is a matter of knowing and understanding that real life is composed of a series of challenges and a matter of choices.  Holocaust and genocide studies involve an education that empowers each individual to make good choices in the face of horrific challenges.  Knowing history means knowing the difference in order to help make tomorrow a better place, whereas not knowing history ...well, the statistics prove my point.

This is Your Life

The nifty fifties.

Today's history students are given the impression that a mere five years after the Holocaust ended a new era dawned in America; an era defined by big turquoise cars, lavish suburban living, and some guy that everyone liked named Ike.  Nothing solidifies this imaginary picture of the past more than the television shows made popular by baby boomers the nation over. 

Each week, Ralph Edwards - a chummy, average sort of guy you'd imagine meeting at your dad's company picnic - would walk through a live studio audience filled with people giggling over the chance at  their 15 minutes of fame on postwar America's greatest invention: the television.  They didn't have to perform derranged site gags or call a friend for a cue to win five grand; they just had to be willing to step on stage, sit in a puffy chair, and have their life story shared on live TV. 

Mind you, these were the days before Jerry Springer.  The fine folks at NBC actually wanted you to keep your dirty laundry at home in your hampers, thank you very much.  After all, the Nifty Fifties had a reputation to maintain.  The politics may have been cold, but everything was calm and peaceful and it was going to stay that way.  Just ask Hanna Bloch Kohner, Mr. Edwards's guest on the May 27, 1953, episode of This Is Your Life:

I once read that the 1950s were so seemingly perfect because the parents of the baby boomer generation had grown up in the Great Depression and lived through the horrors of World War II.  Naturally, they wanted the world to be a perfect place for their children.  Mrs. Kohner's biography aired at 10 pm, late enough so that the kiddies were in bed, but early enough to ensure that the survivors of depression and war would remember that to strive for perfection one must never forget how horrible an imperfect world can be.