Netherlands: 20% of teachers avoid teaching about the Holocaust

Netherlands: 20% of teachers avoid teaching about the Holocaust

A fifth of history teachers in the four major Dutch cities have had to deal with not being able to or rarely bringing up the Holocaust because Muslim students in particular have difficulties with it.

This according to a survey among history teachers in secondary education by the Elsevier weekly and research agency ResearchNed. Teachers in VMBO schools in particular encounter resistance, elsevier.nl reported. The teachers said that in the VMBO schools four major cities, in particular, immigrant students were less interested than ethnic Dutch.

There is also good news: the claim that the war was forgotten and youth don't know about WWII anymore is nonsense. Students in secondary education think WWII is very interesting.

80% of teachers say that of all the subject, students think WWII is most interesting. This is followed far behind by the second half of the 20th century and the Greeks and Romans. The persecution of the Jews is most interesting, the conquest and occupation of the Dutch-Indies by Japan the least.

According to 80% of the teachers, WWII helps students understand the consequences of intolerance towards other people. 70% say that WWII helps students recognized the values of democracy, freedom and human rights.

Source: AD (Dutch)