Task Force For International Cooperation On Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research

Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research in Sweden

The Stockholm International Forum conference in 2000 marked a new Swedish self-image concerning Sweden's connection with the Holocaust. This was followed by a further three conferences on closely related themes. On these occasions Stockholm served as a meeting place for a unique mixture of politicians, decision-makers, experts from the field, NGOs as well as of survivors. It gives me great pride to say that from an international perspective I head a rather unique authority, the Living History Forum, whose mission is based on such expertise. It also gives me satisfaction to say that I was appointed by a government that sets a high priority on this mission.

In the late 1990s, when several countries in Europe once more experienced the sight and sound of groups of young people questioning the need for democracy and the equal value of all individuals, Sweden's Prime Minister, with the support of the Swedish parliament, launched an information campaign on the Holocaust and the values that led up to it. This campaign including the production of the book "Tell Ye Your Children..." (Paul A. Levine, Stéphane Bruchfeld) formed the basis for the establishment of a permanent government authority, The Living History Forum, five years ago.

A Swedish teacher survey on Holocaust education was conducted in 2007/2008. The main aim was to clarify whether the attitudes of different actors generate reluctance to teaching and learning about the Holocaust. We wanted to inquire whether such attitudes impair efforts spent on Holocaust education and jeopardises the importance of such education. Some of the results of this survey conducted in Sweden were that: teachers in general feel that teaching about the Holocaust is very important most teachers in Sweden think that Holocaust education functions as a "way-in" to discussions and teaching focused on broader ethical and moral issues 78.8 percent of the respondents have not noted any "Holocaust-fatigue" among their students. The Swedish survey indicates that teachers would like more support in learning how to teach about the Holocaust and that they feel their students are very interested in the subject. Hopefully this survey will be followed by similar studies conducted by several other ITF member states.

Education

The national curriculum of mandatory subjects to be taught in Swedish schools is general rather than setting out in detail what each individual subject should include. This is why there are no specific directions concerning teaching about the Holocaust. However the Holocaust is considered to be an important part of the teaching of History and it is quite common for it to also be covered in subjects such as social studies, religion, Swedish and German. Recent research into teachers' experiences of teaching about the Holocaust indicates that Swedish teachers are highly motivated to teach about the Holocaust and that students are receptive to the subject.

The proportion of teachers in Sweden that spend more than 15 hours per academic year teaching about the Holocaust has increased six fold over the past 10 years, which indicates that the extensive investment in continuing education within the Holocaust field has paid off. The main challenges for Sweden in the next few years is to influence basic teacher training to enhance knowledge about the Holocaust. Additional continuing education courses for teachers who have already embarked on their career is another important area where we need to do more.

Since the mid 1990s, trips to Holocaust memorial sites have become increasingly popular and inviting Holocaust survivors to visit classrooms has also become more common. Enabling survivors' tales to live on after their deaths is another important task we are working on, while we are also looking at ways to improve the excursion methodology on education trips.

Remembrance

Sweden was spared Nazi occupation. The absence of traditional memorial ceremonies and monuments can probably be explained by over 200 years of peace in Sweden. Sweden's collective memory of the time surrounding the Holocaust concerns things like ration cards, ersatz coffee and military readiness rather than the Holocaust per se. It was not till nearly 50 years after the war that questions started to be asked about this. The American historian Steven Koblik's book `Stones Cry Out - Sweden's Response to Persecution of Jews 1933-1945´, published in 1987 became an late wake up call. This was followed a few years later by "Honour and Conscience", a critical book on Sweden's policy of neutrality during the Second World War by Swedish author Maria-Pia Boêthius. Sweden's largest daily newspaper subsequently published a special edition on the subject of Swedish trade with Nazi Germany in 1997. Sweden's self-image was in the process of being re-evaluated. All the survivors who have told about their memories to school children have naturally also played a big part in keeping the story of the Holocaust alive.

A public day of remembrance was held for the first time 50 years after the Holocaust. This event, initiated by Sweden's Jewish communities and attended by the Prime Minister, the Royal Family and other official representatives of Sweden, attracted a great deal of interest from the general public. In 1996 The Living History information campaign was launched and gained a favourable response from Sweden's general public. In 2000 Sweden invited 50 countries to a conference on education, remembering and research on the Holocaust. Holocaust Memorial Day is marked on January 27th. In 2003 The Living History Forum was founded with the mission to reduce intolerance through education on the Holocaust and other crimes against humanity. Sweden came to take a leading role in Holocaust remembrance work.

Research

Since the 1990s Swedish historians have sought to address the Holocaust to a far greater extent than previously and a number of doctoral theses, monographs and articles have researched the subject. A key factor in this development has been the establishment of a specific research and teaching institute at Uppsala University, The Uppsala Programme for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, along with two major research projects "Sweden's relationship to Nazism, Nazi Germany and The Holocaust" and "The Holocaust in European Historical Culture" that have resulted in a number of publications. Swedish research into the Holocaust has mainly focused on two areas. Initially, the main interest has been on various aspects of the relationship between Swedish society and the Holocaust. One very important study in this area was "From Indifference to Activism; Swedish Diplomacy and the Holocaust 1938-1944" by historian Dr. Paul A Levine. This has been followed by a number of studies on Swedish refugee policy, the Swedish Church's attitude to German race laws, Swedish reactions to "Aryanisation" of the German economy and how the Swedish mass media reported on the Holocaust. The second main area of interest concerns how the Holocaust has been addressed in post war political debate and cultural history. Here, research has primarily been internationally oriented with a clear focus on Europe. Relatively little research has been done on the Holocaust itself, with the exception of research by Dr. Laura Palosuo at Uppsala University on Hungarian Jews' perceptions of Antisemitism in the interwar years and of the Holocaust.