January: Holocaust Remembrance Day
Tuesday 17 January 2023
What is abnormal is that I am normal. That I survived the Holocaust and went on to love beautiful girls, to talk, to write, to have toast and tea and live my life – that is what is abnormal.
Elie Wiesel, survivor of the Holocaust
Holocaust Day is 27th January. The theme for Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) 2022 is Ordinary People.
Genocide is facilitated by ordinary people. Ordinary people turn a blind eye, believe propaganda, join murderous regimes. And those who are persecuted, oppressed and murdered in genocide aren’t persecuted because of crimes they’ve committed – they are persecuted simply because they are ordinary people who belong to a particular group (eg, Roma, Jewish community, Tutsi).
https://www.hmd.org.uk/what-is-holocaust-memorial-day/this-years-theme/
Here is a reminder of some resources that are available to help teachers discuss the significance of this day with students:
Also see below for discussion on the new Ken Burns documentary on the US and the holocaust
Anniversaries for 2023
This introduction to this Council of Foreign Relations article below nicely sums up the significance of historical anniversaries:
Anniversaries mark the passage of time, recall our triumphs, and honor our losses. Two thousand twenty-two witnessed many significant anniversaries: the centennial of the establishment of the Soviet Union, the fiftieth anniversary of Nixon’s trip to China, and the twenty-fifth anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong, to name a few. Two thousand twenty-three will also see anniversaries of many significant events in world history.
The article highlights what to look out for this year.
Ten Anniversaries to Note in 2023 (Council on Foreign Relations)
As 2022 comes to a close, here are ten notable historical anniversaries to mark in 2023.
And January already has several significant dates to mention to students:
January 11 marks the centennial of the French and Belgian troops occupying the Ruhr to demand German payments of reparations for World War I
And January 30 sees the seventy-fifth Anniversary of the Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, 1948.
The Death of Mahatma Gandhi | History Today (www.historytoday.com)
The 20th century’s most famous apostle of non-violence himself met a violent end.
What is new on the site?
In the past couple of weeks, we have started a new topic for Paper 3: Europe, Topic 11 Italy (1815 - 1871) and Germany (1815 - 1890). This should be finished in the new few weeks.
And we have also updated some of the pages for Paper 3, Topic 12: Imperial Russia, Revolution and the establishment of the Soviet Union:
We have also added another multiple choice quiz:
Programmes to look out for in January
Ken Burns has another excellent documentary: The US and the holocaust. This is currently on the BBC (and was on PBS at the end of last year).
By examining the periods leading up to and during the Holocaust with fresh eyes, this film dispels competing myths that Americans either were ignorant of the unspeakable persecution that Jews faced in Europe, or that they looked on with callous indifference. It also takes a candid look at the roles that eugenics and racism, as well as xenophobia and antisemitism, played during this crisis and throughout American history. In the process, it grapples with questions that remain essential to our society today: Is America, truly, as it claims to be, a land of immigrants? Why did we fail to rescue a people at the time of their greatest need? How do the continued struggles over how we define our past shape our future as a country?
https://kenburns.com/films/the-u-s-and-the-holocaust/
The US and the Holocaust review - unmissable Ken Burns doc reveals how Hitler was inspired by America (the Guardian)
The revered documentary-maker brings us a fascinating and unflattering portrait of a nation built on a myth of immigration. This is six hours of television well worth your time
Also on the BBC at the moment there is an excellent series by the historian Simon Schama called 'The History of Now'. In this series Schama contemplates the dangers that democracy is currently facing and he looks back at how artists and writers have led the fight for truth and democracy in his lifetime. It is great for TOK - looking at the crossover between politics, history and culture. In the second episode, for example he examines the struggle for civil rights in the US, looking at the reaction and work of artists such as Nina Simone and James Baldwin and the impact that they had. He then goes on to explore the women's movement and the role that writers such as Kate Millett and Germaine Greer played in promoting the woman's movement.
Fabulous!
Simon Schama's History of Now (BBC iPlayer)
Simon Schama reflects on a life in culture - and its enduring power in shaping our world.