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| You are here: 2000 / Workshops, Panels and Seminars / Workshops on Education / Workshop 5 on Education, "Religious and Ethical Teachings and the Holocaust" / Report from Workshop 5 on Education: "Regigious and Ethical Teachings and the | |||||||||
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Report from Workshop 5 on Education: "Regigious and Ethical Teachings and the Presentation by Rabbi Irving Greenberg Presentation by Dr. Franklin H. Littell Presentation by Dr. Elisabeth Maxwell Presentation by Dr. Stanislaw Obirek Presentation by Dr. Didier Pollefeyt Presentation by Professor John K. Roth Report from Workshop 5 on Education: "Regigious and Ethical Teachings and the Report from Workshop 5 on Education Moderator: Professor John Roth
Presenters: Mr. Irving Greenberg Mr. Franklin H. Little Ms. Elisabeth Maxwell Mr. Didier Pollefeyt Mr. Stanislaw Obirek The Workshop considered the role of religion and ethics in connection to the Holocaust. As a follow up it was considered what had been learnt and what could be done for effective prevention in the future. The Workshop recognised the failure of religion and ethics to prevent the Holocaust. Admission and confession by all institutions are required to reinstall a missing credibility. ”Global ethics” must be put in the centre, inducing a ”courage of care”. Although the Holocaust is unique and references thereto ought not to be misused, the participants drew the conclusion that lessons had not been learnt and genocide, a crime which emerged from the Holocaust, continue. Genocide can be no prerogative of a Government, but an international crime, requiring civilisation to intervene by prevention. There was agreement that pluralism and democracy may not always be perfect but history shows that they are unlikely to allow for genocidal societies. Careful attention must be given to a common use of words and values, against amnesia, absolutism and exclusion, against impunity. Modesty and respect for Others must be taught, the right understanding of good and evil be restored – independent of religions, although interaction is commended. Presentationof presentors: Dr. Franklin H. Littell: In introducing his views on teaching the Holocaust, Littell stresses that silence was no solution but warnings must be expressed against the increasing misuse of the memory of the Holocaust by dishonest equivalences. Common language and principles are needed: genocide is a crime that emerged from the unique tragedy of the Holocaust. One very important lesson is that a Government’s slaughter of a minority is no longer seen as a prerogative of sovereignty, it is an international crime and the duty of every civilized Government to prevent. Against the claim that the Nazis represented the will of the people, the still limited legitimacy of a Government must be defined. Responsibility builds on the conviction that popular movements, like the Nazis, show very early whether or not they offer a legitimate program. The NSDAP was in structure and direction an illegitimate and potentially genocidal movement already in 1920. So a political lesson is ”Catch such movements out in time, however marginal”! The crimes committed by Christians were never rebuked by church authorities. Centuries of theological and cultural anti-semitism created favourable conditions. Reforming preaching and teaching should replace the apportionment of guilt among perpetrators, victims and witnesses. The great credibility crisis for Christianity has to be dealt with. Father Stanislaw Obirek:The danger of amnesia, which prevailed in Poland, is eminent and can make a whole generation’s knowledge one-dimentional. Books, teaching, activities, including by the Church, should be used to reintroduce the Jewish community as part of traditional culture. Young people must hear and learn. Reference to shared responsibility is preferable in the fight against racism compared to discussing guilt: ”Thou shall not stay idly by”! Steps by Polish Catholic Church cannot erase 2000 years of mistrust but conciliation must be sought. This is best done by personal contacts, visits and learning. Regarding the relations between God and human beings after Auschwitz; the survivors have the voice of God, this is greater than saying that Christianity and God will win. Rabbi Irving Greenberg: The Holocaust represents a massive failure by many institutions – political, legal, cultural and above all, religious – in religious terms to communicate the three dignities of human life: infinite value, equality and uniqueness. God’s will cannot be honoured unless practitioners are sensitized to empathy toward the others, solidarity, standing against degradation and murder – the key determinant of Nazi success being the behaviour of the bystanders. Christianity carries the burden of a distinctive failure through its historical demonization of Jews. However, the religion of the victims is not free of failure either. There was lack of interaction in combination with their negative images of others. Modernity as a cultural-ethical-religious system also failed. Ability to recognize failure is key to rebirth of religions. Repentance opens a door to healing by bystanders. The yet unfinished self-critique helps Christian credibility. Judaism and Islam have their burdens. Extraordinary efforts must be taken to restore the moral balance in the world: the Other and the non-believer must be embraced. Pluralism offers protection, recognizes that absolutes have limitations. All human absolutes must be made partial and the presence of multiple value systems and sources of authority in society welcomed. Gleichschaltung shall never again be possible. Dr Elisabeth Maxwell: What should be done? Answers have shown a general trend in the increasingly secularized Europe to put a search for global ethics in the centre. The Holocaust showed that education was not enough, that civilization was paper-thin, humanity precarious and can be swept away. A solid framework is needed, a common solid good, or God, based on wisdom, inducing a ”courage to care”. The price of survival is practical involvement. Small and important heroes can offer examples, survivors bear witness, scholarship can encourage study. The key is how to be human and to know to do the right things. Lessons in morality are necessary. Professor Didier Pollefeyt: Religion and religious education have not been a guarantee against genocide, but on the contrary were involved in the Holocaust. The Holocaust shows the vulnerability of ethics. Religion and ethics must start from recognizing their limits and responsibilities. Teachers, religious or non-religious, must be aware of the risk of misuse in correlating with their own faith and goals. Quality Holocaust education must be developed. There is an urgent need for an instrument of analysis of existing Holocaust curricula, a central criteria for moral and religious education. A checklist for attention could be established, including what are universal and unique aspects of the Holocaust, the perspectives of victims, perpetrators, bystanders, rescuers as well as the continuity of Western history, etc. In adapting to places and circumstances, each setting should integrate aspects that challenge ideological presuppositions. In response to the Holocaust, ethics and education should make clear the complexity of good and evil, not be manichean. Nazi ideology did not allow ethical complexity. Religious absolutism should not be allowed. Ethical and religious teaching should be orientated towards the discovery of a basic moral norm by which all ethical values, cultures, ideologies and religions can be tested as orientations towards the good or God. It must be realized that the Holocaust was not the work of devils or monsters, but of human beings. Religions possess symbols, stories, rituals to help people open a perspective ”beyond Auschwitz”, without denying the Holocaust. Professor Irwin Cotler: This historic conference dealing with the Holocaust must be seen in its historical, moral and juridical context: the existence of the Covenants on Human Rights, the Geneva Conventions, the codification of the Nüremburg principles but also Nüremburg race laws. Recent events in Rwanda, Kosovo, etc show that we have not learnt the lessons. It should be remembered that the Holocaust started with words, not in the gas chambers. A culture of human rights antidote to hatred must be created, a society responsible for prevention, protecting vulnerable groups, giving voice to the voiceless. The question must be asked why someone, a minority, a child stays outside and does not share the same rights. Such phenomena are warnings. Practical measures should also be taken, like restitution of belongings. A war crime is specific, and persecutors must be brought to court and judged. Without criminals the assumption can be made that there was no crime. Therefore the judging of those responsible for the Holocaust must continue. There is a right to remember. The Nüremburg legacy must be kept alive and crimes committed with impunity must be made impossible. >> Back to top |
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Introduction Opening Session: Messages and speeches Plenary Sessions: Messages and speeches Workshops, Panels and Seminars
Other Activities |
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