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Holocaust education in India has been overlooked for reasons ranging from the perception of the Holocaust as a European event to the simultaneous historical occurrence of Indian Independence in the 1940s. The study aims to address the existing gap in research on Holocaust education in the South of India by analysing the status of Holocaust education in the state of Kerala and providing feasible suggestions for improvement. The Cochin Jews were the oldest Jewish settlers in India dating back to 10th century CE. The Jewish settlement in Kerala resonates with the history, architecture and cultural arts of the state. As an integral part of the state’s history, teaching Jewish history and the Holocaust is inevitable for a comprehensive understanding of the periodical development of the state. Presently, the Jewish community in Kerala is on the brink of fading into history. The purposeful teaching of the Jewish settlement and the Holocaust would protect Jewish history of the state from historical erasure. The research attempts to study the Jewish presence and Holocaust teaching within school syllabi across Kerala. The paper analyses the history textbooks of the Kerala State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), and the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) syllabi for classes IX or X. The study uses ten guidelines of Holocaust education devised by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) for the textual analysis of the history chapters introducing the Holocaust in the primary texts. The study concludes that the NCERT textbook provides a more comprehensive understanding of the Holocaust compared to the Kerala SCERT or ICSE textbook.
Introduction
India, a nation with a rich and eventful history, often contends with the challenge of whether to prioritise national or provincial history in its school textbooks. In this debate, the history of the world often takes a backseat. Arjun Hardas points out the laxity shown towards the Second World War in Indian history textbooks, even though India was indirectly a participant in the Second World War. India’s 2.5 million volunteers, who served as soldiers during wartime, many of whom received accolades and held the highest military positions, are a testament to India’s historical significance in the Second World War (Hardas, 2020). The provincial textbooks encounter double the burden as they must reserve a paramount space for the local history of the state, along with the nation’s history, before they cross the boundary to teach world history. Within the limited space dedicated to the Second World War in history textbooks, the Holocaust is frequently overlooked, underscoring the urgent need for more comprehensive world history education in Indian textbooks.
Gilon et al., in their The Hindu editorial ‘A ‘Holocaust Education’ in India to create a Just Present’ notes, “It is unsurprising that for the academic community in India, the Holocaust remains a geographically and emotionally distant historical event” (Gilon et al. 2023, para. 8). Navras Jaat Aafreedi in his ‘Holocaust Education in India and its Challenges’, further explores this notion and writes, “India has never witnessed any figure as prominent in Indian politics as Eichmann was in Nazi Germany being found guilty of perpetrating mass violence and being sentenced to any rigorous punishment, let alone life imprisonment or, death. Hence, cases of mass violence, mob violence and pogroms do not last long in national memory” (Aafreedi, 2021, p.140). This dissociation from the historical event brought by the lack of proximity to the Holocaust led to Holocaust trivialisation, Holocaust denial and increased popularity for Hitler in India.
The International Status of Education about the Holocaust: A Global Mapping of Textbooks and Curricula (2015), published by UNESCO, categorises textbooks and curricula across the globe into six categories of Holocaust Education. The six categories are: countries of “direct reference”, “partial reference”, “context only”, “no context”, and “no data”. According to the research, India is listed under “Context only” countries, where the textbooks and curricula cover the history of the Second World War without directly referencing the Holocaust (Carrier et al, 2015). Though the study shows that India has a slightly better status of Holocaust Education than neighbouring countries like Nepal, where they fall into the ‘No Context’ category, India has a long journey ahead to reach a justifiable educational status of the Holocaust.
The limited research on Holocaust Education in India is confined to the findings from the Northern parts of India or the nationalised NCERT syllabus. The analysis of the NCERT textbook alone does not provide a panoramic picture of Holocaust Education at the secondary level of education in India. Every state in India offers its own syllabus and textbooks, different from the NCERT textbooks, followed by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). According to Education for All in India (2023), 68.7% of all schools in India are government-managed. In contrast, the rest, 31.3%, are private institutions (Education for all, 2023). The study shows that most nationwide students study in government schools and follow the state syllabus mode of instruction. Anubhav Roy comments, “Provincially circulated textbooks drafted by state education boards are prone to errors, poor grades of narration, and even politicisation. Their reference materials for history are often centres of ignominious controversies, and whimsical omissions and commissions” (Roy, 2021, p.132). An isolated study of each state syllabus nationwide would draw a more transparent picture of Holocaust education in India.
Literature review
The history of the South of India is inevitably interwoven with the Jewish history in India. The Cochin Jews of Kerala, the Jews of Madras and Nagercoil in Tamil Nadu, the Jews of Goa, the Bene Israel Jews of Mumbai, and the Bene Ephraim or Telugu Jews were the major Jewish communities in India, settled primarily in the southern part of the country. Jewish settlement and its history are part of the Southern states, yet systematically erased from the history textbooks of the state. The only relative exception would be the SCERT Telangana textbook for class X, which covers Nazism under the heading ‘Rise of Fascism, Nazism’, which consists of content across six pages. The textbook reads, “The number of people killed included: about 60,000,000 Jews, 2,000,000 Gypsies, 10,000,000 Polish civilians, 70,000 Germans who were considered mentally and physically disabled besides innumerable political opponents or people of different religious faith” (SCERT GoT, 2021, p. 179). The textbook has covered victims other than Jews, especially the most often forgotten victims of disability. It is important to note that a newly formed state, which had undergone recent mass violence and partition, formulated a textbook which provides comparatively more significance to the Holocaust.
The Cochin Jews were one of the earliest Jewish settlements in India. There are records of Jewish settlements in Cochin dating back to before the Portuguese invasion of the land. J B Segal, in his A History of the Jews of Cochin, details that the first Jewish immigrants reached South India in the “wake of the Exiles of Shalmaneser or Nebuchadnezzar or following the destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem in AD 70” (Segal, 1993, p. 10). Segal points out that most of these Jewish migrants came from Majorca in 370 and 499 and found residence in ‘Cranganur’, today known as ‘Kodungallur’ (Segal, 1993). The Jewish plates Raja Bhaskira Ravivarman gave to Joseph Rabban in the year 1020 are the earliest documented evidence of the Jewish colony in Kerala (Mandelbaum, 1939). The grant supported Joseph Rabban and his people to settle in ‘Anjuvannam’ and possess the revenue generated from the land. The oldest Jewish tombstone found in the area belongs to a Jewish woman, Sarah, dated 1269 (Mandelbaum, 1939).
The port city of Cochin originated after the great flood of 1341. The rise of the new port city lessened the trade movement in Cranganur. The Angadi synagogue mural slab in Cochin clearly states that the rising importance of Cochin was a major reason for the migration of the Jewish colony from Cranganur to Cochin (Mandelbaum, 1939). The Portuguese invasion of Kerala during the 15th century posed difficulties in survival for the Paradesi Jews. According to Segal, the Portuguese brought the Roman Catholic Church into Kerala, challenging the existing ‘Old Christians’ of St. Thomas Church and the settler Jews (Segal, 1993). The Portuguese created tensions between Muslims and Jews of Cochin, which led to the riot of 1524. The era also saw internal disputes between white Jews and Black Jews. The Cochin Maharaja preserved the community during his reign. He granted the Jews land in Cochin for safe residency and bestowed them with legislative powers over the land. This land came to be known as the ‘New Town’, currently referred to as Fort Kochi. The Paradesi Synagogue of White Jews was erected in the New Town in 1568.
The Dutch invasion in 1661 relieved the tensions caused by the Portuguese era. The renewed labour laws allowed Jews to exercise those occupations previously prohibited by the Portuguese. The divide between White Jews and Black Jews worsened. The White Jews established a connection with the Jewish community in Amsterdam, whereas the Black Jews turned to Yemenite Jews for synagogical necessities (Segal, 1993).
The Rajah of Travancore defeated the Dutch in the battle of 1741. Seringapatanam Treaty of 1794 forced Rajah to give the British the legislative powers of his princely states. The colonial period was economically and socially stagnant for all communities, including the Jewish settlers. A considerable number of Jews migrated to Calcutta or Bombay for livelihood. By 1937, the number of Jews in Cochin declined, and the Jewish community in Bombay flourished. Mandelbaum’s 1939 article states that the Jewish population in Cochin was estimated to be fourteen hundred. The formation of Israel in 1948 became the turning point, leading to a significant decline of the Jewish community in Cochin (Johnson, 2017). According to Krishna P S’ article titled, ‘The Last of the Jews’, there are not more than 20 Jews left in the town from the historic Jewish community in Kerala (Krishna, 2022).
The Jewish presence in Kerala extends to the cultural history of Kerala, which includes the state’s movies, literature, architecture, and culinary experiences. Aliyah: The Last Jew in the Village (2017) by Sethumadhavan is a novel on the migration of Black Paradesi Jews to Israel. Ruby of Cochin: An Indian Jewish Woman Remembers (1995) is the memoir of the Cochin Jew Ruby Daniel, Spice and Kosher: Exotic Cuisine of the Cochin Jews (2013) by Sassoon et al., is a culinary text on the Cochin Jewish cuisine, Settlements of Jews in Kerala: A Chronology of Synagogues from 70 CE-1988 (1988) by Isaac Joshua details the Jewish synagogues in Kerala and their architecture. The movies Gramophone (2003), Karutha Joothan (2017), which translates to ‘Black Jew’, Ezra (2017) and Adam Joan (2017) are Malayalam movies with a Jewish background.
The current paper analyses the status of Holocaust Education in Kerala, India. The question of the need for Holocaust education in India, especially in Kerala, could be addressed in two ways: One, as William F. S. Miles comments in his ‘Third World Views of the Holocaust: Overview’, the memory of Shoah should not be limited to the Jewish people. It should be disseminated worldwide (Miles, n.d.). Chiefly, in geographical locations like Kerala, where the history of the state has a long-standing Jewish presence, disregarding Jewish history and the aftermath of the Holocaust on Cochin-Jews would lead to what Sioban Nelson termed as ‘historical amnesia’ (Nelson, 2009) forcing an erasure in the memory of one significant cultural presence that shaped the growth of the present Kochi. Second, an analysis of existing forms of Jewish literature in Kerala suggests a gradual erasure of Jewish history. For example, tracing the tendencies in the movies, the 2017 movies Ezra and Karutha Joothan presents the dilemma of the Jewish settlers through two different genres: Ezra turns the alienated, relatively unknown Jewish town into a ghost town filled with secrets and mysteries, whereas Karutha Joothan presents a tragic narrative of a displaced Jew who is denied legal property rights in Kochi due to his estranged Jewish identity. The movies reflect the current harsh reality of needing to mythicise Jewish history to create a comprehensive narrative and the legal complications entailed by the sustenance of the Jewish identity. The sense of alienation surrounding Jewish identity in these movies reflects the popular understanding of Jewish identity. This alienation could be countered by a comprehensive teaching of Jewish and Holocaust history to the natives of Kerala.
The research aims: to comprehend whether Kerala has a satisfactory syllabus for Holocaust Education in the state, identify which school syllabus approaches Holocaust education satisfactorily, and provide suggestions based on the analysis about improving Holocaust Education in the state.
Methodology
The paper is divided into two sections. The first section follows the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s ten guidelines in Holocaust teaching for textual analysis of existing secondary-level history textbooks in Kerala. This section will examine the high school history textbooks of SCERT, NCERT, and ICSE syllabi in relation to the ten guidelines. The second section will provide a comprehensive analysis to identify the major differences in the syllabi, similar tendencies regarding Holocaust education presented in the syllabi, and ultimately, offer suggestions for improving Holocaust Education in the state.
Guidelines for teaching about the Holocaust by United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) was devised under the leadership of William Parsons and Samuel Totten to assist teachers in selection and reformation of existing curricula (Fallace, 2008). The guidelines are not officially accepted as the singular Holocaust teaching principles but widely used partially or fully in countries including US for designing Holocaust curriculum. In 2024, CBSE in India along with UNESCO published Holocaust education in India: fostering peaceful, resilient, and inclusive societies, a teaching guide for Holocaust in India, which undertakes a thorough analysis of the ten guidelines by USHMM before explaining their curriculum (Chattarji & Sehgal, 2024). The current paper employs the same methodology as followed by the prescribed Indian Holocaust teacher’s guide, to conduct the current textual analysis.
The ten guidelines prescribed by USHMM are: One, the teaching should begin with defining the term Holocaust; two, students should be taught that Holocaust was unavoidable due to the choices made by nations; three, provide detailed answers for complex questions, instead of simplification that would lead to inaccuracy; four, “precision of language” is of prime importance; five, attempt balancing perspectives from survivors and perpetrators; six, “avoid comparisons of pain” among those sections of societies that were annihilated; seven, reduce romanticizing history by providing over-importance to countable number of saviours of the time; eight, “contextualize the history” in such a way that students would be able to deduce the effects of mass Nazi propaganda; nine, “translate statistics into people”, by turning the numbers into identifiable people and decoded experiences, ten, “make responsible methodological choices” when it comes to activities, assignments, photos shared, movies shown or any other materials circulated throughout the classroom (USHMM, n.d.). The ten guidelines mentioned by USHMM is widely used for designing curriculum.
The Economic Review Report of 2020 by the Kerala State Planning Board (KSPB) shares that 31.4% of the total enrolments in standard X belongs to Government schools, 58.1% of the total enrolments belongs to aided schools, and 10.5% of enrolments fall under the unaided schools (GoK, 2021). All government schools and aided schools across the state (89.5% of the total enrolment in class X) follow the textbooks of the Kerala State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT). The remaining 10.5% of unaided schools are typically divided between the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) or the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE), both of which are national school syllabi. The data show that most students attending secondary education in Kerala follow the SCERT textbook. The analysis follows the above-mentioned hierarchical ranking, analysing the SCERT Kerala textbook first, followed by the NCERT and ICSE textbooks, respectively, for each guideline.
Banerjee & Stöber, in their study, analysed Indian history textbooks, including three editions of NCERT textbooks and select state syllabi textbooks, to comprehend how German national socialism is covered in the Indian curriculum. The study found out that the NCERT textbook, before 2001, insisted on teaching about Nazism in classes ten and twelve, whereas the NCERT curriculum became more “India-centred” since the 2001 edition (Banerjee and Georg, 2020). In their comparative analysis of NCERT textbooks with SCERT textbooks from the states of West Bengal, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu, only the NCERT 2006 edition textbook details Nazism without mentioning Italian Fascism (Banerjee and Georg, 2020).
Anubhav Roy, in his analysis of the SCERT textbook of Kerala, writes, “Its chapter on Nazism is illustrated and interactive enough for the reader’s attention. The segment’s prime focus, however, is restricted to the geopolitical and military contests of both eras” (Roy, 2021, p. 133). Roy analysed the 2011 version of the Kerala SCERT textbook. The current version of the textbook was first published in 2019.
SCERT Standard X Social Science I textbook covers Nazism under the chapter ‘World in the Twentieth Century’. The first subheading, ‘Fascism and Nazism,’ introduces the two terms and provides similarities between the two schools of thought. The chapter further progresses into the sub-heading ‘Hitler and Nazism’, where the content consists of one page. The explication starts with the reason for Hitler’s rise in power, followed by vague, non-detailed content on the Holocaust.
The NCERT textbook dedicates a complete chapter in standard IX textbook India and the Contemporary World towards Nazism and Germany under the title ‘Nazism and the Rise of Hitler’. The chapter spans 26 pages and covers five sub-headings: ‘Hitler’s Rise to Power’, ‘The Nazi Worldview’, ‘Youth in Germany’ and ‘Ordinary People and the Crimes against Humanity’.
ICSE Standard X textbook titled Modern Indian History, Contemporary World and Civics by B. B. Tayal, covers Nazism under two chapters: ‘Rise of Dictatorships: Fascism in Italy and Nazism in Germany’ and ‘The Second World War’. The first chapter is a comparative study of Fascism and Nazism, whereas the second chapter hints at Nazism as one of the primary reasons for the Second World War.
Analysis
The first guideline of defining the Holocaust is problematic in all three texts. None of the definitions in the three textbooks align with those definitions provided by established Holocaust teaching resources or Holocaust institutions.
The word ‘Holocaust’ occurs only once within the SCERT textbook: “Hitler held the Jews responsible for Germany’s ruin and humiliation. Jews were massacred en masse in specially built concentration camps. This is known as the Holocaust” (SCERT, 2019, p. 38). The definition of the Holocaust looks fragmented since it does not follow guideline number three of Holocaust teaching, which requires providing detailed, well-coherent answers to complex questions. The definition does not explain the reason behind Hitler holding Jews responsible for Germany’s ruin. The answer to this question would have led to the inclusion of the word ‘antisemitism’ and how antisemitism had been working throughout centuries before Hitler.
The NCERT textbook covers the ‘Holocaust’ in the last subheading of the chapter. Holocaust researcher Mehak Burza addresses the NCERT’s use of the term Holocaust and comments, “The class 9 Social Science textbook has over hundred pages devoted to Nazism, but the word Holocaust…is only mentioned thrice…The Holocaust has a diluted introduction that strips it off the seriousness associated with the sinister evil” (Burza, 2022, 8:30–57). The textbook line that mentions ‘Holocaust’ reads, “While the Germans were preoccupied with their own plight as a defeated nation emerging out of the rubble, the Jews wanted the world to remember the atrocities and sufferings they had endured during the Nazi killing operations—also called the Holocaust” (NCERT, 2006, p. 72). The sentence does not attempt a definition of the Holocaust; rather, it synonymously uses the term ‘Holocaust’ as a secondary, less significant term that can be applied to ‘Nazi killing operations’.
The ICSE textbook does not include the word ‘Holocaust’ in either of the chapters. The chapter defines Nazism as “Fascism plus Racialism” (Tayal, 2019, p. 240), reflecting Banerjee & Stöber’s findings. Instead of simplifying a complex term, the definition puts two complex terms together. It is important to note that the history text is keen on teaching the history from the perspective of the perpetrators but fails to include the term ‘Holocaust’, which directly relates to the victims of the Nazi regime.
The second guideline reminds that the students should be given clarity regarding the choices of the countries involved, which played a crucial role in the Holocaust. Wyman et al., in their The World Reacts to the Holocaust, write, “Unique historical circumstances affected each country’s behaviour during the war and the Holocaust. These circumstances, coupled with wartime experiences, influenced how each country reacted to the Holocaust. Some have denied the Holocaust, some have denationalised it, some have trivialized it, all have universalized it” (Wyman and Rosenzveig, 1996, p. xiii). Therefore, teaching students the choices made by countries during the Holocaust would help them comprehend the current stance of these countries regarding genocide.
SCERT textbook, in a line or two, hints that some countries were involved in the Holocaust. SCERT textbook reads, “Hitler adopted an aggressive foreign policy. He attacked Austria and Czechoslovakia. Germany formed an alliance with Italy and Japan. It was opposed by other countries. Ultimately, this led to the outbreak of another world war” (SCERT, 2019, p. 38). Here, there is no clarity as to which countries opposed Germany’s strategies or the direct intervention by other countries that aggravated the war.
NCERT details the choices made by the United States of America and Japan. It clearly states that the USA stayed out of the war due to the financial stress it might cause the economy, which was still recovering from the aftermath of the First World War. The involvement of the USA in the Second World War is depicted as the direct result of Japan’s extension of support to Germany and the Pearl Harbor attack (NCERT, 2006).
ICSE textbook clearly states the Second World War as an aftermath of decisions made by countries, though it does not provide a detailed stance of the countries. The line reads, “Mussolini himself admitted quite openly that “the struggle between the two worlds can permit no compromise. Either we or they”. Therefore, War between the two camps was inevitable” (Tayal, 2019, p. 252). In another section, the textbook mentions almost all the countries invaded by Germany, rather than explaining the response of the invaded countries to German demands.
All three textbooks acknowledge that countries were involved and affected by the Holocaust but condense the details about countries involved in one or two lines.
The third guideline recommends providing detailed explanations rather than simple answers to complex questions. By providing superficial answers to complex questions, the stark reality of the historical event gets diluted. In Peter Carrier’s words, “Historical writings influence memory” (Carrier, 2014, p. 210). The ideas, writing style, or narrative structure can affect how the reader imagines the historical event and subsequently creates a present understanding of the event. An extended dilution of the event through recurring, straightforward, undetailed answers affects the memoriography of the event.
SCERT textbook defines Nazism as “the German form of Fascism” (SCERT, 2019, p. 38). Fascism and Nazism show similar tendencies, such as extremist nationalism, anti-Communism and negation of democracy. But Lynne Taylor, in her review of Alexander de Grande’s Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, points out one significant difference that Grande reiterates, “race was of much importance to the Nazi regime than it was to the fascist, and this contributed further important differences in governing styles” (Taylor, 1997, p. 472). Therefore, when defining Nazism as an offshoot of fascism, it fails to acknowledge racist policies upheld by Nazism, which led to genocide. Fascism alone, in its core principles, is insufficient to create an environment for genocide. Indirectly, the definition fails to acknowledge the genocidal tendencies of Nazism with a simple definition.
Similarly, while referring to Anne Frank and her sister’s death, the line reads, “Both of them died in the same camp” (SCERT, 2019, p. 38). The fact that they died in the same camp is not as significant as the fact that they both likely succumbed to typhus caused by unhealthy sanitary conditions within the concentration camps (Prins & Broek, 2015). This lack of explanation does not fully achieve guideline three, which requires detailed answers to complex questions.
NCERT textbook provides a satisfactory explanation of the steps in the Nazi genocide, the racial perspective of Nazism and the propaganda put forward by the Nazis. The different stages of Nazi genocide are divided into exclusion, ghettoisation and annihilation (NCERT, 2006). The boxout provides seven different images from the various stages of the Holocaust and one paragraph explanation of each step of the Holocaust. The explanation of events during the Holocaust in the NCERT textbook is satisfactory; however, notable statements in the text provide simple answers to complex questions. For example, the question of preservation of Holocaust memory is answered as, “…the memory of the Holocaust live on in memoirs fiction, documentaries, poetry, memorials and museums in many parts of the world today” (NCERT, 2006, p. 72). No examples, references, or hints for further reading are provided so the students can understand the need for and ways of preserving Holocaust memory.
ICSE textbook has a two-word definition for Nazism, stating it as “Fascism plus racialism”, without a detailed explanation of the reason behind racialist tendencies of Nazism. Another primary instance of providing a simple answer to a complex question can be seen in the explanation of the ‘final solution’. The text states, “An attempt to find a ‘Final Solution’ to the German question meant the large-scale murder of the Jews. Concentration camps had Gas Chambers so that they could be filled with poisonous gases, killing hundreds of Jews in no time” (Tayal, 2019, p. 243). The final solution came at the end of a systematically executed strategy. The final solution also included various forms of mass annihilation apart from the gas chambers, including killing through starvation, mass shootings, etc. The textbook account of the ‘final solution’ suggests a rapid, impetuous mass massacre, which is far from reality.
In comparison, the NCERT textbook attempts to provide comprehensive answers to challenging issues, rather than the simplistic responses found in the Kerala SCERT and ICSE textbooks.
According to the University College of London’s (UCL) Centre for Holocaust Education, guideline four, stressing precise language, is necessary because “… generalised notions of racism or prejudice and intolerance against generic difference are unlikely to help students understand how and why the Holocaust happened. Racism, prejudice and intolerance do not always result in genocide and are thus insufficient in explaining the Holocaust” (UCL, 2019, p. 10). Therefore, including precise language would facilitate students’ understanding of particular social conditions or phenomena that would lead to genocide.
The SCERT texts lack the fourth rule, which is precision of wording. Throughout the book, specific phrases have been substituted with less strong ones, diluting the impact of the Holocaust. The content of the SCERT textbook covers lesser explored terms like ‘Gestapo’, ‘brown shirts’, ‘Treaty of Versailles’ (SCERT, 2019) etc. But it omits the most important words related to the Holocaust, such as ‘genocide’, ‘ghettoes’, ‘gas chambers’, ‘cattle cars’, ‘gassing’ etc. The word ‘massacred’ has been used thrice in the content while referring to the fate of Jews (SCERT, 2019), but it does not provide precise words such as ‘gassing’, which provide students with an approximate image of the heinous crimes that happened during the Holocaust.
NCERT textbooks have included more common terms related to the Holocaust but with little to no explanation. Genocide is defined as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group” (United Nations, n.d., para. 4) in Article II of the 1948 Genocide Convention. The word genocide is mentioned twice in the textbook and describes ‘genocidal’ as “Killing on large scale leading to destruction of large sections of people” (NCERT, 2006). The definition further goes on to specify six acts that would come under the term ‘genocidal’. The definition from the NCERT textbook uses indefinite wording such as ‘large sections of people’ instead of transparently mentioning the demographic included within the term. The word gassing is mentioned once within the chapter, “Nazis devised an unprecedented means of killing people, that is, by gassing them in various killing centres like Auschwitz” (NCERT, 2006, p. 50). Here, the authors have rightfully placed the word gassing but circumvented the difficulty of explaining the word ‘extermination camp’ by replacing it with ‘killing centres’. The word ‘gas chamber’ occurs eight times throughout the text. The word ‘concentration camp’ occurs eight times throughout the text, and it is defined as “A camp where people were isolated and detained without due process of law. Typically, it was surrounded by electrified barbed wire fences” (NCERT, 2006, p. 58). The word ‘ghetto’ occurs 11 times in the chapter. The word ‘Euthanasia’ is mentioned twice in the chapter without any further explanation of the term.
The terms Holocaust, genocide, euthanasia, extermination camps, etc., are not used in the ICSE textbook. The content refers to antisemitism, gas chambers and the final solution without using the precise words for the same.
Guideline number five calls for a balanced perspective by providing both the survivor’s and the perpetrator’s point of view. Testimonies from both sides are essential for various reasons. The article titled, ‘Using Testimony in Holocaust Education: A Learning Environment’ published by Yad Vashem, mentions the significant reasons for using testimonies as an educational tool: it “re-humanizes” the victims, makes the unimaginable more “tangible”, offers a moral message for the students, facilitates a sense of moral duty to respond responsibly to human suffering (Yad Vashem, n.d.). Therefore, testimonies simultaneously teach learners about experiences during the Holocaust and the responsibility that every individual holds to ensure that history never repeats itself in the form of another Holocaust.
Perpetrator or victim accounts that offer a personal level of understanding of the Holocaust are few in the SCERT textbook. The sub-heading ‘Hitler and Nazism’ begins with a quote by German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller, “First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out/Because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out/Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out/Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me” (SCERT, 2019, p. 38). The quote does not provide a survivor’s or perpetrator’s point of view but forces individuals to imagine being in a scenario where communities around them are systemically destroyed. The quote intends to explain why the inclusion of the sub-heading on Hitler and Nazism is pivotal. The quote clarifies why it is crucial to include the subheading on Hitler and Nazism. Even if the historical event took place on a different continent, it discusses the effects of human predisposition to be indifferent during times of crisis.
The NCERT textbook details the perpetrator’s point of view in two different sections of the chapter. The NCERT chapter has a narrative introductory paragraph which details Helmuth’s story. The paragraph explains Helmuth’s father, a Nazi physician’s last days and the aftermath of his death on Helmuth’s family. The lines read, “Later, Helmuth’s father shot himself in his office. Helmuth remembers that he saw his father’s bloody uniform being burnt in the family fireplace. So traumatised was he by what he had overheard and what had happened that he reacted by refusing to eat at home for the following nine years! He was afraid that his mother might poison him” (NCERT, 2006, p. 49). The chapter begins with a paragraph that would force the reader to feel sympathy for the young boy Helmuth and his Nazi German father. Even before delving into the historical lesson, the chapter includes an emotional paragraph on the perpetrator’s family life rather than a customised account from the victims’ point of view.
The only other narrative occurs later in a boxout titled ‘Box I’, where Erna Kranz, a German teenager from the time of the Holocaust, comments on the Holocaust, “From my own experience I could say salaries increased and Germany seemed to have regained its sense of purpose. I could only say for myself, I thought it was a good time. I liked it” (NCERT, 2006, p. 71). These boxouts highlight the imbalance that results from presenting the perpetrator’s perspective without considering the voice of a survivor. The misguidance through the information provided to the students through a tunnel vision of the Holocaust can be noted in the above quote. According to Kranz’s statement, an uninformed new reader should assume that the time of the Holocaust was beneficial to the German citizens, escalating the fact that German citizens who did not match Hitler’s notion of ‘desirable’ were systematically removed from citizenship and annihilated.
Through the photographs, the ICSE textbook merely gives hazy indications of the perspectives of the perpetrator and survivor. The photo of victims from Buchenwald, washed with filters, narrowly gives an honest image of the conditions of concentration camps. At the same time, Hitler’s photo on the same page provides a reverential image of Hitler, with a smile on his face and his fellow officials (Tayal, 2019). The third picture is of a restaurant mat from the Nazi era, which reads the slogan ‘Wer beim Juden kauft ist einVolksverrater”—‘whoever buys from a Jew is a traitor to his people’ (Tayal, 2019). The image depicts the extent of Nazi propaganda. Other than these images, there are no thought-provoking prompts, writing prompts or narrative paragraphs attempting to provide the survivor’s or perpetrator’s point of view.
The sixth guideline aims to avoid comparisons. The guideline calls for limiting comparisons at two levels: one, between the pains of the survivors of various sections- Jews, communists, Blacks, homosexuals, etc; and two, between the Holocaust and other similar historical events. Michael Rothberg, in his ‘Holocaust Remembrance and The Ethics of Comparison’, addresses the second form of comparison between historical events. He identifies that the second form of comparison cannot be eradicated. Hence, it is vital to look for two significant ethics of comparison: first, “axis of comparison”, which allows one to analyse to what extent the comparison allows “perceptions of distinctions”, which would avoid any forceful disappearance of distinctions between the two events; and second, “axis of political affect” which aims at supporting and facilitating “solidarity” between victim groups than dividing them (Rothberg, 2024). According to Rothberg’s explanation, it is clear that comparisons can lead to discord between vulnerable groups.
The reference to victims of the Holocaust other than Jews is minimal in all three textbooks. The SCERT textbook reads, “Socialists, Communists, Jews and Democrats were executed” (SCERT, 2019, p. 38). In the NCERT textbook, it notes,
Jews were not the only community classified as ‘undesirable’. There were others. Many Gypsies and blacks living in Nazi Germany were considered racial ‘inferiors’ who threatened the biological purity of the ‘superior Aryan’ race. They were widely persecuted. Even Russians and Poles were considered subhuman and hence undeserving of any humanity. When Germany occupied Poland and parts of Russia, captured civilians were forced to work as slave labour. Many of them died simply through hard work and starvation (NCERT, 2006, p. 62).
Here, the textbook only mentions ethnic victims. It does not include political victims such as the communists or other sections of victims, including people with disabilities or homosexuals. The ICSE textbook also considers Jews as the only victims of the Holocaust. The last paragraph of the chapter narrates, “Hitler’s attempt to kill Jews resulted in the death of some six million Jews in Europe” (Tayal, 2019, p. 246). Although the Nazi party’s hatred of communists is mentioned in the book, it refrains from depicting them as Holocaust victims. The line reads, “Nazism also was a sworn enemy of Socialism and Communism. It condemned the Marxist doctrine of Class struggle, which the Nazis thought of being destructive of the unity of the nation” (Tayal, 2019, p. 246).
The one line in SCERT only covers political victims and is oblivious towards the ethnic victims. It is important to note that the leftist influence of the state has acknowledged violence against socialists and communists. Whereas the NCERT textbook exclusively mentions ethnic victims, and the ICSE textbook only portrays Jews as victims. All the textbooks have conveniently avoided the most overlooked victims—the disabled and homosexuals.
The references to different sections of victims are minimal, and the question of comparison of pain does not arise with the existing information in any of the three textbooks.
The seventh guideline warns against romanticising history by focusing too much on the heroes. The textbooks do not provide the impression that there were people voluntarily assisting to save the victims or the victims themselves trying to protest the Nazi regime. All three textbooks explain the attack on Pearl Harbour, the USA entering the World War, and finally, the last of the German armies surrendering on May 7, 1945. The SCERT textbook reads, “The entry of Soviet Union and America changed the complexion of the Second World War” (SCERT, 2019, 41). The NCERT line reads, “When Japan extended its support to Hitler and bombed the US base at Pearl Harbor, the US entered the Second World War. The war ended in May 1945 with Hitler’s defeat and the US dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima in Japan” (NCERT, 2006, p. 60). The ICSE textbook states, “The Germans were caught between the British and Americans on one side and the Russians on the other” (Tayal, 2019, p. 252). Other than mentioning the countries involved in the defeat of Germany, the three textbooks do not provide information about saviours as people like Oscar Schindler.
In order to facilitate learning, the eighth rule encourages the contextualisation of history. Huigjen et al., in their ‘Teaching historical contextualization: the construction of a reliable observation instrument’, defines historical contextualisation as “the ability to situate a historical phenomenon or person in a temporal, spatial, and social context to describe, explain, compare, or evaluate it” (Huijgen et al. 2017, p. 162). According to the study, historical contextualisation can be achieved through four significant steps: “(1) reconstructing the historical context, (2) fostering historical empathy, (3) performing historical contextualisation to explain the past, and (4) raising awareness of present-oriented perspectives when examining the past” (Huijgen et al. 2017, p. 163). Historical context can be rebuilt through the chronological, spatial or social frame of reference. Historical empathy can be moulded through establishing “affective connections” with the historical agents by recollecting similar experiences from the student’s life. The third step of performing historical contextualisation can be achieved by using existing knowledge of history to reason and elucidate the causality of some other related event. Finally, historical contextualisation should include a judgement that is unbiased by presentism. Most often, students compare the past with the present and reach conclusions about the past with their knowledge of the present, which is bound to affect the historical empathy that must be fostered. Here, detailing the past and explaining the differences between the past and the present can reduce presentism in the learners. An analysis of the texts based on the factors mentioned above is continued in the next part of the analysis.
All three textbooks explain the historical context to a certain degree. The scenario after the First World War, the Treaty of Versailles, Hitler’s rise into power, his ruling regime and its fall are part of all three textbooks. Enabling historical empathy is a point to be discussed.
SCERT textbook provides a boxout titled ‘Chempaka Raman Pillai and the Nazis’. The boxout explains the relation of Malayali freedom fighter Chempaka Raman Pillai to the Nazi war. According to the boxout, “He had the privilege of being the only foreign member in the Pan-German Nationalist party. As he raised his views against Hitler and Nazi party, he became their enemy. His assets were confiscated. It is reported that the Nazis, under orders from Hitler, killed Chempakaraman Pillai” (SCERT, 2019, p. 38). It is important to note that the textbook has established a connection for the students from Kerala by providing an instance of a freedom fighter figure from their land who was directly involved with the historical event being taught. The addition of such localised knowledge—which Huigjen et al. called ‘affective connections’—fosters historical empathy of the learners towards the historic event.
In a similar vein, the NCERT textbook provides two letters addressed by M.K. Gandhi to Hitler, requesting him to reconsider his position regarding the war. With greater precision, the second letter to Hitler explicitly calls for an end to the conflict, “If not the British, some other power will certainly improve upon your method and beat you with your own weapon. You are leaving no legacy to your people of which they would feel proud. They cannot take pride in a recital of cruel deed, however skilfully planned. I, therefore, appeal to you in the name of humanity to stop the war….” (NCERT, 2006, p. 73). Here, the letters establish the “affective connection”, which would help the students realise that India was not indifferent to the Holocaust in its entirety.
ICSE textbook provides one boxout titled ‘Hinduism and Swastika’ (Tayal, 2019), which explains the reason for Nazi Germany adopting swastika as their party symbol. That is the only relation with the Nazi Germany that the textbook draws for the students in India. No information connects India to the Second World War or the Holocaust. Thus, the notion of historical empathy goes unattended in ICSE.
Performing historical contextualisation and assisting students in avoiding presentism when judging past events is hardly seen in all three textbooks. NCERT textbook provides one boxout which offers students two thinking prompts, “If you were a student sitting in one of these classes, how would you have felt towards Jews?” and “Have you ever thought of the stereotypes of other communities that people around you believe in? How have they acquired them?” (NCERT, 2006, p. 67). What Huijgen et al. called “historical perspective taking” is improved by this kind of inquiry. According to Huijgen et al., performing historical perspective-taking could avoid presentism and help students understand and explain historical agents’ decisions and historical phenomena” (Huijgen et al. 2016, p. 111). An attempt at such thinking prompts would improve the contextualisation of history for the students.
The analysis reveals that the three textbooks adhere to the two major requirements for developing historical contextualisation but leave room for improvement in performing historical contextualisation and building present-oriented perceptions for studying the past, which is essential to cover guideline eight comprehensively.
Placing the numbers into the context of people and their experiences is the ninth guideline. To comprehend the impact of disruption caused by the Holocaust on the lives of people, it is pivotal to decode the numbers into people and collective statements into individual experiences. Neither of the three textbooks attempts to provide individual experiences. Only the NCERT textbook attempts to translate numbers into people by recounting Helmuth and Kranz’s story. As mentioned under the detailing of guideline number five, it is to be noted that both these narratives are based on Nazi Germans, hence imbalanced because of the lack of the victim’s perspective. Neither the ICSE nor SCERT textbook includes testimonies or point-of-view narration from either the survivor’s or perpetrator’s perspective.
The tenth guideline of Holocaust teaching is to be mindful of methodological choices. The SCERT textbook features four photographs provided with the content: First, a photo of Adolf Hitler, which portrays an influential leader; second, a photo of Anne Frank and pages from her diary; third, two images of concentration camps attached together. One of the two pictures of the concentration camp is from April 12, 1945, A Portion of bodies found by US troops when they arrived, and the second one was from the Buchenwald concentration camp (SCERT, 2019). The visual learning aids in the textbook are minimal and incomprehensible. Despite its diminutive size, Hitler’s headshot portrays him as a strong leader, in contrast to the small pictures of the victims that are stuck together in a manner that does not provide clarity to the subjects within the photo.
There are thirty figures in the NCERT textbook. Out of the thirty, Figures 1, 3, 8, 9, 25 and 26 directly portray the authoritativeness of Hitler. Whereas figures 4, 5 and 6 show the living condition of people in Germany between the First World War and the Nazi Party’s rise into power in 1933. Figures 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, and 27 depict Holocaust victims. Figures 10, 15, 28, 29 and 30 show advertisements and pamphlets that reflect the impact of Nazi propaganda (NCERT, 2006). The figures in the NCERT textbook offer balanced, easily understood visual learning signals.
The ICSE textbook only has four photos as references. First is a passport-size photo of Hitler; second, the Buchenwald concentration camp; third, the image of Hitler’s followers saluting him and Hitler waving back; lastly, the Nazi propaganda restaurant mat (Tayal, 2019). These references are limited and provide less information about the depth of the Holocaust. The textbooks do not suggests a documentary, movie literature or art from the time of the Holocaust as part of teaching tools.
Results and conclusion
It is indisputably evident that all three textbooks leave room for improvement to meet the ten guidelines. SCERT and NCERT textbooks have attempted guideline one by defining the Holocaust. ICSE textbook refrains from using the word ‘Holocaust’ in the chapter. Regarding guideline two, all three textbooks acknowledge the involvement of other countries but misses the mark in providing a detailed explanation of the same. Excluding the CBSE textbook, both SCERT and ICSE could not follow guideline number three by providing superficial answers to complex questions. All three textbooks face challenges with guideline four, the precision of language. CBSE relatively attempts to include more Holocaust-related words and their definitions.
Guideline number five requires a balanced perspective by equally providing victims’ and Nazi Germans’ perspectives. All three textbooks do not entirely succeed in following the guideline. A slight exception is the CBSE textbook, which provides the perpetrator’s point of view without the victim’s narrative. As a result, an imbalanced account. All three textbooks follow guideline number six by not comparing the pain of victims to other sections of victims from the Holocaust or other similar historical events. All three textbooks follow guideline number seven by being neutral about the saviours; the only saviours hinted at in the textbooks are the United States of America. Following guideline number eight, all three textbooks have made an effort to contextualise the history leading up to the Holocaust. The ninth criterion, which calls for turning figures into actual persons and experiences, has not been followed by the three textbooks. The teaching methodologies involved in the textbooks are limited, yet an attempt has been made in all three textbooks to convey the Holocaust to the students. Thus, it is a deficient, yet refinable attempt at guideline number ten.
It is evident from the analysis that in all three syllabus textbooks, the CBSE textbook comparatively provides a more comprehensible learning experience of the Holocaust. The textbook manages to follow six guidelines satisfactorily, attempts three more guidelines, and underperforms in one guideline—a balanced perspective of the Holocaust with both the perpetrator’s and the victims’ points of view. The SCERT textbook follows three guidelines, attempts to follow another three guidelines and face setbacks at following four guidelines. The ICSE textbook satisfactorily completes two guidelines, attempts another two, and omits the other six. Even though the ICSE chapter on Nazism has more pages of information compared to the SCERT Kerala textbook, SCERT’s teaching about Holocaust is marginally a cut above ICSE.
Suggestions and scope for further research
India is on its path to improve Holocaust education in its textbooks. UNESCO and CBSE held workshops on the Holocaust in around 300 CBSE schools in Delhi, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh during Holocaust Remembrance Week 2024 (APCEIU, 2024). In 2024, UNESCO, in collaboration with CBSE, published a Holocaust teaching guide for students of classes IX and X.
In his five comprehensive recommendations for enhancing Holocaust education in India, Navras J. Aafreedi recommends the creation of teacher training programs, NCERT publications on the Holocaust, and awareness programmes for students on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27 (Aafreedi, 2021). Based on the current study, some suggestions for improvement of Holocaust education in the secondary level of education in Kerala would include:
Following the ‘Holocaust Education in India’ teachers’ guide (Chattarji & Sehgal, 2024) for instruction in classes
Inclusion of one Malayalam movie with a Jewish background in Kerala as a methodological tool
Inclusion of a section from a novel or non-fiction based on Jewish background in Kerala as a chapter in literature textbook
Addition of writing prompts and thought-provoking prompts related to the Holocaust within the chapter
Screening of a documentary or film based on the Holocaust for Class IX and X students
Addition of larger images with clarity as a visual cue within the textbooks
Providing one survivor’s story along with one perpetrator’s story, at the least, as boxouts to balance points of view regarding the Holocaust
The current study can serve as a guide for examining other state curricula in India, which will highlight the country’s significant gap in Holocaust education. The study’s scope was restricted to textual examination of the state’s secondary school system. The tertiary level of education and the status of Holocaust education have not been explored, leaving scope for further research.
Author contributions
The First Author contributed by collecting data and writing the article. The corresponding author edited and provided guidance on completing the article.
Funding
Open access funding provided by Vellore Institute of Technology.
Data availability
The primary data used in this study are publicly accessible history textbooks of Kerala SCERT, NCERT, and ICSE syllabi. The secondary data includes research articles and critical review papers. The data used for this study are cited in the reference section.
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Ethics declarations
This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors to provide an ethical declaration.
Informed consent
This article does not contain any studies with human participants which would require informed consent from the participants.
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