This educational module aims to teach students about fighting prejudice. Using material from the Museum’s Voices on Antisemitism, the module:
The module is divided into six sections:
Ray Allen has visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum several times since it opened; each time he brings a different friend, teammate, or coach. The Museum, Allen says, has a message for everyone and lessons about prejudice that are universally relevant. Learn more »
As a researcher for Microsoft and a fellow at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society, danah boyd looks at how young people interact with social network sites, like Facebook and MySpace. Her research has led her to develop interesting observations about the nature of hate speech on the internet and tactics for combating it. Learn more »
Judea Pearl, father of slain journalist Daniel Pearl, describes himself as a soldier battling the tsunami of hatred that has defined the twenty-first century. Learn more »
Cornel West encourages us to acknowledge our prejudices, rather than to pretend that they don't exist. He says that we must then formulate strategies to move to a higher moral ground. Learn more »
Professor Xu Xin has spent 40 years at Nanjing University—as an undergrad, a grad student, and currently as director of the Glazer Institute of Jewish Studies. He teaches new generations of Chinese students about Jewish history, culture, and the lessons of the Holocaust. Learn more »
The Holocaust is an example of prejudice and discrimination taken to the extreme. One can see its legacy in the efforts of some postwar activists to combat religious, racial, ethnic, and gender stereotypes. Stunned by the atrocities in Europe, many Americans turned to the fight against prejudice and discrimination at home. Unfortunately, prejudice continues today.
Tenacious individuals from a variety of backgrounds are fighting prejudice in all its forms. The Voices on Antisemitism podcast series is designed to bring together a variety of distinguished leaders of different backgrounds to comment on why antisemitism matters today. These leaders include Judea Pearl, whose son Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and killed by racial extremists in Pakistan; Cornel West, who encourages acknowledgement of prejudices, rather than pretending they don’t exist; and danah boyd, who discusses tactics for combating internet hate.
Jews were racially targeted for persecution in Nazi Germany and in German-controlled Europe. The Nazis believed that Germans were “racially superior” and that the Jews, deemed “inferior,” were a threat to the so-called German racial community. Also targeted because of their perceived “racial inferiority” were Roma (Gypsies), the disabled, and some of the Slavic peoples (Poles, Russians, and others).
In addition to racially targeted victims, the Germans persecuted, incarcerated in concentration camps, and killed real and perceived political opponents of the Nazi regime inside Germany. These included Communists, Socialists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and homosexuals. Nazi ideology identified a multitude of enemies and led to the systematic persecution and murder of many millions of people, both Jews and non-Jews.
