Challenges of Holocaust education

Two speakers explored the intersection of Holocaust memory, justice and education at last month’s Honours Club gathering.

Professor Konrad Kwiet, Holocaust scholar and former chief historian of the Australian War Crimes Commission, opened with chilling insights from his investigations into Nazi war crimes, while Professor Suzanne Rutland spoke about the challenges of Holocaust education in today’s classrooms.

Kwiet described how forensic teams worked at mass-execution sites in Eastern Europe, unearthing graves containing the remains of Jewish men, women and children murdered by mobile killing squads.

Kwiet was retained by the Australian government Special Investigations Unit to try to dig up evidence that an Adelaide man, Ivan Polyukhovich, was involved in the mass murder of Jews at Serniki in Ukraine.

“For the first time, a team of psychologists and forensic experts entered a Holocaust crime scene to examine the physical evidence,” he said.