Holocaust education cannot fight hate alone

Holocaust education cannot serve as the main defence against antisemitism in Australia, a new Monash University report has found, with many of the educators who deliver it now questioning what decades of teaching have achieved.

The report, Holocaust Education and its Role in Addressing Antisemitism in Australia, draws on in-depth interviews with 25 educators, scholars and museum professionals in Australia, Britain and the United States. It was produced by the Monash Initiative for Rapid Research into Antisemitism (MIRRA), part of the university’s Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation.

Chief investigator Professor David Slucki said the project grew out of a 2025 study of antisemitism in the arts and cultural sector, where Holocaust education kept surfacing as a theme among museum professionals and artists.

“Sometimes the solutions can outrun the evidence,” he told The AJN, saying the researchers regarded practitioners as the experts because they understand the realities of the classroom and the museum floor.

Slucki said awareness of the Holocaust had risen without any matching fall in antisemitism. “One thing we’ve been very successful at is Holocaust awareness, but when you scratch the surface, they actually don’t know that much.”