How we can ensure Holocaust survivors continue to be heard

Your editorial (Auschwitz will soon be lost to living memory. But remembrance must go on, 27 January) rightly makes the point that Holocaust education and remembrance is as important as ever. Teaching about the Holocaust must continue to be a cornerstone of teaching against antisemitism and other forms of xenophobia.

Survivors have long played a crucial role in Holocaust education. Their individual stories help students connect with a history that can otherwise overwhelm in terms of scale. And yet the era of the witness is coming to an end. We need to reflect now on what Holocaust education will look like in 10 years’ time while we are still able to draw on the wealth of experience gathered by those witnesses. This is a question that I have been discussing with colleagues from the National Holocaust Centre and Museum (NHCM), Holocaust Educational Trust (HET), and Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (HMDT). Each of these institutions takes a different approach; however, three potential options are emerging.

First, teachers will continue to use the abundance of recorded (or “mediated”) testimony that already exists: in videos, diaries, poetry, film and literature. But this cannot be done as a straightforward replacement for “live” testimony.

The second option is a particular form of recorded testimony, currently being pioneered in the UK by the NHCM. The NHCM’s Forever project uses innovative digital technology to project a life-size image of a survivor that can “answer” questions in real time from hundreds of pre-recorded replies.

Forever recreates some of the impact of the face-to-face encounter. What it cannot do is connect the memory of the Holocaust to the present moment. A witness speaking in 2020 cannot explain the relevance of the Holocaust for the student of 2050. One group who are uniquely positioned to do just this are the children of survivors. The second generation are able to tell the stories of their parents, but also their own stories about life growing up as the child of a Holocaust survivor. They can connect these experiences to the world in which the children of today are living. And yet this method is also fraught with practical and ethical challenges, and teachers need to be supported to address these.

The aim of our newly launched resources Using Testimony in the Classroom is to provide teachers with just such guidance. The resources were produced with the support of Dr Gary Mills (University of Nottingham) and the NHCM, HET, and HMDT.

As we move into the post-survivor age, it is crucial that we work together to ensure that witness voices continue to be heard.
Prof Sara Jones
University of Birmingham

• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com

• Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters

• Do you have a photo you’d like to share with Guardian readers? Click here to upload it and we’ll publish the best submissions in the letters spread of our print edition