The role of the Holocaust in antiracist education: A view from the United Kingdom

Abstract

The failure of antiracist educators in the United Kingdom to engage seriously with the issue of anti‐Semitism provides the background to this article. With specific reference to the Holocaust, it argues that a lack of interest among antiracists in how the subject is taught has had a number of adverse consequences. These include the forfeiture of a potent vehicle for reinforcing and advancing the aims of antiracism and the loss of the unique contribution that a study of the Holocaust can make to an understanding of racism. Lack of interest in the Holocaust has also meant that inadequate consideration has been given to the consequences for antiracist education of the subject being taught badly. To obviate these drawbacks, the article advocates a definition of racism that can embrace anti‐Semitism and thereby facilitate the involvement of antiracists in teaching about the attempted annihilation of European Jewry.