“Only memories:” place-based holocaust education in contemporary Poland
Social Studies Research and Practice
ISSN: 1933-5415
Article publication date: 21 May 2024
Issue publication date: 15 August 2024
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this self-study is to analyze my experiences learning in Poland, the country where Nazis imprisoned and murdered my family. I share findings from multiple museum locations, including implications for history teachers, teacher educators and visitors to Holocaust museums.
Design/methodology/approach
I participated in a ten-day professional development seminar designed for American teachers to visit Poland. To allow for self-study after the trip, I maintained a reflexive journal and photographic records of each day I was in Poland. I analyze these data in conjunction with publicly available data from the museums and historical sites I visited in Poland.
Findings
The findings suggest that teachers can face many challenges when learning in a land of traumatic absences. Many challenges stem from the absences of buildings and survivors, as those may be integral to place-based learning. Testimonies and first-person accounts may ameliorate these challenges for teachers engaging in place-based learning. Additionally, teachers may use these accounts to bring a pedagogy of remembrance from Poland to their classrooms.
Originality/value
This study is not under review with another journal.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
All educators and administrators who participate in a trip to Poland with Classrooms Without Borders, the organization that coordinated the trip on which I participated, receive a scholarship that partially subsidizes the cost of the trip. As a teacher-educator, I automatically received one of these scholarships. These scholarships are automatically granted to all teachers and administrators with no quid-pro-quo. That said, I acknowledge that the editors may want me to add an acknowledgment to the text, indicating that I received one such scholarship. I will proceed as the editors see fit.
Citation
Yonas, A.M. (2024), "“Only memories:” place-based holocaust education in contemporary Poland", Social Studies Research and Practice, Vol. 19 No. 2, pp. 191-208. https://doi.org/10.1108/SSRP-10-2023-0057
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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