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Holocaust to be part of Catholic syllabus
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| By Damir Govorcin
16 December, 2012 |
The compulsory teaching of the Holocaust in NSW schools has the capacity to try to advance genuine inter-faith dialogue and relations, says Anthony Cleary, director of religious education and evangelisation for the Catholic Education Office Sydney.
Mr Cleary applauded the decision of the Board of Studies to include studies of the World War II genocide of Jews and others in a new school history syllabus from 2014.
“It’s a significant decision because you’re looking at an event which is first and foremost an unparallelled story of humanity’s struggle between good and evil, and the extremes of the human spirit,” he said.
“It challenges our understanding of ethics and morality, and presents the dilemmas with which people faced.
“As victims, perpetrators and bystanders the exploration of the Holocaust reminds us of the dangers of indifference. It’s not just an historical event, but really needs to be looked at as a human story.
“The Catholic Education Office has a wonderful working relationship with the NSW Board of Jewish Deputies and we consider that this would be another project that we could work in partnership on.”
The Nazi mass slaughter of more than six million Jews, regarded as the darkest chapter of modern history, has only been available to students in Australia as an optional component in history classes, reported the Daily Telegraph.
The Board of Studies will make it mandatory for all history students up to Year 10.
“History speaks to us as a warning for today and the future. Where we see evil in the world we should try to counter that and try to stop it.
“If one doesn’t speak out against injustice or work to end evil it just flourishes, and that’s where good societies can be destroyed.”
Mr Cleary spent a month in Israel last year studying at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial and research centre.
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