Corey Soper
Lecturer at UCL Centre for Holocaust Education.
Location London, UK
Activity
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Corey Soper replied to Gabriela Benner
@JuneAtkinson Hi June, if you have unlimited access you will have access to all the material in perpetuity.
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Corey Soper replied to Gabriela Benner
@GabrielaBenner Hi Gabriela. If you buy a certificate you will have indefinite access to the course.
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6. The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion is an antisemitic forgery published in Russia in the nineteenth century, which claims to be the report of a meeting of a conspiracy of Jews to take over the world and destroy Christianity. It has been the origin of most of the conspiracy theories about a 'Worldwide Jewish Conspiracy'.
7. 'antisemitic tropes'...
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3. HopeNotHate is a UK organisation that monitors hate speech and racist organisations. They produce a yearly report on this topic, and last year they highlighted that the social media platform 'Instagram' is becoming popular with the far right because it doesn't have moderation (ie, if you post certain material on Facebook or Twitter it will...
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Hi June,
I'll try to define the terms!1. 'anti-Social Justice Warrior' content is fairly common on social media - commentary that attacks so-called 'Social Justice Warriors' - people who campaign for social justice online. It has been the mainstay of accounts in the radicalising pipeline such as 'PewDiePie' or 'SargonOfAkkad' who produce online content...
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Corey Soper replied to June Atkinson
These misconceptions are also borne out by our 2016 research with students in English schools.
You might find our research briefings useful for exploring the misconceptions students tend to have about antisemitism before 1933, about conceptions of role of Hitler and perpetration, and about the involvement of the Wehrmacht in...
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@HelenOxley Hi Helen - there were Jewish populations in Spain, Portugal and Britain. The map omits them as with the exception of Jews deported form the island of Jersey these countries' Jews were not murdered in the Holocaust.
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@JuneAtkinson Thank you for promoting the course June! I'm glad it has had an impact.
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Corey Soper replied to Haydn Whitty
Thank you Haydn - I'm glad your find the course useful!
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It's up there. The vignettes artefact is fascinating - I'm sure your students will really engage with this lesson.
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It is certainly concerning, and you are right, education is a powerful tool for combatting deniers and distorters.
The biggest danger at present is what is called 'lone wolf' or 'stochastic' terrorism - that those people radicalised into antisemitic conspiracy theories such as 'The Great Replacement' or 'Qanon' will commit acts of violence against Jews and...
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I also find it very troubling how many of the spaces that were once areas of cultural life for the Jewish community are completely forgotten. The site of the beautiful Great Synagogue in Warsaw is now a skyscraper which contains offices. (it dominates the Warsaw skyline - the huge "MetLife" building) Few of the workers there know the history of the site.
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@JuneAtkinson Hi June.
We don't tend to advocate for any specific age, as children's emotional and intellectual development is not a linear process and different children will mature differently - we feel the person best placed to make these judgements is the classroom teacher who knows those young people best. Our research indicates that most Year 7 pupils...
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Hi June - only one independent Church of England school took part in the 2016 survey. The rest were either academies or local authority maintained schools.
There is definitely a clear indication from the student research that students value learning about the Holocaust and see this as important learning.
The issue of teacher subject knowledge is...
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Hi Haydn - UCL are running an online session which focusses on this area which might be of interest to you - "Surviving survival? Life and trauma after the Holocaust"
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@HaydnWhitty That is good to hear Haydn!
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Corey Soper replied to June Atkinson
@JuneAtkinson I'm from the North East too - Scarborough born and bred! Thank you for your service to the kids of Yorkshire June :)
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Corey Soper replied to Mario Martínez
In the example of Police Battalion 101, Trapp assigned 'guard duty' at the border of the forest to the men. There were also a lot of "cigarette breaks" and moving back and forth between the trucks and the execution site, allowing for a lot of unnoticed absense. In the round-ups before the executions, some men hid in gardens or other parts of the market-place...
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@JuneAtkinson Schools have radically different approaches. We at UCL advice schools inform parents ahead of a scheme of work on the Holocaust, and sometimes there is parental push-back on that.
Ultimately, in the UK and most countries the school determines the curriculum and therefore makes that choice for young people.
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Corey Soper replied to June Atkinson
@JuneAtkinson It took a very long time for an idea of "the Holocaust" to emerge, and a lot of time for it to become as central to our understanding of Nazi Germany and the Second World War as it currently is.
It became a compulsory part of the National Curriculum in the UK in 1991.
Did you deliver teaching on the Holocaust in your career June?
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Agreed Nick - these personal narratives are much easier to grasp than more conceptual historical narratives.
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Hi Magdalena - what do you think are the main things to be aware of when using those photographs? How should a teacher approach them with the class?
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Corey Soper replied to Danielle Levine
Thank you Danielle - and good luck!
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@PetrishaSun Hi Petrisha - we haven't spoken about assessment in this course but it is of course critical. If you are clear about your aims and construct an assessment that tests against those aims, you can be sure your students have progressed - I personally believe that the Holocaust can be assessed in much the same way as other topics.
The difficulty...
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Hi @SaraKohn-Rosenberg - I'm not sure I understand about the eggs!
If your Jewish students aren't confident to speak up about antisemitism then we have a problem - that's definitely something you want to develop in them. I think working through some of the scenarios in the OSCE-ODIHR materials above might help them to recognise antisemitism and reflect on...
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Corey Soper replied to Petrisha Sun
The explicit free choice given to Police Battalion 101 was not common - often those who killed were ordered to do so.
The reasons for them choosing to go along with these orders are very complex. Browning's book explores the testimony of members of PB101 - some say they committed murder out of a sense of duty, some say they didn't want to lose face or look...
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I have to say Sara, speaking personally, that I'm often very strongly affected by these stories of pointless, minor cruelties - for example, when Victor Klemperer writes in his diary that he had to put down his cat when German Jews were banned from owning pets. I think the pointless cruelty of the taking of your father's stamp collection is the same - it...
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@HaydnWhitty It sounds like the National Curricula of Australia and the UK have similar problems - they're vague, highly dependent on the expertise and skill of an individual teachers and have limited take-up.
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Corey Soper replied to Richard Sage
I'm glad you found the UCL textbook so useful Richard.
English teachers can claim a free class set here: https://holocausteducation.org.uk/research-page/publications/understanding-holocaust-happen/
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Our 2020 research focusses on teacher subject knowledge and it indicates the powerful impact quality CPD can have on a teacher's ability to to teach this subject well.
https://holocausteducation.org.uk/research/improving-teachers-subject-knowledge-of-the-holocaust/
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Corey Soper replied to Petrisha Sun
@PetrishaSun I think you've put together some interesting points for choosing an appropriate textbook. Often publishers struggle against the demands of word counts and within the demands of state curriculum - but better efforts are being made.
I've noticed you've mentioned those who were 'forced to kill' - this is a misconception we will explore in Step 2.12.
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Corey Soper replied to Miranda Rawlinson
Thanks Miranda. Good to know the textbook is being used!
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@ZoeMarkham-lee Our lesson "British Responses" - featured in this course - explores those misconceptions. Our 2020 research shows that misconceptions about Britain's role are particularly resistance to change.
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Corey Soper replied to Howard Lukeman
Thank you Howard - and thank you for all your hard work on the course.
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Welcome Emily!
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Corey Soper replied to Magdalena Želimorski
Thank you for all your contributions @MagdalenaŽelimorski
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@SaraKohn-Rosenberg Thanks for sharing something of your father's story.
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@MagdalenaŽelimorski Hi Magdalena - what do you cover in the limited time that you do have?
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@SaraKohn-Rosenberg This sounds like a really powerful way to ensure good pastoral care is taken of those children learning about difficult histories. I agree that trying to avoid any negativity whilst teaching about the Holocaust is impossible.
What kind of feedback have you received from the parents?
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@DanielleLevine I think historical fiction has its place when studied as fiction, but if we're trying to teach about the real lives of real people I think its preferable to use historical memoirs. Some of those are structured like a novel as well, so they can still be engaging reads for young people - so you could combine a historical memoir with a historical...
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Corey Soper replied to susan glass
Thank you Susan!
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I think Browning's work can lead to really rich conversations about morality - he explores many of PB101's stated motivations in his work, which often surprise young people.
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Corey Soper replied to Miranda Rawlinson
Thank you Miranda!
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@SaraKohn-Rosenberg Hi Sara - what kind of objections do parents tend to have, and how do you handle them?
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@FernandoGarcia Whilst there might not be diaries per se, there is a huge amount of archive material to explore the diversity of Jewish experiences in Europe before the Holocaust. Step 3.7 has a number of resources you might find useful in your classroom, Fernando.
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What kind of guidance is given in the Australian curriculum? In the UK the National Curriculum guidance amounts to:
" challenges for Britain, Europe and the wider world 1901 to the present day
In addition to studying the Holocaust, this could include...."I think it's problematic to frame the Holocaust as a "challenge for Britain, Europe and the wider...
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This was always one of the most difficult aspects in my department. We had 12 lessons on the Holocaust - meaning there was no way we could include everything we wanted.
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Thank you for sharing the power of Piero Terracina's story!
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Corey Soper replied to Russell Jayne
@RussellJayne I agree - a range of perspectives and narratives can shed light on the complexity of the whole history. How do you address the spacial misunderstanding which tends to locate the Holocaust in Germany?
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Corey Soper replied to Vincent Round
Thank you Vincent.
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This is an excellent point Michelle.
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Thank you Shirley!
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@RickMeschino Thank you Rick and thank you for all your contributions throughout the course.
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Corey Soper replied to Kevin COLLINS
@DanielleLevine Not that I know of - I tend to say "The Holocaust and contemporaneous genocides and atrocities" which is far from an elegant phrasing.
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Corey Soper replied to Marco Iorlano
@MarcoIorlano There is some discussion in the Roma and Sinti communities about what language is preferable. Some in those communities do actually prefer the term 'gypsy' as an identifier. In the UK the preferred language used by advocates for those communities is GRT, meaning "Gypsy, Roma, Traveller".
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I have to agree that I also love those powerful films from the Imperial War Museum - seeing such a diversity of Jewish people living their ordinary lives is powerfully humanising. I find the Hartmann family's home videos particularly touching - any student will recognise their own trips to the beach and family outings in that film.
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@VerenaWiniwarter Hi Verena - I think @BenedicteHalba is discussing this survey: https://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2018/experiences-and-perceptions-antisemitism-second-survey-discrimination-and-hate
It demonstrates an increase in antisemitic attitudes in a pan-European context.
Qanon has become somewhat prominent in the UK, the Netherlands and...
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@SUSANDAVID Hi Susan. In response to the incidents there was condemnation by the Prime Minister and other leading figures in UK culture and politics of the targeting of British Jews and the response was quite outraged.
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@JackiTossol Thanks for sharing this Australian experience Jacki. And for @HowardLukeman and @MarcoIorlano 's explanation of their own contexts.
I'm curious Howard - did your friend at 16 (if you are still in contact) become educated out of these views or did they become more radicalised?
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Thanks for sharing this Rachel.
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@ShonaMacDonald The USHMM has a really brilliant collection of different maps for different stages of the war and different functions of the Holocaust - I've certainly found them useful in my teaching.
https://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/media_list.php?MediaType=MA
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Corey Soper replied to Shona MacDonald
See you in Week 3 Shona!
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Corey Soper replied to Elaine Harburn
@MarcoIorlano I think they can have their place as a stimulus for discussions of human behaviour, or the effect of authority but they certainly can't - and don't - explain Holocaust perpetration alone. Perpetration is complex and multi-causal.
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@MichelleSadowski That sounds like a great program of study Michelle.
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@MichaelStreet That sounds like a fascinating lesson Michael - which explores a less well known history in focussing on Ravensbruck.
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Corey Soper replied to Benedicte Halba
@BenedicteHalba We are so glad you found the course useful Benedicte - and thank for you all your comments and participation along the way.
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Corey Soper replied to IRINA IULITA MINEA
Thank you Irina.
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Corey Soper replied to Jacki Tossol
Thank you for all your participation on the course Jacki!
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@MichelleSadowski Hi Michelle. That sounds like an interesting approach. How did you express to the young people that this literary novel was based in a real historical event? Did you find that difficult at all?
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Thanks Tanya. I totally agree that we need to model and demonstrate that intellectual curiosity with your students.
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Thank you Jacki - I'm glad you found this step useful.
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Corey Soper replied to Helena Vieira
Thanks for your kind words Helena
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@JackiTossol Hi Jacki - did you enter the password when prompted? (teachingholocaust) I've briefly made it public so you should be able to access.
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Corey Soper replied to Verena Winiwarter
I think schools should involve parents and inform them! On our Beacon School programmes, some very successful schools have invited parents to attend Holocaust Memorial Day or an exhibition of artwork produced by the students to involve them in the development of Holocaust learning at the school.
Secondly, the primary pastoral caregivers are always going to...
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You may enjoy this exploration of the issue from the historian Sir Martin Gilbert, who was Winston Churchill's official biographer:
https://www.martingilbert.com/blog/bombing-auschwitz-fact-myth/
It was of course hugely difficult for Britain to realistically engage with atrocities occurring in Eastern Europe during the 'Holocaust by bullets" - they...
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Conversations like this are happening across Europe - and it is so important we are committed to truth and history and not to comfortable mythologising. A great power of this lesson is how it unsettles and complicates many students' understanding of Britain and their own identity.
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Hi Susan - for the UCL Centre for Holocaust Education we are primarily focussed on England, as that's where we're funded to work. Yad Vashem have a much more global focus.
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I agree Shirley - and it leads to powerful reflection on the students' own moral worldview.
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Hi Torben - I'm speaking to our website team about 3.4 but the video should be public - what's happening when you try to access it?
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In a way, that is something you cannot teach through this method. We have no survivors testimony of that place, no records from the victim point of view. It is a place of oblivion for the stories we're telling. Perhaps you could end with that absence, compared to the richness of the stories you have shared up to that point?
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@HowardLukeman An alternative object for older students that we use is Leon's wedding rings, recovered from his house after his death where he has kept them in a small box with a note. You can then explore the story of their pre-war courtship and then juxtapose that with this photo https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/photo/wedding-rings of rings...
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Hi Howard - the link is now fixed.
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The Classical historian Bret Devereaux described his approach to history as "putting the tears back in" - that's always resonated with me and I think is necessary when we look at any period or event - how is this effecting the very real people living very real lives in this period?
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@MichaelStreet Thanks Michael for sharing the success you had developing this part of your practice.
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I think students have a powerful curiosity and are very resistant to being 'patronised' - if there is knowledge they want it! Let me know how your students respond as you progress.
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It's always something with powerful 'stickability'! Whenever my students have met a survivor that story and those experiences are always much clearer to recall. A combination of the emotional power and the importance of narrative.
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Corey Soper replied to Tanja Horvat
Tanja - we at UCL would love to hear how the survey questions help combat misconceptions in your school.
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Corey Soper replied to Sara Kohn-Rosenberg
I agree Sara. We often find that our academic use of the word "Holocaust" (meaning the deliberate murder of the Jews of Europe) clashes with a broader cultural understanding of the Holocaust as a metonym for Nazi atrocities of all kinds. I think speaking specifically about this - and the definition you're using - can head off a lot of misconceptions and...
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That's great Julia!
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Hi Verena - it's working for me - what browser are you using?
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It should now be fixed Agnes.
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Corey Soper replied to Torben Dannhauer
Hi Torben - have a look at the UCL Resource "Being Human" in Week 3 - you may find it useful for that objective.
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Corey Soper replied to Elaine Harburn
There have been some issues with reproducibility of Milgram's studies (not to mention the considerable ethical questions!) so I would not be so quick to rely on them as an explanation for Holocaust perpetration.
Chapter Four of the Centre's free book Holocaust Education: Contemporary Challenges and Controversies explores the relationship between Milgram's...
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Ruth-Anne has an interesting story about a school visit with Leon Greenman. Leon was discussing his experiences on a death march, and mentioned losing some of his toes to frostbite. Immediately, a student asked "Can I see?" and Ruth-Anne felt the need to interject - before she had started talking about this question being inappropriate, Leon had already taken...
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Corey Soper replied to Torben Dannhauer
@PeterTyson Hi Peter - by 'denial' I mean the stated desire of some to not publicise or research links between these country houses and the slave trade, or between prominent figures (notably Cecil Rhodes, Winston Churchill and Edward Colston) and the actions of the empire. Perhaps it was a poor choice of words. To me, more history - more lenses and bodies of...
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@SaraKohn-Rosenberg Thank for you sharing this Sara. It sounds extremely difficult. Could your father make some kind of record of his experiences and try to process them that way - consciously?
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Corey Soper replied to John Cope
This link should now be fixed.
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Corey Soper replied to SUSAN DAVID
In Ordinary Men Browning devotes considerable time to describing the drinking of the PB 101 men. A 2016 article by Edward Westermann described alcohol as a 'facilitator of atrocity' - men either drank before killing actions to 'steel' themselves or afterwards to dull their emotional distress. "Special rations" of spirits were supplied for this purpose....
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Corey Soper replied to Michael Street
Good to see we're on the same page Michael :)
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Corey Soper replied to Jacki Tossol
That's great Jacki. I find students are often eager to see these images - and don't want to feel 'patronised' by not seeing them - but that we as teachers are often better judges of what is good for our students than they are.
I'm looking forward to hearing about your approach!
