Local political columnist Bill Stefaniak argues that the Holocaust must be taught in schools in the ACT so that it never happens again:

I don’t recall when I learned about the Holocaust, whether it was at school, at home, or both. However, by the time I was 15 I knew about it and so did all my mates at Narrabundah High. 

I clearly remember on a Monday in early June 1967 my mates and I (then in Year 10) being very concerned because we heard on the news, several Arab leaders boasting that they were in the process of driving the Jews of Israel into the sea. To us, this conjured up images of Jews being slaughtered once again; it was only 22 years since WWII and most of our fathers had served in the Allied Forces. Thankfully, it was all propaganda, and the Israeli armed forces had the matter well in hand and within six days Israel had won a spectacular victory. 

Fast forward 55 years and imagine my dismay to hear that today 25 per cent of Australians have never heard of the Nazi’s systematic slaughter of six million European Jews. Humans have been horribly cruel to each other since the dawn of time, but never has one country tried to destroy an entire people because of some warped ideology.*

Anti-Semitism is the most historically stubborn form of racism. It has been around for 2,000 years. There are many people in this country who try to hide their anti-Semitism under a thin veneer of pretending to be anti-Israel but scratch the surface and you will invariably find a strain of old-fashioned anti-Semitism. This is true throughout the Western world.

Apart from the obvious and sometimes not so obvious anti-Semeitsm to be found in Hamas and other pro-terrorist groups, I am at a loss to see why other supposedly progressive people in the West (who 50 years ago were nearly all pro-Israel) have gone down this path. I am especially amazed how some members of our same-sex communities can support misogynistic, anti-gay terrorist groups and states over the one true, tolerant democracy in the Middle East. Hamas kill gay men by throwing them off tall buildings, after all. 

The anti-Israel boycotts such as that involving the Sydney Arts Festival and the anti-Jewish/Israel movements on various Australian university campuses have the potential, if not constantly called out and opposed, of graduating into another kind of Kristallnacht or worse.

I’m not a great supporter of adding to our overcrowded school curriculums, but learning about the Holocaust is one topic we owe it to our children to teach as a compulsory sub unit. I was appalled but not surprised to find that it is not taught in ACT schools. A lot of unnecessary gumpf is taught to our kids. They need to know and never forget what happened only 80 years ago when a supposedly civilized people followed the rantings of a madman and tried to exterminate a whole people. It can happen again if we forget the Holocaust. We must not, and the lessons of the Holocaust must be continually reinforced. Never again.

*Fact check: The Holocaust is recognised as one of the world’s largest genocides stemming from religion-based bigotry.

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Canberra Daily.