The Roles Of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum In American Holocaust Education

As a historical event happening during the Second World War, the Holocausthas been written into history, but the contemplation and reflection on the Holocaustis still of great importance in the contemporary world. With the further researches onthe Holocaust after the Second World War, Holocaust education, as an important partof Holocaust research, is springing up among many European countries. As early asthe1970s, the Holocaust Education in Israel, centering on Yad Vashem, started anddeveloped rapidly. The United States, where was quite far from the place of theHolocaust, also started to conduct researches on the social influence of Holocaustand promote Holocaust Education in the Post-Holocaust Period (from1980s). Theestablishment of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C.in the year of1993was a good example for the ongoing American HolocaustEducation. An increasing number of Holocaust Museums built in the U.S. have beenthe reasons for the growth on the public campuses to include Holocaust Education inthe curricula. The appearances of more and more museums have opened the door tosustainable Holocaust Education in America.Washington is one of the first three states in USA to include HolocaustEducation in school curriculum by legislation. Relying on the Holocaust museums,the influence of Holocaust Education has been further expanded. Featuring as moreintuitional and popular, Holocaust Museum plays a significant role in AmericanHolocaust Education. The goal of Holocaust Education is to prevent racialdiscrimination, advocate democracy and liberty, and cultivate a moral and ethicalbase of human being. All these pursuing purposes can be finely confirmed in theeducational operation of the Holocaust Museums. Through the Holocaust Museum,so influential and forceful, the United States Holocaust Museum Council hasnaturally combined the Holocaust history with American values and furtherhighlighted the roles of Holocaust museum. Through the analysis on the roles of Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C.,this dissertation aims to prove the U.S. Holocaust Museum is of great importance topromote the American Holocaust Education since it is not Judeo-centric only for theJewish history, but has combined the American core values in the process ofHolocaust education, which consequently makes the museum not merely a place toeducate people about the Holocaust history, more importantly, a site to disseminateAmerican values, such as democracy, liberty, and freedom.