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Chicago Parents and Educators Urge to Teach More on Nazi Crimes

February 7, 1961
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A proposal that schoolchildren should be taught a full understanding of the Nazi era and its crimes was approved by the Chicago region of the Illinois Congress of Parents and Teachers after debate as to the advisability of exposing children to such knowledge.

The recommendation was made after one Chicago school PTA reported that there was a lack of knowledge among “our children of both the significance of America’s struggle against the Nazi swastika and the ideology for which it stood.” The study also found that the children lacked understanding “of the positive contribution to culture and progress made by various ethnic groups.”

The region also noted that the texts picked by the Board of Education for public schools varied widely in detail and accuracy in material on the Nazi era. The resolution said that training should be provided for the teacher in the handling of such material” as an integral part of the introduction” of new curriculum guides dealing with the Nazi period.

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