“Teaching about the holocaust should be made compulsory at the high school level, and the State Legislature should adopt whatever legislation is necessary to put this into effect.” Rabbi I. Usher Kirschblum, spokesman for the American Jewish Congress told a hearing yesterday at the Congress headquarters. The hearing on introducing classes on the holocaust into the curriculum of New York City high schools was held by New York State Assemblyman Stephen J. Solarz in response to an outcry by American Jewish leaders against the omission of the holocaust in the high school course of study.
Dr. Seymour Lachman, president of the New York City Board of Education, asserted that “the holocaust is the essential trauma of the twentieth century” and “at the very most, students know that the Nazis murdered six million Jewish men, women and children. And that is all they know.”
Assemblyman Edward Griffiths said he agreed with Dr. Lachman’s proposal for State Education Department funding of summer institutes for teachers on the holocaust. But he said, in addition, course work on the holocaust should be made “mandatory” for those preparing to teach.
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