This commentary is by Allan Chernoff, who is the co-author with his mother of The Tailors of Tomaszow: A Memoir of Polish Jews. As the son of an Auschwitz survivor, I share my mother’s history so that the next generation will understand what hatred of the other — Jew or gentile — can do to a society. Teaching the Holocaust is more than a warning against antisemitism; it is a life lesson in the importance of treating each other with respect, tolerance and understanding. Not only were Jews victims of Nazism, but so were Blacks, LGBTQ individuals, people with disabilities, Roma and Sinti and others whom the Nazis labeled racially, politically or socially “undesirable.”  For a decade, Vermont has been debating whether Holocaust education should be required in schools, but the Legislature has yet to approve a bill that would mandate this essential lesson. Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yom HaShoah, which falls this year on April 14, is an appropriate moment to remind the Vermont General Assembly of the importance of taking a stand against hate by requiring, or, at a minimum, strongly encouraging all schools to include lessons about the Holocaust in their curriculum. As modern history’s single most horrific example of the consequences of hate, the Holocaust carries powerful lessons for us all. In recognition of this fact, 30 states mandate Holocaust education and 11 others encourage it. Vermont stands alone among states in the Eastern U.S. in having nothing to say about teaching this vital history.  Sadly, we have witnessed a lack of tolerance in Vermont. As a student at the University of Vermont, my daughter and other Jewish students endured hostile chants from pro-Palestinian protestors on campus shortly after the Hamas massacre of about 1,200 people in Israel. She was horrified that three Palestinian students were shot just blocks away from her Burlington apartment. At a time when hate speech and bias incidents against Jews, Muslims, immigrants, Latinos, Blacks, Asians and LGBTQ individuals are all at alarmingly high levels across the nation, educating our children about the dangers of hate by teaching the Holocaust is as important as ever.  READ MORE Opponents cite the loss of local control over what is taught in their schools. But there is no need to mandate specific lesson plans. School districts should have flexibility in how such a sensitive topic is addressed, whether teachers deliver lectures, invite guest speakers, show films that inspire discussion or all of the above.  But students do need to learn about the Holocaust, and seventh or eighth grade is the right time, a period when social pressure and bullying can set them against each other. It is also an age when children’s attitudes and opinions are being formed, when they are old enough to understand the tragedy of the Holocaust and appreciate and apply the monumental lessons of history to their own lives. I see this from my presentations. Students always pose smart, thoughtful and powerful questions after I discuss my mom’s childhood of slave labor, starvation and imprisonment in the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. “Did your mom retain her Jewish faith?” “How did the Holocaust impact the way survivors lived their lives after the war?” “Can you describe your own trauma?”  My mom’s videotaped reflections that I recorded during our visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau, years before her passing, resonate with middle schoolers: “I don’t understand why there are still so many people who hate others, Jews and other minorities, because it’s so unjust.”  Several days after a recent presentation, I received a package in the mail with dozens of notes of appreciation. “Thank you for visiting our school,” wrote a boy named Raqib. “I now realize how hate can influence people and even whole societies to do horrible things to others.” There is no greater historical lesson about the need for acceptance and coexistence than that of the Holocaust. This is why the subject should be featured in every middle school curriculum so that we can build a generation willing to stand against hate and live in harmony with their fellow Americans, no matter their faith, color or sexual orientation. Read the story on VTDigger here: The lesson Vermont refuses to teach. ...read more read less