Holocaust and genocide education for social change

Education is key to increase knowledge about the Holocaust and genocide, said Jennifer Rich, associate professor and chair of sociology and anthropology and executive director and co-founder of the Rowan Center for the Study of Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights (RCHGHR).

Rich dovetails efforts to enhance that.

In 2020, the RCHGHR launched a unique master’s program in Holocaust and genocide education.

Although New Jersey has had a Holocaust education mandate since 1994, a survey revealed preservice teachers and students in the state had large knowledge gaps in this area. “The master’s in Holocaust and genocide education looks to fill those gaps and marry together deep content knowledge with effective teaching strategies,” Rich said.

Rich also published “Keepers of Memory: The Holocaust and Transgenerational Identity” (Lexington Books, 2021), defining how Holocaust memories are passed from generation to generation. In addition, she authored “Politics, Education and Social Problems: Complicated Classroom Conversations” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021), written to encourage social change through discussion of social problems in classrooms.

Her current book project examines post-Holocaust memorial books written by pre-war emigres and survivors immediately after World War II. 

“There are more than 1,000 about different towns, cities and small villages across Eastern Europe that were destroyed by the Nazis,” Rich said. However, historians have largely overlooked them. “My book is a way to reanimate the books and reappraise all that they have to offer to scholars when we think about not just the years of the Holocaust, but life before and after,” she said. “The survivors were taking back the narrative, making sure that their voices were heard and recorded.”

Rich also co-edits the academic journal Genocide Studies International. “It feels important in terms of not only my scholarship, but in helping to shape the knowledge that’s out there more broadly from other scholars,” Rich said.

Rowan University researchers are passionate about what they do. Find more at Meet Our Researchers.