During 2007-2009 MBHR (with support of "Claims Conference") executes the implementation of the project “Arrangement of workshops on the Holocaust history for mass media representatives”. 

The Holocaust tragedy is one the most dreadful catastrophes of the 20th century and the whole history. It showed what inhuman consequences can anti-Semitism and Nazi ideology cause. 6 mln. Jews were killed - women, children, the old. These were people who lost the most precious – their lives just due to the fact they were Jews. Ideology of hatred gave birth to monstrous elimination machine – death camps, mobile gas chambers, crematoriums, ramparts where the guiltless were executed, ghettos where people died due to hanger and humiliations… An ideological industry of hatred was created: films, radio, books, hundreds of newspapers where the idea of inferiority of the Jews was cultivated and then – appeals to their total elimination and justification of these deaths. The inhuman ideological conveyor had executed its task having trained the monsters who killed not just without regret but with delight. 

This most important forum assembled more than 550 participants from 49 countries of the world – diplomats, educational figures, heads of museums of Holocaust of Europe and USA, and representatives of international Jewish funds.

Russian delegation headed by special representative of the president on international cultural cooperation Mikhail Shvydkoy called upon revering the memory of those who liberated the concentration camps and remembering that Russia was a victim of fascist aggression. According to M. Shvydkoy, attempts to ignore the decisive significance of contribution of the Soviet Union into defeat of the Third Reich were noted during the conference: “Unfortunately this tendency is more and more often realized today in speeches of officials during various international forums. The Russian delegation treats reminding about real history of the Holocaust victims as one of its principal tasks”.

“It’s necessary to remember that millions people of various nationalities perished in the Soviet Union during the war. Death knows no ethnic differences. When we speak today, for example, about necessity of compensation to the Jews who lived through the blockade we also say that Russians, Ukrainians, Tatars died from hunger side by side with them – everyone who stayed in surrounded Leningrad”, he added.

M. Shvydkoy thinks that “the main thing in the subject of Holocaust is not the property rights upon which the accent is made here but the right of a human for life”. “This is this important idea that our delegation stands for at the forum”, he stressed.

During the conference in Prague Congress-center, special sessions were devoted to scholarly researches of the Holocaust, educational programs and other humanitarian problems. Representatives of France, Germany, Israel, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, England, USA and other countries took part in the discussion.

“The Holocaust lessons are especially up-to-date because this tragedy may overtake any nation. Intolerance that is manifested in the society more and more often towards representatives of other nationalities and religions makes us studying what happened almost 70 years ago more keenly. And the Prague conference must become a lesson of tolerance and respect towards the people bearing no resemblance to us”, M. Shvydkoy concluded.

The International conference in Prague devoted to property rights of the Holocaust victims became the last among the large activities prepared by the Czech government; cadence of Czechia as the EC chairman is completing. Representatives of various states discuss the reasons for Holocaust in Prague as well as review the moral, historical and legal aspects of forced withdrawal by the Third Reich of wealth that belonged to the Jews who suffered during the Holocaust, and these aspects are projected on the present. The conference will finish on Tuesday by a visit to Terezin city where one of the largest Nazi concentration camps was located during the World War II. 

Executive director of Moscow bureau for human rights Natalia Rykova presented a report at the conference devoted to analysis of experience and prospects of solution of possible problems connected with educational activity in the field of studying the Holocaust history making special accent on studying of the Holocaust history in RF.

N. Rykova especially stressed the circumstance that the mankind faces many threats today, and one of the most serious ones is the growth of interethnic dissension, manifestations of racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitic moods in dozens countries. These are both falsification of history, making heroes of Nazism accomplices, and underestimation of role of the USSR in the victory in the World War II. The life demonstrates visually that the lessons of war and Holocaust are not learnt yet. The growth of radical misanthropic moods among the young people looks especially dangerous. This is connected in many respects with the fact that the generations of children had grown up in Europe and also in the whole world knowing practically nothing about Holocaust. This concerns especially Russia – the country that played the principal role in victory over fascism and where the xenophobe and racist moods unfortunately grow. 

N. Rykova stressed: the Russian citizens should realize yet that Holocaust in the USSR is an integral part of the Great Patriotic war but not a particular problem concerning only Jews. The Holocaust requires discussion in the context of world and Russian history, starting from the events that took place long before Holocaust. Most people have no sufficient information about the history of Jewish people, about their contribution into development of human civilization. It’s important to explain the schoolchildren what’s the difference between the fact and its interpretation, between legitimate criticism and defamation. Just in case of such an approach they would be able to learn making independent conclusions. The children must understand that Holocaust directly concerns our today’s life as the roots of the Holocaust – ethnic phobias, distorted stereotypes, intolerance, nationalism of extremist orientation – this all still exists.  

The MBHR executive director gave examples of organizations which made considerable contribution into educational activity in the field of studying the Holocaust history, especially noting the most important role of Russian Fund and Scientific-educational center “Holocaust” (leaders – A. Gerber and I. Altman) 

N. Rykova also noted that the most important condition for preserving the memory about Holocaust is the introduction of this subject into educational programs of schools and colleges. One of items of the Declaration of Stockholm conference (January 2000) signed by 47 heads of states of the world or their representatives, stated the necessity of teaching of subject of the Holocaust in secondary and higher schools. This item was fixed in a document during the meeting of ministers of education of the member-countries of the European Council that took place in October 2002. The minister of education of Russia signed this document. And this created a regulatory base for teaching of Holocaust in educational institutions.  

N. Rykova especially noted an important study conducted in Russia: in September-December 2007 a group of scholarly experts from leading institutes of Russian academy of sciences led by A. Lokshin conducted a complex study of 34 textbooks, tutorials and reading books on the history of Russia created after 1991 and admitted or recommended by the Ministry of education for studying in secondary schools. It was discovered during the study that some subjects connected with Holocaust are either suppressed or interpreted most tendentiously. For example, in some textbooks the Holocaust is not mentioned at all. In other cases Holocaust is not interpreted by the authors as a single case in the world history when a state made an attempt to eliminate a separate nation completely. Just in one of studied textbooks – book by N.V. Zagladin “World history. Contemporary history” (2007) – the Holocaust is described with sufficient completeness.

The experts agreed that the legacy of Soviet historiography is clearly seen in some contemporary textbooks as the subject of the Jews, pogroms and Holocaust lacked there at all. 

But there are also the positive results: in 2008 the Educational department of Moscow sent the letter to all the city schools with recommendation to conduct a lesson of tolerance on the International day of Holocaust. Moscow institute of open education prepared the methodic instructions, and as a result the lessons took place in 107 of 146 schools of the Central district of Moscow. Lessons of the Holocaust took place not just in Moscow but also in Tambov, at schools of Vladimir and Krasnodar region. The teachers either told about Oswiencim and its prisoners or showed the documentary film about Holocaust to the children, according to their own choice. 

Educational work on the subject of Holocaust is one of most important directions of work of Moscow bureau for human rights (MBHR). In 2006 MBHR, together with the Center “Holocaust”, conducted the monitoring of websites; 80 websites were revealed containing anti-Semitic statements and denial of Holocaust. In 2006-2009 MBHR, in cooperation with the organization International Task Force, is implementing a project “Teaching of journalists of Moscow periodicals to deal with the subject of Holocaust in mass media” thus dealing with the target group that was practically not involved into educational programs before. The project tells the journalists about history of Holocaust tragedy, ideology of anti-Semitism and neo-Nazism, contemporary manifestations of Holocaust denial, today’s problem of xenophobia, racism, and anti-Semitism, induces them to be interested in this subject, work with archives, find the Righteous in their regions and tell the readers about their feat, tell how and why the Holocaust is remembered in other countries, how it is learned at schools and colleges and what the foreign periodicals write about it. An expert-methodic council was created at the initial stage of the project implementation for development of workshop programs, forming of lecturers’ groups and development of recommendations for the workshops’ participants. 

The training regional workshops were held within the project for representatives of mass media in Yaroslavl, Samara, Volgograd, St. Petersburg, Ivanovo and other cities. These workshops were also participated by representatives of human rights and juridical organizations, regional authorities and scientific circles, legal scholars and historians. 

During the workshops various forms of delivering the material were used: lectures, discussions, questions-answers, round tables, group work, watching the video materials. Copies of film “Shadow of swastika” prepared by MBHR were distributed among the workshop participants as well as the books published by the Bureau within this project: Reznik S.Ye. “Mythology of hatred. About Anti-Semitism – for everyone”; Charny S.A. “Xenophobia and intolerance in modern Russia and abroad. Monitoring and analysis”; Tabak Yu. “Twilight of chauvinism” etc. 

The articles written by the project participants and mass media basing upon the project activities’ results were passed to the government of Russia to show the authority representatives that small attention is paid to studying of the subject of Holocaust, immortalization of memory of its victims, the Righteous etc. 

MBHR also successfully implements the project “Russia without hatred and hostility” in the regions of Russia. Legal schools are conducted within the project with the purpose of overcoming anti-Semitism and extremism. The project task was to attract the press employees to the subject of Holocaust. It was also important to provide the exhaustive information how this subject is developed and presented in other countries of the world. 

Unfortunately, except achievements in familiarizing the society with the problems of Holocaust, several unsolved tasks still remain. 

Thus, the term “Holocaust” was absent in the Federal program of forming the tolerant conscience that was implemented in 2002-2005 with governmental support (though several tutorials were published during its implementation that touched upon this subject immediately). The published tutorials are studied mostly optionally. 

The attitude of official educational structures towards teaching of Holocaust and training of teachers is affected negatively by the fact that Russia is not a member of international organization International Task Force implementing programs for teachers in this field, and does not show proper interest towards the activity of this organization, unlike its neighbors. Establishment of cooperation of Russian educational structures with International Task Force seems most expedient. 

The subject of Holocaust is also brought up quite seldom in mass media. This usually takes place on January 27, on the Day of memory of the Holocaust victims and in April when the anniversary of the beginning of uprising in Warsaw ghetto is marked. Such publications are mostly banal and dry. Attraction of attention of mass media towards this problem is a complicated task as some journalists and editors justify their unwillingness to write about Holocaust by the fact that this subject is “not interesting” and “not up-to-date”. The more important matter is the conduction of educational workshops as they break these stereotypes. 

There is still no museum-educational center in Russia devoted to Holocaust. Available expositions in Memorial synagogue at Poklonnaya hill, Museum of Great Patriotic war and center “Holocaust” are insufficient, and their visiting by schoolchildren is mostly a personal initiative of the teachers. Perhaps the Museum of Tolerance being built by Federation of Jewish communities of Russia can undertake the function of such a museum. 

Speaking about cinema and TV, their potential is used to the extent being far from complete. Considerable part of films devoted to the subject of Holocaust is shown not during prime time or on decimeter channels that are not always available for mass audience. 

N. Rykova stressed that Russia needs development of the state program of immortalization of places of mass elimination of the Jews on the territory of Russia. International cooperation of students and schoolchildren should be developed – through arrangement of trips around the places connected with Holocaust on the territory of Russia, visits to foreign memorials and holding of international conferences and contests. 

Statement of Moscow bureau for human rights on the Day of memory and grieve

More than 60 years passed since the time when fascism that brought incalculable sufferings and millions victims to the world was conquered with joint efforts. After 1945 peoples of all the countries and first of all those who suffered most of all hoped that not just the fascist military armada was conquered but also the fascist ideology itself was eradicated – the ideology that is impregnated with hatred towards the other, that calls upon for killing people basing upon their religion, ethnic belonging, skin color or sexual orientation. It seemed that the world that lived through the most terrible catastrophe in the history would wake up and never admit the suicidal ideas and slogans. 

Under conditions of general decline of scholarship and culture level both in Russia and in the world, the population and especially the young people have the vaguest ideas of history. Pseudo-historical theories based upon conspirology, on thirst of people for mystery, provocation and scandal multiply with incredible rate. 

But certainly there are also the cases of deliberate or unintentional history misrepresentation: no doubt the people are available who dislike Russia and interpret its history maximally negatively. The Commission created by the President should seemingly withstand the misinterpretation of Russian history.