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Feb 27, 07, 19:19 #44
I was taught in sixth grade here in the USA, that both Jews and non Jews (gypsies, dissidents, teachers, Greeks, mentally and physically disabled people, Poles, Catholics, etc) were killed both in work camps and in executions by the Germans and their Allies in Europe---in Italy, France, Ukraine, Poland, etc---all had camps.
I don't think they told us a final number killed in the camps, but in college I learned it was about 11 million.
It was a six week long history unit. Very interesting and humbling class. This took place near Columbus, Ohio in 1975 in a suburb called Gahanna. Not a Jewish area, either.
They showed us Night and Fog, a dubbed French film about the camps, we read Anne Frank's diaries, we read biographies of Hitler, Mussolini and other European leaders, and read about the French collaborationist government (the Vichy regime), the Fascists in Italy, the airmen in Britain, the Polish Resistance, pro-nazi groups in America, such as the Mothers Movement and associated groups, we learned about Lindbergh's pro-German sentiments, etc.
Then, I don't think I ever studied anything specifically about the Holocaust again, through my graduation in 12th grade.
But then again, when we studied Japan in 7th grade, I do not remember ever talking about Bataan or Cabantuan, or The Rape of Nanking, and yet, my own Grandfather fought for the US in the Phillipines and his brother fought in Burma.
I was not taught about Poles who were conscripted by Russia or Germany when I was younger. I learned that in college.
I didn't know about the Ukrainian guards in the camps, at all, until I read about that here and went and looked it up.
Or the Aryanization of businesses in countries other than in Germany and Holland, until I saw The Shop on Main Street, a Czech film in black and white, on cable TV last year.
So, I think that even here, where information is always readily available and it has always been an open society, much is left unsaid unless you ask or dig deeper.
Certain school districts, such as those in Skokie, Illinois, and Williamsburg, in Brooklyn, NY, do a much better job of discussing that chapter of WWII history, as they have high concentrations of Jewish immigrants there. And many residents are camp survivors who come to the schools to tell their stories.
I think that all schools in the US should do more.
But, it would make sense that in Poland, Polish history and European history is taught more often and in more depth, than say, Italian history or Australian history.
So I'd guess that in Poland, they teach about this more and therefore their children know more about it.
I hope so, anyway.
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