The Role of Children’s Literature in Teaching the Holocaust and Intergenerational Trauma

Abstract

This paper examines the role of children’s literature in teaching about the Holocaust and intergenerational trauma. We explore the role of children’s literature in transmitting and preserving the memories of the Holocaust. We also discuss Adorno’s essay titled “Never Again: Education after Auschwitz” and the ways he viewed early childhood education as the ideal stage for the type of education essential to address antisemitism.  We then discuss the resources provided by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum for selecting appropriate Holocaust literature. We also explore the educational challenge of teaching about the Holocaust to preserve its memory. We conclude by showing how historical fiction is one of the many resources for teaching about difficult or sensitive topics to guard against genocide, trauma, and the Holocaust.