Holocaust Education Must Begin Earlier to Combat Rising Denial and Hate

As nearly every living Holocaust survivor is expected to pass away within the next decade, educators and authors are confronting an urgent moral question: how to preserve memory for a generation growing up amid misinformation, radicalization, and denial. Eva Mozes Kor, who survived Auschwitz as a child, spent her final years arguing that Holocaust education begins too late in most American schools, typically around age twelve or older. By then, she warned, children have already begun to form worldviews—including prejudice. Kor believed that elementary and middle school students are already encountering conspiracy theories, extremist propaganda, antisemitic memes, and Holocaust distortion online, making early education essential.

Her memoir for young readers, I Will Protect You: A True Story of Twins Who Survived Auschwitz, written with author Danica Davidson and released in 2022, has become a bestseller and is now being read in schools, libraries, and homes nationwide. The book captures how Eva and her twin sister Miriam survived Mengele's medical experiments and the terror of Auschwitz, later advocating for education and forgiveness. Davidson first met Kor at Western Michigan University, where the survivor delivered a lecture on remembrance and resilience. Afterward, Kor expressed her desire to reach young people quickly through a children's book. Davidson interviewed Kor repeatedly, weaving personal narrative with historical context to make the story accessible for upper elementary and middle school readers, aiming not to simplify history but to make it legible. The manuscript sold rapidly, but Kor passed away fifteen days later while traveling to Poland for educational work.

Holocaust Remembrance Day serves as a warning, as antisemitic incidents in the U.S. and abroad have surged in recent years, and online radicalization has lowered barriers to hate. Polls reveal that many young Americans cannot name a single Nazi camp, with some believing the Holocaust is exaggerated or fabricated. This gap stems not from a lack of empathy but from inadequate education on recognizing dehumanization. Books like I Will Protect You offer an entry point, teaching history as the lived reality of children who played, dreamed, and loved before the trains arrived. Davidson continues this work, having written a graphic novel with another survivor and education advocate, Eva Schloss, titled What Lies Hidden, which awaits publication. Schloss, known posthumously as Anne Frank's stepsister, dedicated herself to sharing her story and highlighting her brother Heinz's paintings made in hiding. With Schloss's recent passing, preserving such narratives becomes even more critical.

In her Holocaust Remembrance Day op-ed "Working with survivors to tell their stories, before it's too late" at the Jewish News Syndicate, Davidson writes about collaborating with Kor and Schloss, noting both understood how their projects fit into the broader framework of Holocaust education. This framework matters because history, while not repeating exactly, often rhymes, and children who learn to recognize patterns are harder to recruit into hate. Kor returned to Auschwitz for decades to teach from her trauma, ensuring no child would inherit the world she once knew. Her message remains clear: memory must be taught, empathy practiced, and education must begin earlier. As the last generation who can say "I was there" disappears, the world will only remember what it is taught. Davidson emphasized in her article "Holocaust Education Should Start in Elementary School" at Aish that Holocaust documentation can open children's eyes to critical thinking, historical patterns, individual power, and the harm of us-versus-them mentalities, preparing them for the real world.