The Holocaust in the educational contextchallenges and approaches

Abstract

Within the framework of literary and translation studies, this article is aimed at examining the issue of Holocaust education, which has progressively become a site of negotiation in the fields of Holocaust, cultural and pedagogical studies. Starting with a brief overview of the evolution of Holocaust representation in the last decades and focusing on the context of high education, this article is organised in three sections which deal with some of the main areas regarding the teaching and representation of the Holocaust: the introduction of the literary production of the victims and their descendants into the class of literature, the current turn to the perpetrator experienced in Holocaust fiction and the ethical dilemmas it may bring to the class, and the role of translation in the teaching of the literature produced by both Holocaust victims and perpetrators. In addressing these questions, some general guidelines on how to teach the and through the Holocaust will be offered; a vital aspect to be negotiated in countries like Spain which, despite not having been directly involved in the Holocaust, must face the responsibility of transmitting this knowledge to the present and future citizens of our globalised world.