EVENTS OF HISTORY: FACT or DEBATABLE PERSPECTIVES?
We stand with Texas’ Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum’s recent statement that calls upon all Texans to speak out against a requirement to present “opposing views” to events and developments based in well-known historical fact. “Teachers should not be pushed to present myth, opinion, or bias as equal to the historical record.”
(See full statement from the DHHRM below)
Apparently, the new Texan law requires teachers, when discussing widely debated and currently controversial issues…to strive to explore the topic from diverse and contending perspectives without giving deference to any one perspective.”
In answer to this law, one school district administrator recently advised teachers “to offer books with an ‘opposing view’ on the Holocaust if they have a Holocaust-related book in their classroom.”
Clearly, the issue lies in the interpretation and application of this law by local school administrators. In this case, it was interpreted to mean that “historical facts be taught alongside an opposing view.” Who decides what is controversial? Are some educators so limited in their historical knowledge that they don’t know what has been proven as historical fact?
The Holocaust is a well-known and proven fact.
The Holodomor is a proven fact, but not well-known.
We must be especially vigilant that deniers not be given “equal time” to those who give the proven truth. The Holodomor is a well-established event of 20th c European history, with reams of official documentation and thousands of survivor and eyewitness testimonies. Scores of countries and all the major international organizations have officially proclaimed the Holodomor as either a genocide or crime against humanity.
For decades, deniers of the Holodomor have had their say and have been proven wrong. The only deniers now are the ideological descendants and followers of the perpetrators of this monstrous genocide. They have no place of legitimacy against historical fact.
Please take a look at the materials in the Holodomor Resource Library to learn more about the Ukrainian famine genocide.
by Lana Babij
IMPORTANT STATEMENT FROM THE PRESIDENT AND CEO DHHRM.10.15.21
Recent Comments