Multi-perspectivity and the risk of perpetration minimisation in Dutch Holocaust and slavery education

ABSTRACTThe Dutch perpetrated in both the Holocaust and chattel slavery. However, Dutch cultural memory does not significantly recognize Dutch perpetration in these sensitive histories. This article explores the interplay between cultural memory and history education as a potential explanation for this oversight, by specifically focusing on the implementation of multi-perspectivity. In Dutch history education, multi-perspectivity is valued, yet scholars have warned that it could contribute to minimization of perpetration. The deliberate choice of a qualitative research approach, as opposed to the more common textbook analysis, served to centre history teachers’ perspectives and allowed for a comprehensive analysis of their descriptions of multi-perspectivity in Holocaust and slavery education. This exploration further substantiated the concern regarding the risk of perpetration minimization. It reveals that history teachers predominantly approach multi-perspectivity in Holocaust and slavery education through teaching respectively historical empathy and positionality. Stimulating historical empathy and emphasizing positionality with pupils affect the presentation of historical distance and perpetration. Through these approaches teachers risk providing pupils with the understanding that everyone, including perpetrators, can be seen as victims of their historical circumstances, making it challenging to assign moral responsibility. To address this risk of perpetration minimization, this article explores underlying causes and offers recommendations.KEYWORDS: History educationmulti-perspectivitycultural memoryHolocaust educationslavery education Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. I elaborate on this further in the theoretical framework.2. These scholars propose a theoretical connection between history education and collective, cultural or national memories. The actual process of the interplay is not explained.3. This ‘grey’ representation neglects that the extermination of over one hundred thousand Jews would not have been feasible without the collaboration of the Dutch civil service and its bureaucratic system and the active participation of Dutch citizens in arresting Jews (for profit) (Van Liempt, Citation2009).4. Dutch slavery was not restricted to the enslavement of Africans, but the interviews showed that teachers pay little attention to Dutch slavery in other regions.5. The identity of pupils and their relation to the subject could potentially affect the lesson as well. Zembylas (Citation2007) and Epstein (Citation2010), offer insight into class dynamics due to differing identities and emotions of teachers and pupils. This study focuses predominantly on teachers.6. Inspired by Alma (Citation2015), this article defines imaginaries as: the implicit expectations and values which underlie social practices and come to expression in the widely accepted and sometimes taken for granted narratives, images, rituals and gestures people select to understand and come to terms with past events.7. Huijgen et al. (Citation2017) explore Historical Perspective Taking (HPT) in a broader frame and argue that historical empathy is one component of their model alongside, historical contextualization and abandoning presentism.8. Bartelds et al. (Citation2020) interviewed both teachers and pupils about views on historical empathy, teaching objectives and teaching strategies.9. Secondary school teachers are obligated to teach 10 eras. These consist of 10 distinctive periods in history, accompanied by specific characteristics that define each period. Slavery is usually taught in year 2 and the Holocaust in year 3, when pupils are respectively between 12–13 and 13–14 years of age.10. What amplifies this freedom is the general lack of specialized training for history teachers in the Netherlands when it comes to teaching sensitive history.11. This research relies on self-reporting instead of lesson observations. The research presents some of the results of my PhD which was supervised by the co-authors of this article. It explored the social imaginaries influencing didactics, pedagogical considerations, and narratives. This required in-depth interviews with teachers that allowed for the gathering of significant data regarding teachers’ personal motivations, considerations, and backgrounds. An interview scheme is included in Appendix I.12. To limit the risk of socially desirable answers, Bergen and Labonté (Citation2020) strategies to minimize desirability bias were put in place. Following their guidelines, before the start of the interview, privacy and anonymity was emphasized and various approaches to establish rapport were used to create a safe space for the sharing of ideas.13. Appendix II lists the participating history teachers.14. A teacher from every province in the Netherlands was included in the sample, representing a total of 33 schools. These schools varied in location, including both urban and rural areas, as well as in size.15. In the Netherlands History teachers are ethnically not a very diverse group, so the majority of the sample is white.16. First degree refers to teachers with an academic degree in teaching history. They can teach all ages and levels. Teachers with a second degree diploma received their education at an applied university an can only teach the lower levels and years.17. This article presents the results of a PhD project in which coding and analysis was done by one person.18. Atlas.ti was used for both coding and analysis.19. Particularly in multi-cultural and mono-cultural b classrooms teachers would at times experience Holocaust denial or anti-Semitism. Teachers who encountered this tended to abandon historical perspective taking and resort to addressing implications of conspiracy thinking in the present, or provide a facts oriented lesson, without multi-perspectivity exercises or stories. Wansink et al. (Citation2021) addressed this type of temporal switching in their study as well. This situation can be explained through Epstein’s (Citation2010) work on the role of pupils’ identity and their ability or inability to embrace national mainstream narratives.20. As this article focuses on perpetration, there will be no exploration of bystanderism here. However, the research within the larger PhD project examines the implications of categorizing the majority of Dutch individuals as bystanders as it emphasizes inaction and generating doubts regarding responsibility.21. The interviews showed that overall, the teachers identify the main perpetrators in the Holocaust as ‘the Germans’. Whenever the Dutch are involved in either the occupation or the Holocaust they are labelled as ‘collaborators’.22. The Stanford experiments showed that when given power, people are capable of exceptional cruelty. The Milgram experiment showed that authority figures can make people commit cruelty without question to the point of actual murder.23. ‘Jew hunters’ were paid seven guilders fifty by the Nazis for each turned in Jew (Van Liempt, Citation2009).24. Dutch slavery was not limited to the seventeenth century, but is often associated with that period by teachers.25. Endacott marks the difference between empathy and sympathy by stating that empathy requires feeling ‘with’ a person instead of ‘feeling for’ a person(Endacott, Citation2014, p. 26).26. Teachers discuss the Black Lives Matter protests, or the ‘Black Pete’ debate.27. For privacy purposes the names have been altered.28. ‘Monocultural a’ refers to schools with pupils who are considered predominantly white, with no migration background. ‘Monocultural b’ refers to pupils who predominantly have a migration or non-western background, or who are considered of colour.29. The lyceum system combines elements of both the pre-university education track (known as ‘VWO’) and the general secondary education track (‘HAVO’).Gymnasium is like VWO but also offers Latin and Greek. Public secondary schools tend to be non-religious and cater to all levels. Special needs schools provide education to pupils who may require additional support, accommodations, or specialized teaching methods to access and benefit from the educational curriculum.