Lessons of the Holocaust

{{Short description|Philosophical and Historical Theory}}

{{for|the book|Lessons of the Holocaust (book)}}

{{confusing|date=August 2023}}

It is debated whether there are moral, ethical, or political lessons to be learned from the Holocaust, and if so what they are. In contemporary discourse, there are many references to proposed lessons to be learned from the Holocaust, which are less common in the work of Holocaust scholars.{{cite book |last1=Marrus |first1=Michael R. |title=Holocaust Scholarship: Personal Trajectories and Professional Interpretations |date=2015 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |isbn=978-1-137-51419-6 |pages=170–186 |language=en |chapter=‘Lessons’ of the Holocaust and the Ceaseless, Discordant Search for Meaning}} In his 2016 book of the same title, Michael Marrus classifies the lessons drawn from the Holocaust into the categories of early, Jewish, Israeli, and universal lessons.{{cite book |last1=Marrus |first1=Michael R. |title=Lessons of the Holocaust |date=2016 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-1-4426-3008-6 |language=en|location=TOC}} The authors of a book on Holocaust education separate the lessons into deontological, consequentialist, and ontological lessons.{{cite book |last1=Foster |first1=Stuart |last2=Pearce |first2=Andy |last3=Pettigrew |first3=Alice |title=Holocaust Education: Contemporary challenges and controversies |date=2020 |publisher=UCL Press |isbn=978-1-78735-569-9 |page=56 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bVz5DwAAQBAJ |language=en}} Political scientist Ian Lustick classifies responses to the Holocaust by Israeli Jews into four categories: the Holocaust as a "Zionist Proof-text; Wasting Asset; Object Lesson for safeguarding human rights; and Template for Jewish life". He argues that the last has become hegemonic since the 1980s and that the consequences of seeing enemies as Nazis and threats as existential are damaging to Israel.{{cite journal |last1=Lustick |first1=Ian S. |title=The Holocaust in Israeli Political Culture: Four Constructions and Their Consequences: Editor's Note: This Article is Followed by Four Comments and a Response by Ian Lustick |journal=Contemporary Jewry |date=2017 |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=125–170 |doi=10.1007/s12397-017-9208-7|s2cid=255583193 }} The existence of specific lessons to be learned from the Holocaust is cited as a justification for Holocaust education, but challenged by some critics.{{cite journal |last1=Short |first1=Geoffrey |title=Lessons of the Holocaust: A response to the critics |journal=Educational Review |date=2003 |volume=55 |issue=3 |pages=277–287 |doi=10.1080/0013191032000118938|s2cid=144193377 }} There is a tension between the argument that the Holocaust was a unique event in history and that it has lessons that could be applied to other situations.{{cite book |chapter=The Holocaust in American Life as a Moral Text |date=15 May 2017 |pages=257–274 |doi=10.4324/9781315248677-15 |chapter-url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315248677-15/holocaust-american-life-moral-text-lawrence-blum |language=en |title=Moral Philosophy and the Holocaust |last1=Blum |first1=Lawrence |isbn=9781315248677 }}