Germany 

Day of Remembrance: 27 January, 9 November 

Historical Background:
On the morning of 27 January, 1945, the Soviet Army entered Auschwitz III, followed by Birkenau and Auschwitz I later that afternoon. Altogether, they liberated some 7650 prisoners. The Nazis murdered over one million Jews in the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camps.

9 November, 1938 is the date of Kristallnacht – “Night of Broken Glass” – in which anti-Jewish rioting broke out throughout Germany. The 'broken glass’ refers to the Jewish shop windows that were smashed by the rioters. Hundreds of synagogues and Jewish homes were burnt down. Some 30,000 Jews were deported to concentration camps, and 90 Jews were murdered that night.

Germany and the Holocaust:
Lexicon entry from Yad Vashem's online Holocaust Resource Center: Germany, Kristallnacht   

Educational Activities:
As in all commemorating countries, activities include commemoration of the Holocaust and of the various instances of genocide in the 20th century, reflection on ways to promote human rights, tolerance, and inter-religious and intercultural dialogue. In Germany, school activities also include prayers, media coverage, organized visits to memory sites and museums, exhibitions and projects organized by schoolchildren, meetings with victims, drama, poetry, discussion of films (e.g. The Pianist). Special prizes are awarded to students who suggest ways of marking the day (e.g. the Bertini Award in Hamburg, the Geschwister-Scholl-Preis).
This day is also marked by special parliamentary sessions.

The Holocaust is taught as a mandatory subject in all 16 Federal states (Lander) of the Federal Republic of Germany. There are about 16-20 lessons scheduled for the time period of National Socialism.  Teachers in Germany  to decide how many lessons to devoted to Holocaust study.
The topic of the Holocaust is occasionally taught in elementary schools. Since 1995, it is compulsory material for grades 9-13.

In Germany, there are almost 100 memorial museums for victims of the Nazi regime. Each year for the past decade 3 million people have visited these museums. Several hundred thousand visitors visit the German camps - Dachau, Bergen-Belsen, Buchenwald, and Sachsenhausen.

Educational Activities on Holocaust Memorial Day:
The Bundestag website will describe the central ceremony to be held on 27th January.

Websites and Teaching Aids:
Interactive map of all memorial sites in Germany: www.topographie.de
Foundation for the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe: www.stiftung-denkmal.de
Memorial sites for the Victims of the Nazi Regime: www.memorial-museums.net
Learning from History (in English): www.holocaust-education.de
Learning from History (in German): www.lernen-aus-der-geschichte.de
Yad Vashem website in German-Deutsch: www1.yadvashem.org/education/German/homepage.htm

Germany consists of 16 states (Laender). Each   state has an autonomous education system with its own regional education/culture minister (Kultusminister), and each state constructs its own guidelines. Thus many books that deal with the Holocaust are in use within the German educational system, and they are subject to frequent change. The following is a small sample of textbooks used:

Anno / edited by Bernhard Askani and Elmar Wagener. - Braunschweig: Westermann vol. 4. Das 20. Jahrhundert 2000. - 320 p.
ISBN 3-14-110944-3

Entdecken und Verstehen : Geschichtsbuch für Hessen / edited by Thomas Berger-von der Heide and Hans-Gert Oomen. - Berlin: Cornelsen 4. Von der Weimarer Republik bis zur Gegenwart. 2001, 174 p.
ISBN 3-464-64154-6

Expedition Geschichte / edited by Florian Osburg. - Ausg. G. - Frankfurt am Main: Diesterweg vol. 3. Von der Entstehung des Deutschen Kaiserreiches bis zum Ende des Zweiten Weltkrieges.- 2003. - VII, 246 p.
ISBN 3-425-03263-1

Forum Geschichte. - Berlin: Cornelsen vol. 4. Vom Ende des Ersten Weltkriegs bis zur Gegenwart.- 2003. - 343 p.
ISBN 3-464-64322-0

Geschichte kennen und verstehen. - München: Oldenbourg 9. - 2003. - 191 p. ISBN 3-486-88869-2
Signature: HD-V 252(1,2003) 9

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