New AJC Report Finds Slovak Textbooks Pay Little Attention To Judaism And Jewish History

American Jewish Committee
Tuesday, 26 January 1999

Holocaust Appears Frequently, But Mostly In Controversy Surrounding Wartime Slovak State

Since the overthrow of the Communist regime in 1989, Jewish-related themes have begun to appear in Slovak textbooks. Nonetheless, most students continue to be largely ignorant of Jewish history, religion, and culture. The one aspect of the Jewish experience that appears frequently in Slovak textbooks is the Holocaust, although it is presented mostly as it relates to the controversy surrounding the wartime Slovak state.

These are among the key conclusions presented in a new American Jewish Committee research report, "The Treatment of Jewish Themes in Slovak Schools." The report, published simultaneously in English and Slovak, was released today at a news conference in Bratislava. The report was prepared for AJC by Dr. Peter Salner, a researcher at the Institute of Ethnology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences and President of the Bratislava Jewish Religious Community, and Dr. Eva Salnerova, a political specialist and Board Member of the Bratislava Jewish Religious Community.

This AJC report is the third to appear under the auspices of AJC's Central and East European Curriculum Review Project, an initiative that seeks to examine what children in post-Communist countries of the region learn about Judaism, Jewish history, the Holocaust, and Israel. The Curriculum Review Project aims to spur curriculum reform where appropriate. The first two reports in the series dealt with Poland and the Czech Republic. Future publications will examine educational curricula in Hungary, Ukraine, Russia, Croatia, Lithuania and elsewhere.

In the AJC report, Drs. Salner and Salnerova note that before 1938 the Jewish community was an integral part of Slovak society. However, under Communist rule, Slovak elementary- and secondary-school students rarely came across topics relating to Judaism, Jewish history, the Holocaust or Israel, and then mostly in negative terms.

The authors indicate that the revolution which overthrew Communism affected the method and content of education and led to the issuance of new textbooks which strived for greater objectivity. Still, it remains a fact that Jewish themes, with the single exception of the Holocaust, are rarely touched upon in these textbooks.

Looking at elementary school education, the report notes that students first encounter some subject matter about Jews in grade 5 history and geography classes. A more concrete picture of Judaism is offered in grade 6 civic education. The Holocaust is treated in grade 8, particularly in history classes, and Israel is taught in geography. The authors state, however, that "because of the nature of the teaching materials, the knowledge acquired lacks coherence and is decidedly fragmentary."

With regard to the teaching of history the authors observe: "Textbooks that deal with the early periods of both Slovak and world history mention Jews, at best, only in passing. Slovak textbooks fail to mention Jews in connection with significant historical events, thus depriving students of a significant learning opportunity. For most students, Jewish historical experience prior to the Holocaust remains largely a blank."

Drs. Salner and Salnerova stress that the Holocaust "was not mentioned in Czechoslovak textbooks written under Communist auspices. At most, Jewish victims of the Nazis were included in the overall number of people killed in the various countries in World War II. The concentration camps were described as places where antifascist fighters, particularly Communists, suffered."

Coverage of the Holocaust in Slovakia textbooks today is almost always in the context of the wartime Slovak state, which was linked to the Axis powers. Some new history textbooks at both the elementary and secondary levels are quite candid about the role of the wartime Slovak state, and its leader Josef Tiso, in the persecution and deportation to concentration camps of ten thousands of Slovak Jews. Other textbooks present the wartime Slovak state in a more positive light, and seek to explain away Jewish suffering.

One textbook that provoked public controversy was Milan S. Durica's The History of Slovakia and the Slovaks, a volume with an anti-Jewish orientation. Durica, Drs. Salner and Salnerova state, "uses every means available to minimize the participation of the wartime Slovak state in the liquidation of Slovak Jewry and to excuse President Tiso's behavior in this context." The fact that the second edition of Durica's book was published with the help of the Slovak Ministry of Education, using a grant provided by the European Union, led to vigorous protests from various political parties and human right organizations, as well as the Federation of the Jewish Communities in Slovakia.

In their conclusion, Drs. Salner and Salnerova point out: "In part, the lack of awareness of things Jewish [in Slovak textbooks] reflects the legacy of the Communist past, when Jewish themes were either consciously ignored or treated in a negative light. Another operative factor, however, is the strong current of Slovak ethnocentrism. Slovaks do not think of their society as being pluralistic. Inevitably then, textbooks focus on events and personalities connected with the Slovak people, while largely ignoring others."

The authors of the AJC report add, however: "If nothing else, the clash of opinion surrounding the wartime Slovak state has made students aware of a Jewish dimension to Slovak history. This awareness needs to be expanded upon in the future to take in the full sweep of Jewish history, Judaism as a living faith, and the modern State of Israel."

Dr. David Singer, AJC Director of Research, comments: "Drs. Salner and Salnerova make abundantly clear the serious gaps in coverage of Jewish themes in Slovak textbooks. However, their report was prepared prior to the September 1998 election in Slovakia. Milan Ftacnik, the newly appointed Minister of Education, is a member of Party of the Democratic Left, which has always condemned the wartime Slovak state and its anti-Jewish policy. Hopefully, this development will be reflected in a more positive orientation toward Jewish themes in Slovak schools and in future Slovak textbooks."

For more information, or to contact American Jewish Committee, see their website at: www.ajc.org