Holocaust education has NOT been abolished in the UK

An email I received earlier this week, said:

"Recently this week, all of the United Kingdom - England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales removed The Holocaust from its school curriculum because it "offended" the Moslem population which claims it never occurred."

This email was sent with the title "In Memoriam" and was sent to coincide with the annual Holocaust Memorial Day observed in Israel and in Jewish communities throughout the world. It was sent with a plea to "forward this to all your friends". Clearly someone thought that the abolition of holocaust education was a topic so important that it justified viral email propogation.

The claim that the UK has abolished holocaust education is utter rubbish. The UK has done no such thing.

This week (16/04/2007) The Historical Association published a report on the challenges and opportunities of "Teaching Emotive and Controversial History". The report acknowledged that some teachers found teaching certain topics difficult in certain situations, and that in some schools some topics were being avoided. But far from suggesting that the teaching of the Holocaust, or the history of Slavery, or the history of the Crusades, should be removed from the curriculum, the report recommended a proactive course of action to make it easier for teachers to teach these subjects: "The Government and key agencies, including QCA and Ofsted, [should] reinforce the importance of the teaching of emotive and controversial history".

Several other claims in the email are equally unjustified. To say that "the Moslem population" denies the holocaust is a gross generalisation, and it is dangerous because it reinforces anti-Islamic prejudice. People who claim to revere the memories of the victims of the Nazi atrocities of the Second World War should be the last ones to make grossly offensive and overtly racist remarks like this directed against any population group.

And of course, to say that Ireland is part of the United Kingdom is not true either, which should have given some readers a clue.