Aside from the many historical questions still
to be answered or raised, a few more general problems
exist which do not necessarily have a definitive answer,
and thus stand before each and every one of us.
How should we deal with the Holocaust commemoration
once the last survivor dies?
Will the many testimonies collected until now
be able to content future generation's curiosity?
Are there any cultural, academic, artistic,
and literary limitations regarding the discourse
about the murder of millions?
Or is it legitimate to raise any question about the Holocaust,
and use the Holocaust in every discourse?
Your answers and positions are as good as mine,
or any experts', and you are more than invited to further
discuss them among yourselves in our forums.
In this course, we wanted you to become active participants.
Not only learn more and widen your knowledge,
but also discuss and question your own positions.
Actually, this is how this course deliberately was shaped.
In a unique cooperation of TAU online and Yad Vashem.
When first approached with the opportunity
to use a MOOC platform for a general course
about the Holocaust, some fundamental principles
were decided by us, the course team
including not only myself but Dr. Na'ama Shik, you met,
Inbar Bondy, you meet on a regular basis,
and Dana Cidor, our devoted pedagogical developer.
Each and every one of them was deeply involved
in every detail presented to you here.
And this course is a product of true team work,
which I sincerely say I am more than privileged to be part of.
As such, we know this complicated story
of the Holocaust could not be limited
to one researcher, or one field of expertise,
and thus wanted you to meet as many voices and researchers
as possible.
Some were filmed, others were presented by their books,
and we do hope that you understood
that Holocaust research and knowledge is
based on many works, written for years, by many great scholars.
Moreover, history is based on a constant discourse
and thus, besides the team mentioned before,
a few scholars helped us shape the historical narrative
presented to you here.
Professor Dan Michman, Dr. Nidam-Orvieto, and Dr. David
Silberklang, read each and every idea brought to you here.
Not all their good advice could be incorporated,
and the responsibility for all that is being said is mine.
But this constant discourse had an important part
in developing and shaping this course.
Many times, especially in MOOC, the most important ideas
will be hard to understand in the absence of photos, maps,
and words.
Thus, in order to enable you to better understand even
the most complicated historical events or notions,
Yossi Kluger and Ori Barokas provided our team
all that was needed to help you comprehend
the many different meanings of the Holocaust.
I'm stressing this, not only because all scholars deserve
to be mentioned after so much work done behind the scenes,
but also to emphasise that history
is based on a constant exchange of thoughts and ideas.
You see, history is not an exact science.
And like other fields of humanities,
it is based on human understandings and perspectives
of events.
As you saw, historical sources are analysed and compared
in order to establish new insights regarding the past.
In this course we wanted you to see how history is being made
and what are the challenges of the craft
of professional history writing.
This is why we presented you with many different sources
and tried to enable you to experience
the difficulties of arriving at established historical
conclusions from historical sources.
Thus, we hope that exposing you to the Historian's Desk
deepened your knowledge regarding how information
is constantly processed for us.
How and when it is or was collected,
can the information it contains really be verified,
and with what should it be confronted in order
to provide us with a better understanding of a given event.
We wanted to promote your criticism regarding
what historical sources revealed and what
could be learned from them.
As you saw many times, a second look and accurate historical
context changed dramatically what first was seen,
or thought to be seen, and understood.
Being aware of the limitation of our knowledge,
as well as the importance of critical reading,
is especially important due to the wide and troubling
phenomena of Holocaust denial.
Holocaust denial is sometimes very clear,
yet sometimes comes in the guise of
innocent historical research.
Claiming that Nazi Germany and its partners
did not aim to kill Jews, did not kill Jews,
or did not kill so many Jews, is Holocaust denial and as such
outlawed in many countries.
Holocaust denial is not an innocent effort
to achieve more knowledge, or expose
unknown aspects of the Holocaust,
but a deliberate attempt to use, or better abuse, history
in order to promote ideological agendas, usually
anti-Semitic ones.
Yet the very fact that such effort
is being made to undermine or question
what is well known and well documented, also
emphasises the centrality of the Holocaust
in international discourse.
The recognition and the knowledge of the Holocaust
became an integral element in being an enlightened person.
Take as an example the image chosen as the course icon--
the gates of Birkenau, as well as many other photos--
Auschwitz gate, prisoners' clothes, the yellow badge,
the boy from the Warsaw Ghetto uprising,
or even the number six million.
All became symbols of the Holocaust
and bear with them an inevitable association of the Holocaust.
It is part of the cultural world and thus poses
a heavy and demanding burden.
But what can be done with this catastrophic event?
What should one do with all this horrifying knowledge?
With a story that contains a collapse of all moral values
and endless suffering?
Is knowledge, power?
Could such a thing even be claimed
after hearing so much atrocities were implemented
using modernity and knowledge?
I don't know if knowledge brings power.
Maybe it does and was just used as destructive power
by so many.
Maybe it doesn't.
But I do think that knowledge demands responsibility.
Responsibility is derived from the knowledge,
as well as from watching Holocaust survivors,
as written by Zeev Mankovicz, regarding Holocaust
survivors and their struggle to rebuild their lives.
"They had every reason to surrender themselves
to blind anger and wanton destruction.
Such responses, however, were rare.
Whereas their suffering and losses
were their point of departure, the survivors
devoted their best energies to the reconstruction
of their personal life and the redemption of their people
without forgetting broader human responsibilities.
The speed and willingness with which
they took up the burden of life and civic responsibilities
bear eloquent witness to their affirmation
of life and their undiminished humanity.
Once the survivors refused to surrender their humanity,
they created a norm which those who were not there cannot
easily disregard."
As human beings, we tend to think, believe,
hope that grey clouds will always scatter,
despite the fact that many times they only become darker.
We delude ourselves that progress
holds promise for humanity and that humans are good.
But the horrors of the Holocaust serve
as a constant reminder of humanity's unlimited, possible
evil.
The Holocaust carved those understandings
into our human DNA.
Learning more about the Holocaust
does not necessarily make you a better person.
It is what you will do with this knowledge that is important.
And this, my friend, was only an introduction.
Professor Havi Dreifuss, PhDProfessor
Dr Na'ama Bela Shik, PhDDirector, Educational Technology Department, The International School for Holocaust Studies, Yad Vashem
