Why Simulation Activities Should Not Be Used

One of the goals of teaching about the Holocaust is to help students determine their own roles and responsibilities in the world around them. This can be accomplished through effective and pedagogically sound methods that foster empathy and help students understand the motivations, thoughts, feelings, and actions of those who lived through the Holocaust.

Echoes and Reflections, in this brief summary, cautions educators against simulating Holocaust events or experiences to engage students in the history of the Holocaust. Having students role play as persecuted or privileged, or subjecting them to unfair treatment, often leads to distress for students, their families, and the school community.

Simulation activities trivialize the experiences of Holocaust victims and leave students with a false sense of what those experiences were really like. They stereotype group behavior, distort historical reality, reinforce negative views of victims, and disconnect the Holocaust from its broader European and global context. They also impede critical analysis by oversimplifying complex historical events and human behavior, which can leave students with a skewed sense of history.

Instead, educators can offer students opportunities to examine primary source materials, engage in reflective writing, participate in discussions exploring human behavior, and hear directly from survivors and other eyewitnesses who share their stories firsthand.

Echoes and Reflections, in this brief summary, cautions educators against simulating Holocaust events or experiences to engage students in the history of the Holocaust. Having students role play as persecuted or privileged, or subjecting them to unfair treatment, often leads to distress for students, their families, and the school community.

Simulation activities trivialize the experiences of Holocaust victims and leave students with a false sense of what those experiences were really like. They stereotype group behavior, distort historical reality, reinforce negative views of victims, and disconnect the Holocaust from its broader European and global context. They also impede critical analysis by oversimplifying complex historical events and human behavior, which can leave students with a skewed sense of history.

Instead, educators can offer students opportunities to examine primary source materials, engage in reflective writing, participate in discussions exploring human behavior, and hear directly from survivors and other eyewitnesses who share their stories firsthand.