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Alberta Education Minister Adriana LaGrange has released a guidance document recommending that schools include positive material about Nazi-era German economic policies when teaching about the atrocities of war.
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The document, published in January 2020 by the ministry, supports considering whether classroom resources “reveal both the positive and negative behaviors and attitudes of the various groups portrayed.”
“For example, if a video details the war atrocities committed by the Nazis, does it also point out that prior to World War II, the policies of the German government substantially strengthened the country’s economy?” the document says.
After appearing on social media on Friday and being denounced by Jewish and anti-hate groups, guidelines aimed at recognizing diversity and promoting respect were removed from the government website.
On Twitter, LaGrange said the views in the document are “extremely disturbing and completely unacceptable,” adding that as soon as he found out, he ordered staff to remove it from all government posts immediately.
“The wrong points of view outlined have no place in our society and I categorically denounce what is written. There is no ‘silver lining’ side to tell of the murderous Nazi regime, as this document erroneously suggests, “LaGrange wrote, adding that the document has nothing to do with the curriculum development process and the content dates back to” some years ago. “
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An earlier version of Alberta Education from 2008 that extracted material from 1984 also contains similar ideas. However, instead of referring to the economic policies of the “German government” before the war, the archived document it refers to “the policies of the Nazis.”
In a statement Friday, Nicole Sparrow, LaGrange’s press secretary, said that after the Education Act was passed in 2019, a large number of educational documents were updated to remove references to previous legislation, but not revised. completely content.
The 2020 document includes at least three references to the 2019 Education Act, including a requirement that parents be notified about teaching issues, including religion and sexuality.
“To be very clear, the comments contained in the 1984 document were as wrong then as they are today,” Sparrow said, adding that the ministry has begun a review of all documents on the government website for content. , with a focus on those that have not been examined in detail recently.
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When Prime Minister Jason Kenney was asked about the document at an unrelated press conference, he reiterated the ministry’s comments.
“I reject it completely,” he said.
Stacey Leavitt-Wright, executive director of the Edmonton Jewish Federation, said Friday that her initial reaction to the document was one of surprise, but the federation is grateful that the government acted as quickly as it did and plans to meet with the ministry. next week to discuss the importance of Holocaust education in Alberta, including further development of the draft K-6 curriculum.
“This is a time when everyone in Edmonton should be concerned about fighting hate and racism … this would be a good time for us to take some action to try to combat some of that,” Leavitt-Wright said, He added that it is not just a Jewish question, but something that everyone can learn from.
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Jaime Kirzner-Roberts, policy director at the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies, said Friday the document was “mind-blowing.”
“The fact is that the Nazi regime committed genocide and killed six million Jews and millions more. It dragged the world into the largest global armed conflict in history. In the end he destroyed his own country, so we wonder what positive attributes we could find in all that, ”said Kirzner-Roberts.
He added that the center appreciates that the ministry responded so quickly, but questions remain about how official ministry guidelines like these were updated, approved and upheld for so long.
“How come, over the years, this held up and no one thought there was a problem with this?” he said, noting that government documents generally involve levels of bureaucratic approval.
Reference-edmontonjournal.com