Why Should I Care: Lessons from the Holocaust

Why Should I Care is a wonderful resource for a school library or teaching aid for an instructor teaching children ages 10 and older about the Holocaust. As its title suggests, it tackles difficult subjects like the banality of evil, the danger of words, the choices people make, their failure to take responsibility for those choices and the lure of the dark side. Friedman and Gold use examples from the Holocaust throughout the book, citing individuals who made a difference and the experiences of Jews who survived the Holocaust. But they also discuss other genocides in recent history, drawing parallels to illustrate the fact that others have engaged in mass murder even in our lifetimes. They do this to show that evil and murder can occur even in communities that consider themselves educated and enlightened. Friedman and Gold go on to suggest ways in which readers can make a difference, politically, socially - by educating themselves on what is really going on and not accepting the versions of the mass media without questioning those versions, by using their power to vote and by exercising choice. "We are the public," the authors write. "By working together we can create a powerful force. We can use that power to control what our leaders do." The book is peppered with relevant quotations from other authors, writers and thinkers, but one by Yehuda Bauer stands out as the raison d'etre for the creation of Why Should I Care. "Events happen because they are possible," Bauer writes. "If they were possible once, they are possible again. In that sense, the Holocaust is not unique, but a warning for the future." Friedman and Gold take that warning seriously, and have written Why Should I Care to inform students exactly why this subject is extremely relevant to them and how the warnings of the Holocaust can effect their lives and their perspectives even today. This is a highly recommended resource for teachers of the subject and all libraries. Lauren Kramer

From Skip McWilliams, www.Teachersdiscovery.com This is an important book because it is useful, very useful. Holocaust study is common, but insignificant. Now, for the first time, the Holocaust is studied for its fundamental causes in human nature as they apply to the whole world today. Finally, it's for everybody....today. _____ From Roy Gerson, Executive Coordinator, Lower Hudson Council of School Supervisors ...Your book serves as an excellent resource to help both teachers and students grasp the horrors that occurred and most important become cognizant of what must be done to prevent Genocide. Although the book is well written, I was especially pleased with your use of applicable quotations, concise history of the Holocaust and notes on using the internet...This book reminds me of John Donne's words, "No man is an island entire of itself...each man's death diminishes me for I am involved in mankind." You have written a timely, relevant book that will appeal to both teachers and students because it is so readable and interesting..." _____ Colleen TambuscioPresident, Council of Holocaust Educators A unique approach to character development and Holocaust and Genocide Studies. This work provides critical contemporary and historical connections to the Holocaust that foster relevance to teaching and learning about the Holocaust and genocide in today's world." _____ Menachem Z. Rosensaft General Counsel of the World Jewish Congress, adjunct professor of law at Cornell Law School and founding chairman of the International Network of Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors. Jeanette Friedman and David Gold have succeeded in making the history of the Holocaust relevant to American teenagers and young adults in the 21st century. Why Should I Care? Lessons From the Holocaust provides a critical moral and ethical context for the integration of memory into our contemporary collective consciousness, and should become part of the required high school curricula throughout the United States." ____ I belong to a unique group of men and women who probe the ashes of the murdered not merely to remember the dead and pay homage to their memory. I want to find something from the horror of their deaths and the evil of their murders that can speak to our common humanity and deepen our commitment to human rights. The authors of this work, Jeanette Friedman and David Gold, share that commitment. They want to share it with you. They want you to be their partners in this all important enterprise." Dr. Michael Berenbaum Professor of Jewish Studies Director, Sigi Ziering Institute: Exploring the Ethical and Religious Implications of the Holocaust American Jewish University, Los Angeles, Ca. Former Project Director of the creation of the USHMM _____________ ABOUT THE AUTHORS Jeanette Friedman, a daughter of Holocaust survivors, founded the first Second Generation group in New Jersey in December 1979. She served as Second Generation Education Liaison to the Unite