My generation remembers how WWII was taught in history classes in high school. Lots of "Good War" propaganda and black and white footage of kids collecting rubber and other recyclables for the war effort. Of course, there was plenty of film footage of battleships, parades at home, and occasionally, some very grisly footage of American troops liberating concentration camps.
My high school history teachers, Mr. Rubenstein and Mr.Elcott were more like Jewish comedians who were very knowledgeable. Elcott was a dead ringer for the late Borsh Belt stand-up comedian Jackie Mason. When a student told him that he was doing his term paper on Indonesia, Elcott was dumbfounded because that was too general a subject. He replied, "What about Indonesia? Should they or should they not wear a G-string?" Stuff like that you never forget.
It was Mr. Rubenstein, who had an equally strong sense of humor, and who inspired me to become a teacher. He was one of the coolest teachers that were masters of his subject. Hell, he lived WWII. We all knew that he'd been shot down over Europe and had spent some time as a POW. We knew, too, that when the time came to deal with Nazi Germany he became unusually distant for a few days. But I'll give him major props for showing us some of that concentration camp footage. It seared the reality of genocide into our brains.
Having been born immediately after WWII, we all assumed that we'd never have to endure anything like that again. We could not foresee the attempts at genocide that would follow in Eastern Europe, Africa, and parts of Asia.
With the recent attempts at genocide in Ukraine, we can all count another attempt at man's ultimate indignity. Given the improved quality of technology, I wonder how this current generation will receive and perceive these images of war? They are already exposed to enough blood and gore just by watching the daily news or what sometimes passes for video games or entertainment, it's bound to be different.
I worry about that desensitization.
The best antidote, in my view, for presenting this difficult history to young people is to let them figure out how it might be stopped. That is: ended. For good.
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