Denmark: New antisemitism action plan to increase knowledge about Holocaust
Following the vandalism against Jewish burial sites, the Danish government launched an action plan regarding antisemitism. This plan is interdepartmental and includes 15 initiatives to prevent that antisemitism takes root in Denmark.
Five (5) of the fifteen (15) initiatives aims at increasing children and youth’s knowledge of Holocaust and antisemitism. These five initiatives include:
- Obligatory education about the Holocaust in primary and lower secondary school and general upper secondary education;
- Continuing and developing the education in the recollection of Holocaust and other genocides;
- Preparing teachers to evade exclusion in the school;
- Expanding youth-to-youth dialogue between religious beliefs;
- More information on Jewish life and culture in Denmark.
The objective of the initiatives is to prepare pupils on how to resist antisemitism and other forms of discrimination. The purpose of the initiatives is to teach the pupils to interact in a diverse society and understand that their actions and statements can have negative implications for other people. The action plan obligates the educational institutions to ensure that the pupils obtain knowledge and skills, which remove prejudices and myths and call for tolerance and mutual respect between people. This includes working systematically with critical thinking, in relation to for example propaganda and fake news, and challenging extremist and xenophobic attitudes and values.
The action plan also encompass other initiatives to prevent antisemitism including more research on antisemitism, prevention in specific environments, protection of Jews and Jewish institutions, improved instruction regarding anti-Semitic incidents and focus on the fight against antisemitism in the foreign policy.
Source: Eurydice Unit Denmark