How one Colorado Republican shaped what students will learn about the Holocaust – The Colorado Sun

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat Colorado. More atchalkbeat.org.

A Republican State Board of Education member who believes socialism poses grave dangers at home and abroad has put his stamp on how Colorado students will learn about the Holocaust.

Over the last year and a half, Steve Durham has pushed for the states academic standards to connect the Holocaust and other genocides to socialism. Durham succeeded in omitting the word Nazi from an early version of the standards in favor of the partys full name, the National Socialist German Workers Party.

Durham agreed to include the word Nazi after Jewish community members lobbied the State Board of Education so long as the full name with the word socialist remained.

People dont know and have a right to know that this party was and is a socialist party, Durham said at an August State Board meeting. That is largely lost on the American people and on a number of history teachers as well. I oppose dumbing down the standards.

Historians say Durham is wrong about the Holocaust and wrong about the roots of genocide. The idea that Nazis were socialists is a lie, according to David Ciarlo, a University of Colorado history professor who studies German politics. Its completely wrong.

Still, Durham has exerted outsized influence over the standards related to genocide, which are meant to guide teaching across Colorado. A key section largely authored by Durhamoverrides recommendations from a committee of teachers and experts. The approved standards drop references to genocide in Rwanda, for example, while adding detailed references to the Communist Party of China.

The standards as written absolutely suggest to teachers that they should be making a connection between genocide and socialism, said John Gallup, a history teacher in Jeffco Public Schools who recently returned from Auschwitz as part of afellowship on teaching genocideand reviewed the standards at Chalkbeats request.

Read more at chalkbeat.org.

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How one Colorado Republican shaped what students will learn about the Holocaust - The Colorado Sun