Back Secretary General at Struthof: a visit to keep remembrance alive among young people

Oana GAILLARD

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Secretary General at Struthof: a visit to keep remembrance alive among young people

On 3 June Secretary General Alain Berset visited the former concentration camp at Natzweiler-Struthof (Alsace), an iconic memorial site, to reaffirm the importance of history teaching and remembrance of the Holocaust for younger generations.

After a moment of quiet reflection, the Secretary General and the President of the European Territorial Authority of Alsace (CEA), Frédéric Bierry, addressed secondary school pupils.

“Younger generations need to know what happened here. How it was possible to reach such a degree of inhumanity,” said the Secretary General. “We must also engage the younger generation in a New Democratic Pact, offer them perspectives, arm them against disinformation, against the manipulation of history, against everything that made Struthof possible,” he added.

During the visit, they exchanged views with the pupils about the importance of sites of remembrance in transmitting and teaching the region’s very specific history and the role of young people.

2025, a key year for commemorating the end of the Second World War

In 2025, commemoration ceremonies marking the end of the Second World War and the disclosure of the Nazi concentration camp system are taking on particular significance.

Places of remembrance play a vital part in passing on history to younger generations, in particular because our memories of the past are fading.

With its Observatory on History Teaching in Europe, the Council of Europe seeks to promote quality education in order to enhance the understanding of democratic culture. Through the Remembrance of the Holocaust and Prevention of Crimes against Humanity programme, it also strives to promote shared remembrance.

The Collectivité européenne d’Alsace is committed to helping secondary school pupils discover places of remembrance, with the aim of ensuring that every pupil has the opportunity to visit at least one memorial site during their time at secondary school.

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Secretary General Struthof, France 4 June 2025

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Intergovernmental Programme on History Education

As a 70 years strong activity, Council of Europe’s intergovernmental programme on history education institutionalised the dialogue of member states on the way history should be taught. It led to standards in the field of history teaching, such as Recommendation (2001)15 on history teaching in twenty-first-century Europe.

Observatory on History Teaching in Europe (OHTE)

OHTE is an Enlarged Partial Agreement of the Council of Europe, whose mission is to promote quality education in order to enhance the understanding of democratic culture. It provides a clear picture of the state of history teaching in its member states, based on reliable data and facts on how history is taught, through general and thematic reports.

Visit the OHTE website >>

Transnational History Education and Co-operation Laboratory” (HISTOLAB)

HISTOLAB seeks to reinvigorate the field of history education by bringing together innovative ideas on how to improve the teaching of history. Its digital hub features a database of experts and organisations in the field of history education, an interactive calendar and bulletin board, as well as a resource hub. HISTOLAB also organises once a year the “European Innovation Days in History Education”.

Visit the Digital Hub >>

Remembrance of the Holocaust and Prevention of Crimes against Humanity

As a transversal initiative closely connected to the history of the Council of Europe and its foundation as a means to counter totalitarian ideologies after the Second World War, the Remembrance programme supports teaching about the Holocaust through the creation and publication of a number of resources that teachers may use for their teaching.

Visit the dedicated website >>

History Education and the Council of Europe

The Council of Europe's work on history education is founded on the assumption that understanding the past is essential for building a shared future, for fostering European democracies and for strengthening active democratic citizenship. Our vision and motto is: Teaching History, Grounding Democracy. History teaching that is based on multiperspectivity, historical thinking and on the values of the Council of Europe can enhance students’ critical thinking skills, democratic competences and empathy – all of which are essential for generations of young citizens that value democracy. At the moment, four distinct initiatives complement each other in tackling history education in a comprehensive manner: the intergovernmental project on history education, the Observatory on History Teaching in Europe, the HISTOLAB Joint Project of the European Union and the Council of Europe, and the Remembrance of the Holocaust and Prevention of Crimes against Humanity programme. Click on any of the boxes above to learn more about each initiative.