Teaching about the Roma Genocide

 Inclusion of the topic in the school curriculum

As per OSCE report “Education on the Holocaust and on Anti-Semitism”, page 94, Latvia's compulsory curricula make the Holocaust a part of the basic education standard in history. Order No. 98/56, of 12 August 1998, forms the legal basis for this.

The Holocaust is taught primarily within the framework of history, but is also integrated through its ethical aspects in social sciences courses. In Grade 9 (age 14), pupils receive approximately 4-5 lessons allocated to the basic facts of the Holocaust. In Grade 12 (age 17-18), pupils receive approximately three lessons that approach the Holocaust topic in a more scientific and theoretical way. Questions on the topic are included in the final primary school examinations and in the history examination at the end of secondary school.

 Inclusion of the topic in the school textbooks

Teaching materials, including textbooks, cover Jewish history and the Holocaust in Latvia as well as the topic of the Holocaust in the context of general European history. Finally, references to the Holocaust are sometimes made in the study of literature.

 Training of teachers and education professionals

Regular in-service training courses on the Holocaust are organised for history teachers across Latvia. History teachers also receive initial training in this area at the University of Latvia. Teacher training courses have also taken place in Israel and at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. A series of workshops on this topic have also taken place in Latvia.

Latvian Association of History Teachers (LAHT) organises regular seminars on Holocaust education in collaboration with the Swedish Institute and the Embassy of the United States. It also coordinates a teacher training programme, for which Latvian teachers visit the United States. For a number of years, the Latvian Ministry of Education has been sending teachers to Yad Vashem centre in Jerusalem. In 2014, 25 teachers participated in courses offered by Yad Vashem. (See OSCE report “Holocaust Memorial Days: An overview of remembrance and education in the OSCE region”, page 65)

 Particular activities undertaken at the level of education institutions

Latvian Association of History Teachers (LAHT) participates in constructive cooperation with Latvia's History Commission through the organisation of joint seminars on teaching the history of World War II in schools. The Commission contributed to the organisation of the seminar in October 2002. Run by specialists from Latvia and Sweden, the goal of the seminar was to share the experience of teaching about the Holocaust between several schools in Latvia and Sweden, develop practical approaches to teaching the subject matter, inform of recent developments in Holocaust research in Latvia, and show participants the memorials erected in memory of the Holocaust in Liepaja.

Practical initiatives include workshops and visits to memorial sites and travelling exhibitions.