THOUSAND OAKS : Holocaust Studies Expansion Urged

The Simon Wiesenthal Center on Friday urged the Conejo Valley Unified School District to expand lessons about the Holocaust in its curriculum after a fifth-grader dressed up as Adolf Hitler and delivered a speech about the Nazi dictator’s life.

In a letter to Assistant Supt. Richard Simpson, Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Los Angeles-based institute for Holocaust studies offered to provide the district with videotapes, posters and speakers on the Holocaust.

Cooper said incorporating lessons on the Holocaust would enable teachers and students to understand the horrors of the Holocaust. “It’s not right to demand someone share your views unless you have communication,” Cooper said. “Education is the best form of mass communication.”

Cooper said information on the Holocaust could be used in social science and humanities classes for students in grades four through twelve. “You don’t have to institutionalize the Holocaust in the first grade,” Cooper said.

Simpson said the district will consider the suggestion. Materials and speakers on the Holocaust could be used in secondary schools where students study European history, he said.

“I haven’t seen the letter, but we would take any request into consideration,” Simpson said. “I would assume it’s a valuable resource in high school where it’s part of the curriculum.”

Last week, a Holocaust survivor spoke to students and parents at Westlake Elementary School where, in a Feb. 24 oratory competition, an unidentified boy donned a khaki uniform, boots, a swastika armband and fake mustache for his speech.

The four-minute speech, for which the boy was awarded second place by a panel of teachers, prompted an outcry from parents and Jewish leaders.