The Presentation of the Holocaust in German and English School History Textbooks – A Comparative Study

Abstract As textbooks are one way of teaching and influencing pupils ’ learning, this paper aims to examine critically and compare the presentation of the Holocaust in English and German textbooks. To set the scene, the paper investigates the theoretical and methodological background of textbook analysis. This is followed by a description of the sample and method chosen for this study. The analysis concentrates upon the question of culpability for the Holocaust in German and English textbooks and reasons for this. The paper concludes by exploring the possible effects the presentation of ‘blame ’ for the Holocaust has upon the pupils who read textbooks