ABSTRACT
The violence of genocide, whether the Holocaust or any other example, sits at the extreme end of a broad spectrum of collective and interpersonal violence. Hence, the study of the Holocaust and genocide has profound implications beyond the particularities of those disasters. Consequently, the current increase in populist and dictatorial societies has strong implications for those of us who study and teach about the Holocaust and genocide. Due to international pressure and condemnation, the Polish government eliminated criminal penalties for those who broke this law, but the legislation itself remains a potent warning of how Holocaust education can itself be threatened. In a country that continues to deny the Armenian genocide, this drift into authoritarianism does not bode well for those seeking to advance Holocaust and genocide education in Turkey. This chapter explains scholarship and teaching about the Holocaust and other genocides matter tremendously for our future.
