ABSTRACT
European historians and Jewish studies scholars were sincerely baffled as to where the study of the Holocaust fits in the university world. The sheer moral weight of this history led to the popular assumption that education about the Holocaust would be transformational for students. Instituting Holocaust Memorial Day in 2001, Britain’s home secretary Jack Straw noted the benefits for all. “The universal lessons of the Holocaust make this commemoration day relevant to everyone in our society. For O’Rourke, the Holocaust served as a compass, and it pointed in a most unwelcome direction. Conservative Republicans and some Jewish-American organizations lashed out at Ocasio-Cortez for trivializing the Holocaust by using the words “concentration camps.” The storm over Ocasio-Cortez’s historical frame—the Holocaust—for her criticism of our government’s policies and practices highlights the vital importance of Holocaust studies as a compass to help us analyze current events and to chart our way forward.
