Bringing Holocaust Education Closer with AI

Close the gap in Holocaust education with AI

AI can help educators teach the Holocaust with more accuracy, context, and care. It will not replace your expertise or the human weight of testimony. It's a set of tools to extend your reach, make sources accessible, and keep students focused on facts.

The goal is simple: improve accuracy, reduce misinformation, and deepen student connection to primary sources-without sacrificing ethics or sensitivity.

Core principles before you start

• Accuracy first: Ground every activity in verified sources and require citations. Link back to archives for confirmation.
• Respect and care: Use trauma-aware practices. Provide content warnings, opt-outs, and alternatives when needed.
• No fabrication: Prioritize retrieval from curated documents over free-form generation. If a tool can't cite it, don't use it.
• Human oversight: You approve everything. AI drafts, you decide.

Trusted starting points

• US Holocaust Memorial Museum: Guidelines for Teaching the Holocaust
• Yad Vashem: Educational Materials

Practical classroom uses that work

• Primary-source scaffolding: Ask AI to summarize long documents, define terms, and surface key dates-all with citations to the source page.
• Timeline and map support: Generate draft timelines and location lists drawn from your curated sources. Verify and refine with students.
• Accessibility: Produce reading-level options, glossaries, and translations while preserving original meaning and links.
• Formative checks: Create low-stakes quizzes, exit tickets, and discussion prompts tied to specific documents.
• Misinformation review: Have AI compare a claim to your archive set and return a sourced "true/false with evidence."

Suggested workflow for educators

• Curate your corpus: Build a folder of articles, testimonies, maps, and museum pages. Keep it small and verified.
• Use retrieval: Configure your AI assistant to answer only from your corpus and show citations by default.
• Set guardrails: Ban role-play as perpetrators or victims, disable image generation for sensitive scenes, and require neutral, factual tone.
• Review and publish: You check outputs, then share approved materials via your LMS.

Prompt ideas you can copy

• "Summarize this survivor testimony in 150 words for grade 9. List 3 discussion questions. Cite the source link."
• "From these documents, create a 10-question quiz with answers and citations next to each correct answer."
• "List common student misconceptions about the Holocaust found in these resources, then provide brief corrections with sources."
• "Draft a timeline of events from 1933-1945 based only on these links. Include dates, one-sentence explanations, and source citations."

Assessment ideas

• Annotated exhibit: Students curate 5 primary sources, write captions, and include a short reflection on each item's significance.
• Context briefs: Pairs produce a two-page brief on a single event or policy with a timeline, glossary, and source list.
• Claim check: Students submit a claim they found online and use your AI assistant to verify it with sourced evidence.

Safety, ethics, and student care

• Use age-appropriate filters and content warnings. Offer alternative tasks when needed.
• Avoid simulations, gamification, or role-play of traumatic scenarios. Keep tone factual and respectful.
• Prohibit generative images of atrocities. Use museum-approved visuals with context and citations.
• Protect student data. Do not upload personal information or sensitive reflections to third-party tools.

What to avoid

• Unverified quotes or stories without citations.
• Any content that trivializes suffering or turns it into a game.
• Open-ended generation on sensitive topics without a source set.

Get started this month

• Pick one unit and one essential question.
• Curate 8-12 trusted sources from the links above.
• Set up a retrieval-based assistant with citation requirements.
• Pilot one activity (timeline, quiz, or primary-source summary). Gather student feedback and refine.

Build your AI skills (fast)

If you want a quick way to level up your prompts and classroom workflows, explore these resources:

• Complete AI Training: Courses by Job

Teaching the Holocaust demands accuracy, context, and care. Used responsibly, AI helps you deliver that at scale-while you keep the human piece front and center.