Impact case study database
Re-orienting Holocaust Education to the Fate of Children under the Nazis
1. Summary of the impact
Müller's research focuses on the fate of children under Nazi rule and their testimonies. This work has had significant impacts on charities, schools, as well as organisations and authorities, in both the North-East of England and South Africa, shaping the education of multiple publics about youth in the Third Reich. Müller's travelling exhibition on children's lives under Nazi rule and associated learning resources have expanded and deepened existing educational provision through their new focus on depicting war children's voices from all walks of life. These interventions have been particularly effective for educating young learners. The resultant changes in educational practices and resources have enriched the awareness of schoolchildren, vulnerable youths, as well as adult exhibition audiences about the dangers of racism. Müller's research has also shaped Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) commemorations and related creative arts performances in the North-East.
2. Underpinning research
Whilst there is no shortage of scholarship on World War II and the Holocaust, the 'children’s turn' in that area is a recent phenomenon, as is the scholarly reorientation to incorporate analysis of the early post-war period. Müller's research focuses on neglected sources about the experiences, voices, and representations of children under the Nazis in early post-war archival collections, especially ego-documents from the young (such as testimonies and school essays). These sources yield new insights into children's lives and their wartime memories, which – as Müller's research shows – are used for overcoming trauma and carving out new identities after geopolitical rupture. Müller's work enriches existing Holocaust education by shifting attention away from adults, focusing instead on learning about children other than Anne Frank. Her work offers:
analyses of primary material that is not widely known and which has been carefully sourced from a range of different archives in Israel, Germany, the US, and the UK (PUB1-6);
new insights into the social, political, historical, and epistemological background that was driving testimony and school essay collections in the 1940s and 1950s, as well as a close reading and discourse analysis of this primary source material. These analyses result in a new cultural history of the figure and the voice of the war child in the post-war imaginary (PUB1-6);
analyses of how young German war children affected by World War II processed their experiences in their testimonials, namely by using recollections of past events to create what Müller calls 'communities of responsibility', which in turn allows carving out new identities and intergenerational reconciliation based on moral evaluations and ideological re-orientation (PUB1&2);
the first English translation of hitherto unpublished Yiddish child Holocaust testimonies (PUB3).
By exploring under-researched early post-war primary archival material through critical discourse analysis, Müller’s work has made important interventions into Holocaust Studies, World War II Studies, and Childhood Studies; these achievements have been recognised by the award of internal and external funding, including fellowships from international funders and the Leverhulme Trust. What is unique to Müller's body of work is that her studies encompass primary, unpublished sources relating to Jewish child victims of the Holocaust as well as to German Gentile children who lived under the influence of the Nazis, which lays the ground for comparative work across the two constituencies. The focus on children’s voices establishes war children as witnesses and subjects, not just objects, of history. This approach fills a gap not only in research terms but also in existing educational provision and representational practices relating to the Third Reich and the Holocaust, which remain focused on adults' agency.
3. References to the research
Müller B.: '"Es war nicht richtig, daß Hitler die Juden ausstieß": Judenverfolgung im Spiegel Nürnberger Schüleraufsätze von 1946', in: Francesca Weil / André Postert / Alfons Kenkmann (eds.): Kindheiten im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Halle 2018, pp.318-36. (available on request)
Müller B. / D. Pinfold / U. Wölfel: The War Child in the Occupation Period (1945-1949). Special, guest-edited issue for German Life and Letters (GLL), 69.4 (October 2016). Includes introduction 'Cradle and Crucible of "Vergangenheitsbewältigung"', co-authored with Pinfold/Wölfel, pp.417-36, and Müller's article '"Der Mann, den ich vergötterte, hat uns ins Unglück geführt": The Post-war Crisis of Consciousness as Mirrored in Essays and Questionnaires by Nuremberg's Schoolchildren in 1946', pp.453-67.
(DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/glal.12128 and https://doi.org/10.1111/glal.12130 respectively).
- Müller B. / B. Cohen: 'A Teacher and his Students: Child Holocaust Testimonies from Early Postwar Polish Bytom', in: East European Jewish Affairs (EEJA) 46.1 (2016), pp.68-115
(DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/13501674.2016.1153878).
Müller B. / B. Cohen: 'The 1945 Bytom Notebook: Searching for the Lost Voices of Child Holocaust Survivors'. In: Boeling, R. et al. (ed).: Freilegungen: Überlebende – Erinnerungen – Transformationen. Göttingen 2013, pp.122-37. (available on request)
Müller B.: 'Translating Trauma: David Boder's 1946 Interviews with Holocaust Survivors', in: Translation and Literature 2014, 23(2), pp. 257-71.
(DOI https://doi.org/10.3366/tal.2014.0155).
- Müller B.: 'Trauma, Historiography and Polyphony: Adult Voices in the CJHC's Early Post-War Child Holocaust Testimonies', in: History and Memory 2012, 24(2), pp.157-95.
(DOI https://doi.org/10.2979/histmemo.24.2.157).
The above publications are at least 2*. PUB2, 3, 5 and 6 have been through these journals' rigorous reviewing processes. GLL (PUB2) is the UK's leading journal for German Studies; EEJA (PUB3) serves as the leading global journal dealing with both Jews in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union as well as Ashkenazic Jews; Translation and Literature (PUB5) practises double blind peer-reviewing by two readers, and the special issue in which PUB5 appeared was guest-edited by Peter Davies and Andrea Hammel, both renowned experts in Holocaust Studies; History and Memory (PUB6) is published by Indiana UP and has a first-class reputation across the range of areas in which its articles intervene. PUB1 and 4 were reviewed by the editors of the books; in both cases, the editors are internationally known experts in the field and therefore in an excellent position to judge the quality of Müller's work.
4. Details of the impact
Types of impact. The research has had an impact on understanding, learning, and awareness of both adolescent and adult publics. It has also impacted on teaching practices and resource provision, practitioners in schools and charities, creative arts, and on public services.
Approaches to impact. In order to help educate publics outside of academia about the consequences of war and racism as epitomised by the Holocaust, Müller developed multi-pronged materials:
a) a travelling exhibition on 'Children under the Nazis', curated by Müller in collaboration with the South African Holocaust and Genocide Foundation (SAHGF) in 2016/17;
b) a portfolio of cognate interactive teaching and learning materials aimed primarily at secondary schools where the Holocaust is compulsory in the syllabus (years 9 & 11 in South Africa and KS III in England);
c) a project website (from November 2017; see http://teaching.ncl.ac.uk/childrenunderthenazis/) which provides global, free access to the exhibition and the associated learning resources;
d) a range of public talks about the research, for 'live' delivery to charities and local authorities, as well as for online repositories and thus global dissemination (e.g. Johannesburg Holocaust Centre soundcloud (May 2018) or a commissioned talk for the German website of Yad Vashem, Israel's leading Holocaust research and memorial organisation (January 2013), https://tinyurl.com/u4v93q7).
Reach. The most significant impact of Müller's research has been in South Africa and in the North-East of England – locations chosen as foci of activities, because both have considerable problems with deprivation, discrimination, violence, and racism. Hence their adolescent learners and wider publics stand to benefit greatly from anti-racist education as provided by Müller's research and resources.
The largest constituency of beneficiaries is made up of young learners from both countries. Müller's interactive workshops have directly benefited more than 1,000 secondary school students in Cape Town, Durban, and Johannesburg (2017/18, IMP1, 3, 7, 8). In North-East England, approximately 2,300 users have had access to the exhibition used by teachers at their schools (Boldon School, Newcastle College, and St Mary's Catholic School (IMP2); all 2019); about 100 vulnerable adolescents have been reached through Müller's exhibition-based workshops organised by local charities. Thus, Müller's programme has also been run with disadvantaged youths through working with relevant charities, e.g. in workshops with 68 adolescent members (aged 13–17) of the Cleveland Volunteer Police Cadets (May 2018), and with 4 different learner groups at Humankind (formerly DISC) in Newton Aycliffe (County Durham), during a one-day anti-racism event (26 March 2018) aimed mainly at post-16 unemployed drop-outs (IMP1, pp. 2, 4-5).
In addition, approximately 50 professional Holocaust educators, history teachers, and social/charity workers have benefited from training received for using Müller's resources, which facilitated practice uptake by their organisations.
Impact on understanding, learning, and awareness. The exhibition educates learners about historical dangers of racism and social exclusion, and their relevance for today's world. In South Africa, the Holocaust is studied as a paradigm for racism, extremism, and genocide. Müller conducted extended trips to the country's three-centred Holocaust and Genocide Foundation (SAHGF; June 2017 and April/May 2018), where she delivered interactive workshops to approx. 1,000 visiting schoolchildren and their teachers from 7 different schools in Cape Town, 3 in Durban, and 4 in Johannesburg. Feedback received stressed the value arising from the focus on children, the interactive nature of the peer-guided learning process, and the deepened understanding of the impact of war. Learners praised the exhibition as an eye-opener (IMP1, p. 3, 5) and said the focus on children's sufferings "made the topic more relevant and showed how the Holocaust affected even the most innocent people" (IMP1, p. 13). The exhibition's information on David Boder's oral history interviews illustrated for learners "how important it is to hear experiences from the voices of survivors" (IMP1, p. 13). One student commented: "I learnt about the existence of voice recorded testimonies. I look forward to viewing them on the website" (IMP1, p.5). Teachers were impressed, too; one regarded the exhibition-cum-workshop as "the most educationally useful activity" of the SAHGF's educational programme (IMP1, p.15).
In the North-East of England, students from colleges and secondary schools have likewise benefited from working with the exhibition, e.g. Boldon School or OnCampus Sunderland, whose young international learners wrote they "gained a deeper understanding" of the Holocaust, and a teacher felt the programme was "so worthwhile" that it "should be rolled out as widely as possible" (IMP1, p.14). The students benefited from the focus on youth, as confirmed by the Head of History of St Mary's Catholic School : "We believe the students gain a lot from the exhibition. In particular, the students engaged with the ‘in their own words’ panels as this gives students a real insight into individual accounts, which really brings the true story to life for the students. In addition, the students find it more engaging having accounts and information about children their own age and their experience, they found it more shocking hearing the impact on children living under Nazi rule as well as the impact on adults." As a result, her school "would love to have the panels every year" (IMP2).
While in South Africa, Müller also gave two very well received public talks (May 2018 in Johannesburg's Holocaust Centre, 50 attendees; June 2017 in Cape Town, approximately 60 participants). The Director of the Cape Town Holocaust Centre wrote: "Many attendees reflected that the talk and the exhibition presented new knowledge and made them thus engage in a fresh way with the topic of post war testimony, especially that of young people" (IMP3).
In England, impact on public awareness and understanding has arisen from public engagement activities organised in liaison with local authorities, educational organisations, and charities. Here, Müller's work has reached a wide range of different beneficiaries. Thus, the exhibition was on public display in the City Library as part of Newcastle City Council's HMD programme for 2018 (12 February 2018-11 March 2018); one visitor appreciated learning a "new perspective on a well-known topic" (IMP1, p. 6), another "enjoyed reading about contemporary testimonies and the range of primary sources", and someone else wrote that the "exhibition is very thought provoking and I am now very interested in more research of this subject" (IMP1, p.7). Müller's project informed Newcastle's HMD 2019 and 2020 in two ways: (a) North Tyneside City Council showed the exhibition in The Quadrant in January, and the panels will now form a permanent fixture of this council's annual HMD programme; (b) a range of creative arts performances created by the Arts Council-funded Skimstone Arts, performed repeatedly in the North-East (January, June, September 2019; January 2020), drew on information supplied by Müller, as the Artistic Director confirmed: "Dr Beate Muller's input was extremely beneficial as it signposted me to testimonies I would not otherwise have known about. These testimonies and her knowledge […] gave me very rich material to read which [was] influencing some of the content for our public performances of Peace process-ion2" [sic] (IMP4). This "powerful […] collaboration" with Müller, she added, influenced 'Peace Procession 3' and became a "key inspiration" for the HMD-related radio broadcasts of 'Who Holds the Torch' (IMP4). In November 2020, North Tyneside Council's HMD Working Group asked Müller to record a video talk on children under the Nazis as part of their portfolio of activities for HMD2021; this 23 minutes long video has already been circulated to local schools by the Council's Schools Improvement Advisor, and a hard copy deposited with the Religious Resources Centre (RRC) in North Shields, where the exhibition was shown (October 2018), which, together with an associated public talk (15 November 2018), attracted approximately 150 visitors (IMP5).
Impact on practice, practitioners, and public services. Müller's research on authentic, early post-war war children's voices and their pedagogical value for today's teachings has reached educators and practitioners, e.g. through her delivery of a teacher training session about survivor testimonies for a CPD course for the national Holocaust Education Trust (Leicester, February 2017). The RRC's Director wrote that "the exhibition was an excellent asset in the continuing professional development of the Religious Resources Centre's staff team" as "the focus on young people was an area many of us had not considered before. It has enriched our ability to support our members" (IMP5). Having worked closely with North Tyneside City Council in the context of their HMD programme, Müller was asked to join the council's HMD Working Group (April 2020), and so shall help shape future commemorative events (IMP6).
In South Africa, Müller trained 20 SAHGF educators and staff on how to use the exhibition with young learners. SAHGF "educators in all three Holocaust Centres have been very excited to use the exhibition as a teaching tool" and "feel confident to run the programme using [Müller's] material" [IMP3]. SAHGF staff adapted Müller’s educational programme by developing an alternative set of worksheets suitable for smaller learner groups and shorter time slots for off-site usage, which they then ran with 102 students across 4 Cape Town schools in 2017. In 2018, SAHGF staff used Müller's materials with 238 learners from 5 local schools in Johannesburg (IMP7), and in spring 2019, Redhill School in Johannesburg borrowed the exhibition for 3 weeks, training some of their students as guides who then facilitated the learning of hundreds of their peers. There has therefore been practice uptake by the SAHGF. The three SAHGF directors praised the engaging nature of the programme, stressed the effectiveness of the focus on children for young learners ("exhibition finds great interest in the 14 to 17 years old age group as it speaks about experiences of youth like them", IMP7), and expressed their gratitude for the "enhancement of our teaching materials" (IMP8) through the permanent deposition of two physical exhibition copies with the SAHGF.
Significance. Müller's research has changed public awareness about how children fared under the Nazis, it has deepened beneficiaries' historical knowledge about World War II, and has demonstrated the dangers of racism today especially to adolescent learners. Thus, young learners commented that "This exhibition opened my eyes. […] I’ve learnt the importance of not categorising others." (IMP1, p.3). Another one wrote about the importance not to "stereotype, be judgemental and be prejudiced because we are all equal" (IMP1, p.5). In South Africa, students often made explicit links between racism during Nazi rule and under the Apartheid regime: "The rules the Nazis used were similar to the ones used during apartheid", wrote one learner (IMP1, p.5). The students understood the relevance of studying the Holocaust: "The most important thing I learnt today", one of them said, "was why and how genocide develops, and why we learn about it today." (IMP1, p.11).
Müller's activities have enriched educational and public engagement practices of charities, local authorities, and schools in South Africa and the North-East of England.
5. Sources to corroborate the impact
IMP1 – Selective summative analysis of feedback questionnaires received from young learners, teachers, and members of the public who saw the exhibition or heard a public talk delivered by Müller.
IMP2 – Letter of Support (LoS) from the Head of History at St Mary's Catholic School, Newcastle, emailed on 15 January 2020. Letter states that more than 1,200 students and 200 staff had access to the exhibition in June/July 2019 at the school, that the resource was used with approximately 100 year 9 history students, praises usefulness of exhibition for students, and affirms desire to keep using it on an annual basis.
IMP3 – LoS by Director of South African Holocaust and Genocide Foundation (SAHGF), Cape Town, 2 August 2017, attests to the relevance and usefulness of the exhibition to young learners in South Africa, the success of Müller's workshops run with students at the Cape Town centre, and the readiness and willingness of the centre's educators to use Müller's materials in the future.
IMP4 – LoS by the Artistic Director of the company Skimstone Arts, a creative arts performances charity (no. 1182284) funded by the Arts Council England and the Lottery. The letter, dated 8 February 2021, emphasizes the significance of Müller's expertise for the creation of performance pieces 'Peace Process-ion2' and 'Peace Procession3', which had been commissioned by Newcastle City Council for HMD2019 and HMD2020 respectively. LoS refers to Müller as "key inspiration" for HMD2021-related radio show 'Who Holds the Torch'.
IMP5 – LoS from the Director of the Religious Resources Centre in North Shields, dated 4 January 2019. Letter attests to the exhibition being an "excellent asset" for the public and staff at RRC.
IMP6 – LoS from the School Improvement Advisor, North Tyneside Council, dated 9 February 2021, detailing the display and dissemination of the exhibition in the context of the council's HMD programmes for 2019 and 2020, stating they "are hoping that it [=the exhibition] may become a permanent fixture of our HMD programme in years to come"; letter also welcomes Müller as a new member to the Council's HMD Working Group and attests to Müller's contributions to HMD 2021 preparations in the context of that working group.
IMP7 – LoS from the Director of the Johannesburg SAHGF centre, dated 31 October 2018. Letter praises Müller's activities in Johannesburg, attests to the gratitude of the centre for receiving their own physical copy of the exhibition, affirms the appeal of the exhibition with young learners, and the willingness of the centre's staff to work with the exhibition under their own steam.
IMP8 – LoS from the Director of the Durban SAHGF centre, dated 31 October 2018. Letter details schools who have worked with the exhibition, expresses gratefulness for the "enhancement of our teaching materials", and says the materials are "extremely useful".
Additional contextual information
Grant funding
| Grant number | Value of grant |
|---|---|
| RF-2019-439\6 | £48,642 |