海角大神

For Auschwitz survivor Nahman Kahana, memories of the trains, the bodies, and the hunger were too much to bear once he arrived, 鈥渆uphorically,鈥� to Israel in 1948,聽he says. Plus, it wasn't a popular topic in the new state, where Jews were trying to carve out a new identity as strong and independent. (Editor's note: The original version misspelled Mr. Kahana's name.)

Holocaust survivors were known here by the derogatory moniker, 鈥渟abon,鈥� or soap, in reference to the rumors that Nazis made soap from the skin of Jews in the camps. Mr. Kahana preferred to forget the shameful memory of being 鈥渟heep led to the slaughter.鈥�

So only recently has he found the fortitude to remember the 鈥渄ay-to-day hell鈥� of an adolescence spent in German Nazi death camps, so he winces at a new Israeli plan to start teaching the Holocaust as early as first grade.

鈥淭his story is even difficult for an adult,鈥� he tells me over tea in his modest Jerusalem apartment. 鈥淗ow can a child understand it?鈥�

But in recent years interest in the Holocaust has grown, and 鈥� and the world 鈥� of the dangers of not acting against existential threats facing the state of Israel.聽

Israeli schools formally teach the Holocaust beginning in the 11^th 聽grade, which is often followed by a class trip to the sites of former German Nazi camps in present-day Poland, and it is not uncommon for Israeli soldiers to tour Israel鈥檚 national Holocaust memorial museum, Yad Vashem, as they prepare to defend the country against its enemies.

Now, however, Israel is planning to introduce a new curriculum, designed in coordination with Yad Vashem, to teach the Holocaust to all students, beginning in first grade, Education Minister Shai Piron announced last month.

Supporters say the plan will provide a platform through which young Israelis can understand their people鈥檚 history, and Mr. Piron has promised it will be age-appropriate, but Kahana and others say it will scar children unnecessarily. Many are also calling the plan a political ploy meant to guilt and traumatize children into a certain kind of patriotism.

鈥淚n the first grade you learn how to read and write, not about Treblinka,鈥� wrote columnist Uri Misgav in a blog for the left-leaning Haaretz newspaper. 鈥淎s it is, the kids in the education system are being frightened by numerous memorial ceremonies and endless drills to prepare them for catastrophes鈥�. Enough with this psychosis.鈥�

A profusion of psychologists and teachers have also come out in the Israeli press, backing parents' fears that their 6-year-olds may simply be too young for such a demanding subject.

鈥淓ven if they only hear stories of the persecution and annihilation of Jews, they may think that others want to do similar acts to them. This could raise fears that young children are less able to manage,鈥� Anat Zohar, an education professor at Hebrew University, told Channel 2 news.

Indeed, focus on the Holocaust is often linked to fear of enemies. Only聽in 1982, after successive wars with neighboring Arab countries had fostered the fear of an 鈥渆xistential threat,鈥� to the state, did Israel mandate Holocaust education in high schools. And today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu frequently invokes the Holocaust in urging the international community to crack down on Iran's nuclear program.

Kahana says Netanyahu's comparison may be an exaggeration, but admits that they resonate with mainstream Israeli mentality. And while he is ambivalent about the sense of survivalism as a reality of Israeli identity, he also hopes that "young children will not be brought into that war just yet, raised in that stress 鈥� the Holocaust." 聽

鈥淚 see my children and they don鈥檛 feel safe in their country,鈥� Kahana says.聽 鈥淲hen we鈥檙e at war, our fighters may think, my parents and grandparents fought here, we need to [do] everything in order not to be victimized.鈥�