Starting from the upcoming school year, Slovak high school students will be visiting concentration camps as part of their history lessons, reported the Slovak Public Broadcaster RTVS on Monday. The Education Ministry recommended locations where teenagers could go while learning about the holocaust. The list includes concentration camps in Auschwitz, Poland, Terezín in the Czech Republic, the Holocaust Museum in Sereď and the Memorial of Roma holocaust in Dubnica nad Váhom, both in Western Slovakia, as well as the Museum of Jewish Culture in Bratislava. Moreover, the Education Ministry recommends visits to the Slovak towns and villages where Jews and Roma minority faced reprisals.
"It is a duty for all of us to explain very patiently to our students and youth what is good and what is not,"
said Education Minister Peter Plavčan. Marek Fejéš, a special pedagogue dealing with extremism prevention, approves the initiative. However, he finds it important to explain to students what they will see.
"Children could have different reactions. Some are strong, some could collapse. However, the initiative is more positive than negative."
The initiative is a reaction of the Education Ministry to the results of the General Election which took place in March this year, when the far right Kotleba-People's Party our Slovakia was elected to the parliament.
