The St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum provides a variety of resources to educators to help them fulfill the Missouri State Holocaust Education Mandate. Please see below for more information or contact Helen Turner at HTurner@STLHolocaustMuseum.org.
Missouri State Holocaust Education Mandate
On June 30, 2022, Missouri Governor Mike Parson signed Senate Bill 681 to “inspire in students a sense of responsibility to recognize and uphold human value and to prevent future atrocities.” The bill designates the second week in April as Holocaust Education Week and requires districts to teach “a historical understanding of the Holocaust to offer context for the discussion on how and why the Holocaust happened.” The Missouri law supports and mirrors the Never Again Education Act (P.L. 116-141) enacted on May 29, 2020, by the United States Congress, which recognizes “Holocaust education provides a context in which to learn about the danger of what can happen when hate goes unchallenged and there is indifference in the face of oppression of others; learning how and why the Holocaust happened is an important component of the education of citizens of the United States.” This curriculum framework, written in collaboration with the Missouri Holocaust Education and Awareness Commission, is designed to help educators implement the requirements of Senate Bill 681 in Missouri schools. The bill gives districts latitude in determining when and how to teach the Holocaust “using age-appropriate instruction to elementary school students not lower than sixth grade and high school students.” The curriculum framework below will assist educators in integrating Holocaust education into their existing curriculums to best meet the needs of their students. While this curriculum framework is not mandated, it represents best practices in Holocaust education