How WWII Is Taught In Various Countries

From Redditor u/Esco91:

All kids have to go on a few visits that all revolve around the [H]olocaust and systems of German government and why they are that way, to places like concentration camps and the Reichstag.

In that way, it's not really taught so much as history, but tied in with the modern era; our kids do a lot of stuff about the reasons behind why things are today.

Redditor u/oeynhausener adds:

It was brought up frequently; each year there would be at least one course that had at least related topics. Also, one year of the whole history course would be... dedicated to the "[T]hird Reich," its origins and its consequences. Lots of facts, no whitewashing. Teachers would often use movies and lectures, too; Schindler's List being a popular one, for example.

I remember that a lot of the students were complaining due to how often it was brought up, like, "Man, we're reading [this] sh*t again in language course"... On the other hand, it did occur quite frequently that some kids were legitimately freaked out in history class when having to face the actual facts and seeing the pictures and stuff - then again, who wouldn't freak out facing Schindler's List as a kid.

Some courses also made educational class trips to concentration camps (you had the chance to nope out though if it got [to be] too much).

Redditor u/antaran adds:

Operational history of WWII is almost not taught at all. There is maybe a short overview of the... events for both [theaters] for a single 45-minute lesson, but that's pretty much it.

History teaching in Germany is focused on a meta level; i.e., the rise of fascism, the (constitutional) flaws of the Weimar Republic, how Hitler slowly accumulated power and installed a dictatorship, the Holocaust, German atrocities, the Allied plans for post-war Germany, etc.

While some of the most notorious German camps are located in relatively far-off Poland, Sachsenhausen is just a few miles from Berlin, making it well-situated as a destination for school field trips.

Amid concerns about rising antisemitism in Germany, educators encourage concentration camp visits to give students a better understanding of their own history. In some schools, the trips are mandatory.

Sachsenhausen, now a museum, offers guided tours that explain the realities of camp life and try to make the inmates' historical experience more vivid.

For years, the education ministries of Japan and South Korea have engaged in a sort of proxy conflict, escalating claims against one another in textbook descriptions of WWII. Among the points at issue is the ownership of the Liancourt Rocks, a group of islets in the Sea of Japan, which South Korea claims were ceded by Japan along with other offshore possessions after WWII.

More remotely, but still in living memory for some, is the fate of the Korean "comfort women" who were impressed into sexual servitude for Japanese soldiers. In 2015, only one of the history textbooks approved by Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, and Technology even mentioned comfort women. That same year, Japan offered reparations to former comfort women who still survived, but the issue wasn't put to rest, as this dark chapter of history continued to be a bone of contention in diplomacy between the two nations.

From Redditor u/Yegonator:

The [F]rench education system was even more Eurocentric than the [A]merican [system], with a large portion of the education based around the shame of the government cooperation and the history of the [F]rench [R]esistance. The Vichy government is talked about with about as much shame and disgust as the [H]olocaust.

If you visit a museum, they receive about the same amount of space within the museum, [and] you get the same impression of how terrible both acts were. It's impossible not to feel the effects of the war, as when the Allies liberated the country, most cities received full-scale bombings and large portions had to be rebuilt. Little to no time is given to non-European parts of the war.

From a former Redditor:

[W]e learn about concentration camps, how lots of [J]ews were deported by train to [E]astern [E]urope from here (the [N]etherlands) to eventually die/be killed there. [W]e learn about the resistance movements here. [T]here are multiple children/youth books starring resistance members, and overall people involved in the resistance are seen as heroes.

[W]e don't talk about the people who were members of the NSB (the [D]utch [Right Wing] party); we learn they existed but most people wouldn't admit someone in their family was a member of the NSB.

[W]e learn about several common actions by the resistance. [H]iding people ([J]ews, but also [D]utch young guys pressed for military or industrial service for [G]ermany, [A]merican/[C]anadian/[E]nglish pilots who crashed, and even [G]erman deserters) is a big one.

[A]nother well-known resistance action was destroying registration. [A]pparently the [N]etherlands had a relative good registration of citizens, including information on who was [J]ewish, which made it easy for the [G]ermans to locate [J]ews, so destroying paperwork saved a lot of lives.

From Redditor u/DamaHam:

First of all, it of course is highly concentrated on the conflicts in Europe. From what I remember there was emphasis on the everyday lives of the civilians such as those found in the ghettos created in Polish cities.

My history teacher described situations where starvation was rampant throughout these ghettos and... some people were so desperate as to eat their pets, especially dogs or cats.