During a project funded by the North Rhine-Westphalia ministry for schools and education (MSB) that ran from 2019 to 2022, the GEI examined the depictions of Jewish culture, history and religion in textbooks currently approved for teaching in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). The project was prompted by discussions surrounding historical and contemporary anti-Semitism in German society and the role played by schools and education – both in the sense of the possibility of them contributing to the dissemination of anti-Semitic stereotypes and from the point of view of preventing anti-Semitism.
Aims
The project examined how Jews and Judaism, Israel and the Middle-East conflict are portrayed in textbooks approved for use in schools in NRW for history, social studies, politics, geography, economics, ethics and German, as well as in textbooks for Catholic, Protestant and Islamic religious education. The principal question explored was the extent to which the textbooks succeeded in conveying the above-mentioned themes in all their diversity and without prejudice, and whether the material contained stereotypes or distortions that could evoke or even promote anti-Semitic attitudes.
Methodology
The project team examined a total of 252 textbooks in the selected subjects in the most comprehensive textbook analysis to date on this topic. Due to the large number of textbooks approved for German, it was only possible to analyse a randomised sample. This also applied to digital versions of the printed textbooks – in most cases in pdf format with additional functions. The books were analysed by researchers from the GEI, as well as external experts, using qualitative content analysis. In the examination of books for history teaching the GEI worked closely with the faculty for history teaching at Leipzig University and the Fritz Bauer Institute in Frankfurt am Main.
Results
A preliminary report on the study was submitted to the MSB in spring 2022. The final report was presented to North Rhine-Westphalia’s government committee for schools and education in February 2023. It is available on the MSB website:
https://www.schulministerium.nrw/antisemitismus-abschlussbericht-gei
The analysis revealed that the quality of portrayals of Jewish history, religion and culture varies widely, sometimes even within the same textbook. None of the analysed textbooks contained overtly anti-Semitic depictions but differing degrees of stereotypical images of Jews and Judaism featured in several textbooks (such as the frequent evocation of a connection between Jews and money in medieval representations in history textbooks). The study also found that anti-Semitic cartoons or Nazi propaganda posters were not generally sufficiently contextualised or deconstructed when used for illustrative purposes in corresponding textbook chapters. The frequently criticised focus on Jewish history being one characterised by discrimination and persecution also still persists in textbooks. However, despite any criticisms the study ascertained that textbook publishers have, for a number of years, attempted to present a balanced and unprejudiced view of Jewish history, culture and religion and that the more modern textbooks are successful in achieving such a depiction.
