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Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission

How to Teach About Genocides

Best Practices:

It is common for educators to be overwhelmed at the prospect of teaching young people about genocides. The THGAAC is committed to offering workshops and other programs that build educators’ pedagogical and content mastery. The Commission also stresses adherence to methodological guidelines and curriculum standards, which help to establish a necessary framework for approaching the subjects in the classroom.

The THGAAC does not recommend explicit lessons on genocide before 6th grade. Middle school instruction on the subject should avoid its more disturbing themes and images. For high school and middle school instruction, educators should follow USHMM Guidelines on Teaching About Genocide.

Genocide Definition:

The UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines genocide as “any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such:

  1. Killing members of the group;
  2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
  3. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
  4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
  5. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group."

Additional Insights:

Dr. Gregory Stanton has outlined a model of the 10 Stages of Genocide. Learn about them here.

The online resources of the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum also feature a set of graphic novels based on the 10 Stages of Genocide and a set of downloadable posters based on the 10 Stages of Genocide.

At the same time, close examination of historical events demonstrates that no two genocides, or even two victims of the same genocide, are completely alike. Any study of the subject should recognize both commonalities and differences between the histories.