Exercise 2: Anti-Semitism
Theoretical introduction
The Jewish population in Europe is constantly decreasing since 1939 particularly in the Eastern and Central part of the continent. Yet, manifestations of antisemitism can be observed in both Eastern and Western Europe. In extreme cases, antisemitism threats health and life of members of the Jewish community, sustaining discussion about the future of their communities in Europe.
Anti-Semitims is an attitude that expresses discrimination, prejudice, aversion and hostility towards Jews and persons of Jewish origin, perceived as a religious, ethnic or racial group, for religious, economic or political reasons.
There is a range of strategies that can be used to diminish biases, stereotypes and prejudices.
A range of them is described in the UNESCO and OSCE publication created within the program Words Into Action (2020)[1]:
- Counter-stereotypic imaging: confronting with examples of information that is contrary to the stereotype;
- Individuation: getting to know members of a given community in order to emphasize their individual characteristics and show that a given group is not homogeneous;
- Recategorization: creating new parent categories that include members of different pre-existing categories; Perspective-taking: analyzing given case situations from the perspective of another person, imagining the experiences, thoughts, emotions of that person;
- Increasing opportunities for contact: creating opportunities for positive contact with representatives of the stigmatized groups in order to gain positive experiences in contact with its members;
- Priming creativity: increasing creativity in thinking (which, according to research, results in greater openness in general).
Task 1
Time: 20 min.
The goal of this exercise
- To make students reflect on attitudes towards national, ethnic, religious or racial groups in their societies.
- To make students aware that Jews are not the only group in a society that can be experiencing hostile attitudes.
Instruction for teacher
Divide students into pairs or small groups (3-4 persons). Ask students to analyse and discuss the following questions.
- Do you know attitudes analogous to antisemitism towards other national, ethnic, religious or racial groups?
- Which of them are particularly visible in your local community?
Ask students to write down their answers in the template_e-module4.21
Task 2
Time: 30 min.
The goal of this exercise
- To make students think creatively how the problem of stereotypes and prejudices can be diminished in everyday life by grassroot social initiatives in the local communities.
- To make students familiar with the strategies that can be used to diminish biases.
Instruction for teacher
Divide students into pairs or small groups (3-4 persons). Ask students to discuss how the above strategies can be applied to support diminishing biases, stereotypes and prejudices within their communities. Ask students to write down their answers in the Template. How could you apply the above strategies to support diminishing biases, stereotypes and prejudices within your community? Think about the examples listed in the Theoretical introduction.
Task 3
Time: 30 min.
The goal of this exercise
- To make students aware of the raise of the antisemitic incidents across the Europe.
- To make students reflect on the motivations behind the antsemitic behaviour.
Instruction for teacher
Divide students into pairs or small groups (3-4 persons). Ask to watch films and discuss motivations behind antisemitic behaviour. Watch the following material and discuss motivations behind antisemitic behaviour. Discuss in pairs or small groups what how antisemitic attitudes may be shaped. To what theories of bias shaping you can refer while explaining it?
[1] Addressing Anti-Semitism in Schools: Training Curricula (2020). Training Curriculum for Primary Education Teachers. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).