How is Jewish culture and history portrayed in contemporary German history textbooks? The authors examine books from several German Länder, which are currently approved for use at lower secondary school level, in order to address this question. In their study they explore representations of Jewish history in the teaching units covering ancient history and antiquity, the Middle Ages, the early modern era, the Enlightenment and mid nineteenth century Germany (the Vormärz period), imperial Germany and the Weimar Republic as well as the depiction of persecution and extermination during the National Socialist period. The authors' approach took into consideration both the interpretation and positioning of the historical content as well as the difficulties associated with conveying the subject matter. One of the central findings was the fact that Jewish history continues to be related predominantly as a story of persecution and victimhood, despite repeated calls for a shift in perspective.

Dr. Martin Liepach ist am Pädagogischen Zentrum Fritz Bauer Institut & Jüdisches Museum Frankfurt tätig. Dr. Dirk Sadowski ist Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am Georg-Eckert-Institut für internationale Schulbuchforschung in Braunschweig.