Summary of the article on the visit to Ukraine by students and teachers of the Secondary Teacher Training College Sittard (Part of Fontys University of Applied Sciences), by Maurice Heemels.

In march 2009 a delegation of students and teachers of the Secondary Teacher Training College Sittard visited Ukraine. Their goal was to learn about the Holocaust in Ukraine between 1941 and 1944 and to experience how Ukrainian teachers deal with this topic in school nowadays. The delegation learned that teaching Ukrainian children about the Holocaust in their country is still in an early stage. But that can be seen a very positive, because for many years the Holocaust was a 'forbidden topic'. During the Soviet years talking and writing about the Holocaust was almost impossible and even after Ukraine had become independent (1991) it was rather unusual to do so. One of the other reasons why the Holocaust was rarely spoken about, was probably the fact that many Ukrainians had supported the German occupants in persecuting their Jewish neighbours. As a matter of fact, the persecution of Jews in Eastern parts of Europe was even more inhumane and violent than in Western Europe. Ukraine is full of places connected with this horrible part of its history.
Until recently many Ukrainians, especially younger ones, didn't even seem to know the meaning of the word 'Holocaust' itself. Since a few years however, Ukrainian and foreign historians have begun to write about this almost unknown part of the Ukrainian history. And in schools, teachers have carefully begun to tell their students about it. Ukrainian history teacher Olexandr, 'Sacha' Voytenko travels through his immense country to inspire his colleagues in teaching about the Holocaust. In a quite impressive workshop he showed our delegation several ways 'to do it'. The time spent in Ukrainian classrooms on the topic is still relatively small, but can - regarding the past years of 'absolute silence' - be seen as an important break-through.

The article will be published in: Kleio, Tijdschrift van de Vereniging van docenten Geschiedenis en staatsinrichting in Nederland (Dutch association of teachers and students of history), volume 7, november 2009.In maart van dit jaar bezochten studenten geschiedenis en docenten van de Fontys Lerarenopleiding Sittard Oekraïne. Ze deden dat samen met andere Nederlandse en Belgische studenten en docenten om meer te weten te komen over de Holocaust in het land en de omgang met dit pijnlijke thema in het Oekraïense geschiedenisonderwijs. Dit artikel is een verslag van de bevindingen van de Limburgse delegatieleden.