American Research Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

The gradual disappearance of Holocaust survivors has intensified concerns about how memories of the Holocaust can be preserved and transmitted to future generations. In response, educational institutions, memorial organizations, and heritage initiatives have developed formal and informal approaches intended to sustain collective remembrance. Within these approaches, experiential learning has gained particular importance because direct engagement with historical places, monuments, and commemorative spaces can connect learners with the human dimensions of the past. This study examines Holocaust remembrance through the experiential practice of educational journeys to Poland, with particular attention to the role of Israeli guides who interpret Holocaust sites for visitors.

The research investigates how guides understand their responsibilities as mediators of historical memory and how they determine the narratives, locations, and educational messages presented during these journeys. Interviews were conducted with 47 guides, most of whom were born in Israel, had academic backgrounds, and included a substantial number with advanced degrees. The findings indicate that the guides generally possess considerable knowledge and educational resources for presenting the Holocaust from both Jewish and broader human perspectives. Nevertheless, their commemorative practices tend to place the greatest emphasis on former ghettos, concentration camps, extermination sites, and other memorial locations in Poland. This emphasis raises important questions about the geographical framing of Holocaust memory and the extent to which remembrance has become concentrated outside Israel.

The study therefore considers the implications of what may be described as the “externalization” of historical memory. Although journeys to Poland can provide powerful opportunities for confronting the physical sites associated with the Holocaust, an exclusive concentration on these locations may reduce awareness of the extensive commemorative landscape within Israel. Israeli museums, monuments, memorial centers, heritage sites, and places associated with Holocaust survivors and the development of the Jewish state provide additional contexts through which Holocaust memory can be understood. Integrating these sites into educational practice may strengthen the relationship between destruction, survival, remembrance, national reconstruction, and intergenerational responsibility. The study ultimately argues for a more balanced commemorative framework in which Poland remains an important component of Holocaust education but is considered alongside the diverse sites and narratives through which Holocaust memory has been constructed and transmitted.

Keywords: Holocaust Education; Collective Memory; Experiential Learning; Holocaust Commemoration; Educational Journeys to Poland.