According to Zimmerman, most students in her class know little about the Holocaust or the history of what she describes as church-sponsored “anti-Judaism.” As one of the creators of the course, she says, “My greatest challenge in teaching this subject has been to create bridges to non-Jewish students. I am amazed how little they know about the basic precepts of Judaism.”
To help bridge that gap, Zimmerman gives her students a basic introduction to Judaism as part of her popular semester-long course.
That primer covers everything from what it means to be kosher, to basic beliefs of Judaism to the founding of Israel.
“A lot of these students come from families where they are the first ones to go to college,” says Zimmerman. “Many of them have never seen a Jew.”
In the past, for instance, when she’s asked her students to define the meaning of kosher, one response she received was “a pickle.”
As part of the class, Zimmerman brings in two survivors to describe their experience and to answer students’ questions about the Holocaust.
Teaching the Holocaust to non-Jewish college students also was the subject of a research paper Zimmerman presented in April at the Prime Minister’s International Conference on the Legacy of Holocaust Survivors held at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.
Her paper explained how an instructor can prepare both college students and a Holocaust survivor for the encounter.
In her paper, “The Moral and Ethical Implications of Survivor Testimony to Promote Interfaith Understanding at a Catholic University,” Zimmerman says, “The greatest learning from the survivor encounter occurs when students can confront survivors with their own questions, thoughtfully prepared in advance, rehearsed in role-plays with others, and asked at the conclusion of the survivor’s presentation. Thus, students and survivor create a joint narrative in which the student shares ownership. Dialogue replaces silence.”
In an interview, Zimmerman described the voice of the survivor as “very precious.” Quoting writer Elie Wiesel, Zimmerman said, “a person who listens to a witness becomes a witness.” She said students in her class have proven that statement true: they return to describe how they have shared survivors’ stories with family and friends after the visits.
In preparing her students, Zimmerman feels strongly that they must have some information about the troubled relationship between Jews and the church.
After this historical background, assignments include drafting questions, brainstorming in small groups and role playing by asking questions of fellow students. Without preparation and reassurance, students are afraid to ask personal questions, she says.
According to Zimmerman, survivor testimony can prompt three types of moral and ethical responses in students. First, they can develop moral courage and incorporate the concept of “Never again!”
Second, they learn tolerance and that acceptance of religious and ethnic differences should be acted upon. And third, they can learn how to improve Christian-Jewish relationships.
Zimmerman, who earned her doctorate in counseling psychology from the University of San Francisco, began teaching the course at the suggestion of a former chaplain at Notre Dame.
Her commitment to teach about the Holocaust stems in part from the experience of her father, a Jewish refugee who left Nazi Germany in 1937. A physician, Werner Leo Loewenstein moved to the United States and later served in Germany as part of General Patton’s Third Army. He entered the Buchenwald concentration camp after its liberation on April 11, 1945.
“He was both a survivor and a liberator, embodying a double whammy of guilt, and is my legacy,” Zimmerman says. “This is what motivated me to study and teach about the Holocaust, become involved in Holocaust Remembrance Day services and be aware of the need to develop models of interfaith understanding.”