There has been a lot of discussion on whether it is possible to learn from history – especially from the abysses of the 20th century. In the current political situation, this question seems to be more relevant than ever as quite a few people seem to have forgotten about the era of National Socialism and fascism. Although there might be a lot of reasons for this, I wondered whether the pedagogical approaches in history education could also be problematic and if there might still be ways to learn from history. Therefore, I investigated the connections that are drawn between the Nazi era and contemporary right-wing extremism in current history education in Germany. In my paper, I looked at history textbooks, but I also discovered a digital game, Hidden Codes, that approaches the topic in an innovative way.

Concerning the structure of textbooks, I found out that only 16 out of 28 history textbook series for the lower secondary level covered the topic of contemporary right-wing extremism; and almost all of these 16 textbooks placed the topic at the end of the chapter about National Socialism, usually presenting it as a lasting legacy. This textbook structure may have two effects: first, when today’s right-wing extremism is locked away as a problem of the Nazi past, it cannot be explained and understood in the context of contemporary history. And, second, it contributes to a ‘polished’ narrative about unified Germany as the topic does not resurface again in the respective chapter.

As to the pedagogical approaches to the topic, I identified predominantly two, the moral response and the analytical approach. The moral response approach tends to simplify today’s right-wing extremism as a phenomenon of the fringes, it also prescribes students how to think and judge about it. The analytic approach, on the other hand, characterizes right-wing extremism in a more nuanced way as an anti-democratic, illiberal and violent political movement with a modern face while giving students more room to explore the phenomenon by themselves. Interestingly, the game Hidden Codes followed an entirely different approach by focusing on problem-solving: as girl or boy at a new school the player has to decide how to react when one girl turns out to be right-wing extremist. The game aims to convey a complex picture of right-wing extremism through its story and offers empowering subject positions to the players.

Teaching about the Nazi era and the Holocaust will remain important. But we have known for some time that it does not work directly as prevention of right-wing extremism. Since the Nazi past is moving further away for the younger generations, we need to pay more attention to the present and the lifeworlds of the students, which are not only shaped by the “Age of Extremes” (Eric Hobsbawm), but also by the immediate, post-1989 past.

History education as prevention: the topic of right-wing extremism in German educational media by Maren Tribukait (Leibniz Institute for Educational Media, Georg Eckert Institute, Braunschweig, Germany) is published in History Education Research Journal, volume 21.

history education citizenship education right-wing extremism National Socialism prevention history textbooks serious games