Serbia to introduce ODIHR/Anne Frank House teaching materials on anti-Semitism in classrooms

The Serbian government and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) agreed on 28 April 2016, to implement teaching materials on anti-Semitism in classrooms across Serbia.   

ODIHR and the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam developed, in co-operation with national experts from 14 OSCE participating States, teaching materials to combat anti-Semitism that deal with a variety of aspects of this phenomenon.

ODIHR Director Michael Georg Link, said: "Signing this agreement with Serbia is a significant milestone in our combined efforts to counter anti-Semitism. We hope that other States will follow Serbia’s example and directly confront this critical challenge. Addressing this problem at its root, in the classrooms, will be at the centre of ODIHR’s three-year project dedicated to addressing anti-Semitism."

The materials cover different aspects of anti-Semitism, from the specific national context and the broader European history of anti-Semitism to the contemporary manifestations.  The materials address anti-Semitism in the context of issues such as prejudice, racism, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance.

The materials are complemented by a comprehensive guide for teachers. In participating States where ODIHR and its project partners have developed customized country versions of these teaching materials, they are distributed to schools, educators and libraries, and training seminars are conducted for teachers and teacher-trainers.

The teaching materials have been introduced in co-operation with relevant civil society and government partners in Austria, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, and Ukraine.