by Ziv Golan ‘26

This past March a bill introduced in the Maryland General Assembly would require county school boards to include Holocaust Education in the curriculum, withholding funding from counties that refuse. The bill was drafted as a direct response to the recent rise in antisemitism in Montgomery County and around the country that has been worsened by the Israel-Hamas War. According to the Anti-Defamation League, antisemitic incidents have risen by over 300 percent since October 7. The bill has been endorsed by countless Jewish leaders across Montgomery County who fear that young people lack a basic understanding of the Holocaust.

The bill, sponsored by state senator Ben Kramer (D-Aspen Hill), has undergone some changes following criticism from the Maryland Association of Boards of Education related to how the Maryland General Assembly would be creating the course content under the bill. In response, the bill was changed to allow for the state board of education to draft the course content. After advice from the Maryland NAACP, the course now also includes information about how ethnic cleansing has affected other marginalized groups other than the Jewish community along with instruction about the transatlantic slave trade. The bill has passed through the Senate and is now up for vote in the House Ways and Means Committee before being put up for a vote in the Maryland General Assembly.