Standards & Mandates

Where this stands

Holocaust education is required in many countries.

For years after 1945, the Holocaust had little place in the school curricula of the United States and much of Europe. In the United States, the change came largely from the ground up. Survivors and educators built local resource centers through the 1970s and 1980s, trained teachers, and brought the subject into nearby schools. Over time the requirement moved into law. In 2000, governments meeting in Stockholm pledged to “promote education about the Holocaust in our schools and universities.” That pledge became the founding commitment of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), which today has 35 member countries and works with UNESCO and other partners.

Requirements now reach many parts of the world. In 2015, UNESCO and the Georg Eckert Institute reviewed 272 secondary-school curricula from 135 countries to map where and how the Holocaust is taught. The entries below set out the rules in parts of Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, and in Ireland, New Zealand, and South Africa. Schooling in the United States is set state by state. A 2026 review by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that 42 states and the District of Columbia require Holocaust education through academic standards or state law. In 25 states the requirement is written into statute. Iowa is among the newest. House File 2545, signed in May 2024, wrote the Holocaust into required instruction alongside the World Wars and the founding documents, and the state’s new social studies standards followed in January 2026.

What the mandates say

A common shape, in many forms.

Whether written by a national ministry or a U.S. state legislature, the mandates share a shape: schools must teach about the Holocaust, usually alongside other genocides, within the grades each authority specifies. The wording and placement differ widely:

• Germany embeds it across the curriculum, though depth varies by federal state (Land).
• France mandates it through the national curriculum. England makes it statutory content in Key Stage 3 history, for ages 11 to 14.
• New York places it in its Social Studies Framework under Education Law §801. California’s Education Code (§51220) requires social sciences in grades 7–12 to give “particular attention to the study of the inhumanity of genocide, slavery, and the Holocaust.” New Jersey requires it for all students, K–12.

The goal is shared. The law, the grade range, and the subject home differ from country to country and from state to state.

The flexibility, and the gap

A requirement to teach is not a way to teach.

Most of these laws say what must be taught, not how. Many set no curriculum, outcomes, or assessment of their own. Commissions and ministries publish guidelines and suggested resources, but what to use, and how much time to give it, is often left to the district, the school, and the individual teacher. In New York, for example, the State Education Department wrote in 2026 that districts “have the flexibility to incorporate instruction on pre-Holocaust historical context.”

Funding and training vary. The 2026 GAO review found that 16 of the 51 U.S. jurisdictions (the states and D.C.) had set aside money for K–12 Holocaust education in fiscal years 2023 to 2026. In its survey, state officials most often named two challenges: teachers not prepared to teach the subject (41 of 48 responding states) and too little instructional time (39 of 48).

The deeper gap

Most Holocaust mandates require students to learn how Jews died. Few require them to learn how Jews lived.

A requirement can also be met with the Holocaust taught on its own, apart from the centuries of Jewish life, and of antisemitism, that came before and after. Much of that longer history happened in Europe itself. Venice’s ghetto, founded in 1516, gave the world the word “ghetto.” Rome’s ghetto, walled in 1555, lasted until 1870, and Spain expelled its Jews in 1492.

Teach Jewish History sets the Holocaust inside that longer history, from ancient Israel to the present. The entries below map its Chapters to each place’s own law and standards.

Where it’s required

The map of requirements.

• Countries: the 35 IHRA member countries commit to the Stockholm Declaration. New South Wales, Victoria, the Australian Curriculum states and territories, New Zealand, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Québec, Saskatchewan, England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Ireland, and South Africa have Standards Companions of their own, mapped to their curricula.
• U.S. states: for all fifty states and the District of Columbia, a Standards Companion maps the Chapters to the state’s own law and standards codes. The states: New York, New Jersey, Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. See Find your state.

At the elementary level (K–5), most mandates target middle and high school, but several reach younger grades. Among them are New Jersey (K–12), Illinois (elementary and high school), Arkansas (grades 5 to 12), Wisconsin (at least once in grades 5 to 8), and Oregon (with state guidance for the elementary years). Texas asks for age-appropriate instruction during its Holocaust Remembrance Week, and its state commission lists resources for grades K–5. The site’s K–5 portal serves these grades.

In the United States there is no federal mandate: curriculum is a state and local matter, and federal law bars federal officials from mandating or controlling school curricula. What exists federally is support. The Never Again Education Act (2020) authorized $2 million a year, for fiscal years 2021 to 2025, for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum to develop Holocaust-education resources and teacher training nationwide.

The precedent for integration. Teaching a people’s history across existing courses has been done before. On December 8, 2016, Germany’s conference of state education ministers (the KMK) and the Central Council of Jews in Germany adopted a joint declaration on teaching Jewish history, religion, and culture in schools, with a joint collection of teaching materials. In the United States, Florida’s required-instruction law lists African American history alongside the Holocaust. New Jersey’s Amistad law requires African American history throughout its courses on the United States, beside its Holocaust mandate. The Chapters here are written to fit within the units schools already teach.

Find your state, province, or country

Requirements, and where to start.

All fifty states, the District of Columbia, and twenty-five states, territories, provinces, and countries abroad, from New South Wales to South Africa, have a Standards Companion: a printable guide that maps the Chapters to that place’s law and standards codes.

United States of America

New York

The law: Education Law §801, which has named the Holocaust since 1994. The Regents prescribe the courses of instruction, and every district must give them. A 2022 law (Chapter 490) directed the commissioner to survey districts on whether they do.
Start with: The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · Jewish Resistance and Rescue · Holocaust Denial and the Response
Guide: New York Standards Companion (PDF)

New Jersey

The law: N.J.S.A. 18A:35-28, since 1994. Instruction on the Holocaust and genocides is required for all students, from kindergarten through grade 12.
Start with: the K–5 lessons for the early grades, then The Years Before the Killing · The Nazi Ghettos · The Hatred That Outlived the War
Guide: New Jersey Standards Companion (PDF)

Alabama

The standards: Alabama has no statute requiring Holocaust instruction. The 2024 Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies, adopted by the State Board of Education on December 12, 2024, carries it in three places. Ninth grade runs from historical antisemitism to the Final Solution and the camps (Standards 11 to 11c). Eleventh grade covers the refugee crisis, the liberation, and the Nuremberg Trials (Standards 6b and 7d). There is also a new Holocaust Studies elective. The Alabama Holocaust Commission, created in 1999 (Code of Alabama § 41-9-980), advises schools.
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · The Modern State of Israel
Guide: Alabama Standards Companion (PDF)

Alaska

The standards: Alaska has no statute requiring Holocaust instruction, and no bill to require it has been introduced. The Alaska Social Studies Standards, adopted by the State Board in December 2024 and in regulation since September 5, 2025 (4 AAC 04.140), name the Holocaust in U.S. History (SS.USH.4.23.2), where students analyze how it shifted American perceptions and policies on civil liberties and human rights, and in World History (SS.WH.4.21.2), with the war crime tribunals that followed.
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · The Modern State of Israel
Guide: Alaska Standards Companion (PDF)

Arizona

The law: A.R.S. § 15-701.02, from House Bill 2241 (2021), amended by House Bill 2779 (2024). Students must be taught about the Holocaust and other genocides for at least three class periods, on at least two separate occasions, during grades 7 through 12. State Board rules place one in grade 7 or 8 and one in high school world history.
Start with: The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · Jewish Resistance and Rescue · Holocaust Denial and the Response
Guide: Arizona Standards Companion (PDF)

Arkansas

The law: A.C.A. § 6-16-154 (Act 611 of 2021, signed April 8, 2021). Beginning in 2022–23, Holocaust education is taught in all public schools, in grades 5 to 12, in a manner that generates an understanding of the causes, course, and effects of the Holocaust. The State Board develops the curricula and standards with Holocaust education experts. Act 48 of 2023 designated the last full week of classes in January as Holocaust Education Week. The Arkansas Social Studies Academic Standards (revised 2022) name the Holocaust, European antisemitism, and Zionism in World History Since 1450 (H.6.WH.23).
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · The Modern State of Israel
Guide: Arkansas Standards Companion (PDF)

California

The law: Education Code §51220 requires social sciences in grades 7–12 to give particular attention to genocide, slavery, and the Holocaust. Genocide entered the section in 1985. The state standards also give the Ancient Hebrews a standard of their own at grade 6 (6.3). At grade 7, a standard covers the Jews and Muslims of medieval Spain through the expulsion of 1492 (7.9.7).
Start with: Who Are the Jews? · The First and Second Temples · The Sacred Texts for grade 6, The Jews of Spain and the Sephardic World for grade 7, and The Years Before the Killing for the Holocaust
Guide: California Standards Companion (PDF)

Colorado

The law: C.R.S. 22-1-104.7, from House Bill 20-1336 (2020). Since the 2023–24 school year, districts incorporate the state’s Holocaust and genocide studies standards into an existing course required for high school graduation, and the state keeps a public resource bank for teaching them.
Start with: The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · Holocaust Denial and the Response
Guide: Colorado Standards Companion (PDF)

Connecticut

The law: C.G.S. § 10-18f, from Public Act 18-24 (2018). Since the 2018–19 school year, every board of education must include Holocaust and genocide education and awareness in its social studies curriculum. Connecticut’s 2023 standards name antisemitism and the Holocaust in Modern World History, and a 2026 law created a working group on antisemitism in public schools.
Start with: Adversus Judaeos · The Years Before the Killing · Jewish Resistance and Rescue
Guide: Connecticut Standards Companion (PDF)

Delaware

The law: 14 Del. C. § 4141 (House Bill 318, signed July 23, 2020, implemented in 2021–22). Every school district and charter school serving grades 6 to 12 must provide instruction on the Holocaust and genocide at least once in each grade, through an existing course, its own curriculum, or the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s. Each must report its implementation to the Department of Education every June. Districts may consult the Halina Wind Preston Holocaust Education Committee of the Jewish Federation of Delaware. The Delaware Social Studies Standards assign content by grade cluster rather than by course.
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · The Modern State of Israel
Guide: Delaware Standards Companion (PDF)

District of Columbia

The standards: The District has no statute requiring Holocaust instruction. The Washington, DC K-12 Social Studies Standards, approved by the State Board of Education on June 21, 2023 and in use from 2024–25, carry it in four courses. Fifth grade explains how bias and prejudice led to the scapegoating of Jewish and other communities in Europe (5.44). Eighth-grade Action Civics analyzes the warning signs of genocide as they were present during the Holocaust (8.65). World History II evaluates the causes, course, and consequences of the Holocaust and Jewish resistance to Nazism (WH2.68). US History II evaluates the rise of Nazism, the genocide of Jewish and other peoples, and the United States’ role during the Holocaust (US2.44, US2.46). The Council marks Holocaust Remembrance Day by resolution each year.
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · The Modern State of Israel
Guide: District of Columbia Standards Companion (PDF)

Florida

The law: Section 1003.42(2)(g) of the Florida Statutes. Florida’s standards have a Holocaust Education strand of their own, from grade 5 through high school. Districts certify their instruction each year, and Holocaust Education Week falls each November.
Start with: Adversus Judaeos · The Protocols Forgery · The Years Before the Killing · Holocaust Denial and the Response
Guide: Florida Standards Companion (PDF)

Georgia

The standards: Georgia has no statute requiring Holocaust instruction. The Social Studies Georgia Standards of Excellence (2016, updated 2023) carry it instead. Fifth grade names the Holocaust among the major events of the war (SS5H4). Sixth grade explains the rise of Nazism, its preexisting prejudices, and the events which resulted in the Holocaust (SS6H3). Seventh grade explains the founding of Israel in 1948, including the Jewish religious connection to the land, antisemitism, and Zionism (SS7H2). World History covers the Nazi ideology and policies that led to the Holocaust (SSWH19). House Bill 30, signed January 31, 2024, added O.C.G.A. § 50-1-12. Under it, state and local agencies consider the IHRA working definition of antisemitism when enforcing discrimination law.
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · The Modern State of Israel
Guide: Georgia Standards Companion (PDF)

Hawaii

The standards: Hawaii has no statute requiring Holocaust instruction. House Bill 2092 and Senate Bill 2839 (2024), which would have required six hours of Holocaust and genocide instruction between grades 8 and 12, were referred to committee and never heard. The Hawaiʻi Core Standards for Social Studies, adopted by the Board of Education on October 4, 2018, name the Holocaust in World History and Culture, a course required for graduation (SS.WH.6.17.4). The standard names the Nazi party, Kristallnacht, the ghettos and camps, the Final Solution, and the Nuremberg trials. Grade 6 names Judaism (SS.6.3.14.1) and the Jews of the Crusades (SS.6.6.19.2).
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · The Modern State of Israel
Guide: Hawaii Standards Companion (PDF)

Idaho

The law: Idaho Code § 33-1602(5)(b), from Senate Bill 1336, signed April 10, 2026 and effective July 1, 2026. American history coursework in every public school must include the failures and atrocities of Nazi Germany, including Kristallnacht and the Holocaust, alongside those of the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China. The K-12 Social Studies standards revised November 20, 2025 carry the Holocaust in World History and Civilizations (6-9.WH.5.4) and United States History II (9-12.US2.16).
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · The Modern State of Israel
Guide: Idaho Standards Companion (PDF)

Illinois

The law: 105 ILCS 5/27-525, enacted in 1990, the first state Holocaust education mandate. Public elementary and high schools must teach a unit on the Holocaust, and a second unit on other genocides.
Start with: the K–5 lessons for the elementary grades, then The Years Before the Killing · Jewish Resistance and Rescue · The Hatred That Outlived the War
Guide: Illinois Standards Companion (PDF)

Indiana

The law: IC 20-30-5-7 requires an enhanced study of the Holocaust in each high school United States history course. Indiana’s 2026 standards also name the Holocaust in World History and Civilization.
Start with: The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · The Postwar Trials
Guide: Indiana Standards Companion (PDF)

Iowa

The law: House File 2545, signed in 2024, wrote the Holocaust into required instruction alongside the World Wars and the founding documents. Iowa’s January 2026 standards also name the evolution of the state of Israel and the roots of antisemitism at grade 7.
Start with: The Modern State of Israel · Contemporary Antisemitism · The Years Before the Killing
Guide: Iowa Standards Companion (PDF)

Kansas

The standards: Kansas has no statute requiring Holocaust instruction. Senate Bill 420, the Holocaust education act, died in the Senate Education Committee in 2026. The History, Government, and Social Studies Standards name the Holocaust among the suggested topics for The World at War in high school World History, a course required for graduation. Senate Bill 44, signed April 8, 2025, declared antisemitism against the public policy of the state and adopted the IHRA working definition.
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · The Modern State of Israel
Guide: Kansas Standards Companion (PDF)

Kentucky

The law: KRS 156.160(1)(a)3, the Ann Klein and Fred Gross Holocaust Education Act (House Bill 128, 2018, effective July 14, 2018). Every public middle and high school’s curriculum must include instruction on the Holocaust and other cases of genocide, as defined by the UN Genocide Convention, that a court of competent jurisdiction has determined to have been committed. The statute leaves the course and the grade to each district. The Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022 edition) do not name the Holocaust. A revised edition dated August 2026 is in the regulatory process with the same codes.
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · The Modern State of Israel
Guide: Kentucky Standards Companion (PDF)

Louisiana

The standards: Louisiana has no statute requiring Holocaust instruction, and bills to require it in 2021, 2022, and 2024 did not pass. The 2022 Louisiana Student Standards for Social Studies, approved March 9, 2022 and implemented in 2023–24, carry it in four courses. Eighth grade covers antisemitism, the Nuremberg Laws, the camps, and the Nuremberg trials (8.14g). United States History covers the liberation of the camps and the survivors who came to America (US.15k). Civics (C.12e) and World History (WH.13) carry it too. United States History also names the Immigration Act of 1924 and the re-emergence of the Klan.
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · The Modern State of Israel
Guide: Louisiana Standards Companion (PDF)

Maine

The law: 20-A M.R.S. § 4706(3), added by Public Law 2021, chapter 247 (LD 1664, signed June 16, 2021). The history of genocide, including the Holocaust, must be included in the review of the state’s content standards. The Maine Learning Results for Social Studies (revised 2019) remain in force. A revised set drafted in 2023 that names the Holocaust has not been adopted, and the review cycle is paused under a 2025 resolve. The Department’s learning progression on the Holocaust and genocide, built with the Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine, carries the instruction.
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · The Modern State of Israel
Guide: Maine Standards Companion (PDF)

Maryland

The law and the frameworks: Maryland has no statute requiring Holocaust instruction. The state social studies frameworks (June 2025) carry it. Grades 6 and 7 analyze how the outcomes of the Holocaust influenced the founding of Israel (6/7.7.4). Modern World History evaluates the cause, course, and consequences of the Holocaust (MWH.3.6). United States History analyzes its origins and the American response (USH.2.4). House Bill 71 (Chapter 317 of 2025) created the Holocaust Education Assistance Grant Program, Md. Code, Educ. § 7-136, funding district teacher training and materials from July 1, 2025. House Bill 1386 (Chapter 128 of 2024) requires school employee antibias training that names antisemitism, Educ. § 6-129.
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · The Departure from MENA
Guide: Maryland Standards Companion (PDF)

Massachusetts

The law: G.L. c.71 §98, from Chapter 98 of the Acts of 2021, signed December 2, 2021. Every district must provide middle and high school students instruction on the history of genocide, consistent with the state’s History and Social Science framework. Its World History II standard describes the Holocaust’s roots in Christian antisemitism and in nineteenth-century ideas about race and nation. A Genocide Education Trust Fund supports the work.
Start with: Adversus Judaeos · The Racial Turn of 1879 · The Years Before the Killing
Guide: Massachusetts Standards Companion (PDF)

Michigan

The law: MCL 380.1168, added by Public Act 170 of 2016. Since the 2016–17 school year, social studies in grades 8 to 12 must include instruction about genocide, including the Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide, and the legislature recommends six hours.
Start with: The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · The Postwar Trials
Guide: Michigan Standards Companion (PDF)

Minnesota

The law: Minn. Stat. § 120B.252, enacted in 2023. By the 2026–27 school year, middle and high school social studies includes education on the Holocaust, the genocide of Indigenous Peoples, and other genocides, and curriculum must analyze the connections between World War II, nationalism, fascism, antisemitism, and the Holocaust.
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · Contemporary Antisemitism
Guide: Minnesota Standards Companion (PDF)

Mississippi

The standards: Mississippi has no statute requiring Holocaust instruction. The 2022 Mississippi College- and Career-Readiness Standards for the Social Studies, approved December 15, 2022 and implemented in 2023–24, carry it in two courses. In World History, one objective asks how nineteenth-century antisemitism and Nazi ideas about race led to the Holocaust (WH 9, objective 2). United States History covers it, with the Nuremberg Trials and the Universal Declaration (USH 7, objective 4). The Mississippi Commission on the Holocaust, created by statute in 2004 (Miss. Code § 39-29-1), advises schools.
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · The Modern State of Israel
Guide: Mississippi Standards Companion (PDF)

Missouri

The law: RSMo § 161.700, the Holocaust Education and Awareness Commission Act, amended by Senate Bills 681 and 662 (approved June 30, 2022, effective August 28, 2022). The second week in April is Holocaust Education Week. Each district must provide age-appropriate instruction, in a week it chooses, for elementary students no lower than sixth grade and for high school students. The instruction covers a historical understanding of how and why the Holocaust happened, learning projects, and materials developed or supported by the state commission, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, or the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum. The program began in pilot districts in 2023–24 and reaches every district from 2025–26. The Missouri Learning Standards for Social Studies (2016) do not name the Holocaust.
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · The Modern State of Israel
Guide: Missouri Standards Companion (PDF)

Montana

The standards: Montana has no statute requiring Holocaust instruction, and no bill to require it has been introduced. The 2021 Content Standards for Social Studies (ARM 10.53.901 to 10.53.909) are skills standards that name no event, and the content of each course is chosen locally under MCA 20-7-111. Teachers can teach this history now under the history standards every course carries, among them SS.H.9-12.4 (the causes of major events in world history) and SS.H.9-12.11 (the credibility of sources, misinformation, and stereotypes).
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · The Modern State of Israel
Guide: Montana Standards Companion (PDF)

Nebraska

The law: Neb. Rev. Stat. § 79-760.01(2)(a)(ii), from LB 888, approved April 19, 2022. The State Board of Education must adopt measurable social studies standards on the Holocaust and other acts of genocide recognized by Congress or the United Nations as of January 1, 2022. The 2019 Social Studies Standards, kept in force after a revision failed at the board on September 4, 2026, name the Holocaust among the examples under the high school history indicators (SS HS.4.1.b).
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · The Modern State of Israel
Guide: Nebraska Standards Companion (PDF)

Nevada

The law: NRS 388.887 (Assembly Bill 231, 2021, effective July 1, 2021). Nevada has no statute requiring every pupil to receive Holocaust instruction. The law directs a State Board of Education subcommittee to review and recommend how the Holocaust and other genocides are taught in social studies and language arts, and it defines the Holocaust in statute. Senate Bill 96 (2025) made January 27 International Holocaust Remembrance Day in Nevada. The Nevada Academic Content Standards for Social Studies (revised September 2018) do not name the Holocaust.
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · The Modern State of Israel
Guide: Nevada Standards Companion (PDF)

New Hampshire

The law: RSA 193-E:2, IV and RSA 189:11, I-c(j), from House Bill 1135, signed July 23, 2020 and effective September 21, 2020. Holocaust and genocide education is part of an adequate education, and the required history and civics course must teach how intolerance, bigotry, antisemitism, and religious hatred have evolved into genocide. Under Ed 306.37, effective December 13, 2024, every district teaches a Holocaust and genocide curriculum from no later than eighth grade and in at least one course required for graduation. A Commission on Holocaust and Genocide Education reports through 2029.
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · The Modern State of Israel
Guide: New Hampshire Standards Companion (PDF)

New Mexico

The standards: New Mexico has no statute requiring Holocaust instruction. House Bill 111 of 2023, the Holocaust and Genocide Studies Act, died in committee. The New Mexico Social Studies Standards, adopted as 6.29.11 NMAC effective February 22, 2022 and in full use from 2023–24, carry it in high school United States History. The standards name the rise of fascism and the policies that led to the Holocaust (9-12.US.79), the war and the Holocaust (9-12.US.80), and the human rights that followed (9-12.US.81).
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · The Modern State of Israel
Guide: New Mexico Standards Companion (PDF)

North Carolina

The law: G.S. 115C-81.57, the Gizella Abramson Holocaust Education Act, enacted in 2021. Education on the Holocaust and genocide is integrated into middle and high school English and social studies, and the state has developed an elective, Holocaust and Genocide Studies.
Start with: The Years Before the Killing · Contemporary Antisemitism · Holocaust Denial and the Response
Guide: North Carolina Standards Companion (PDF)

North Dakota

The standards: North Dakota has no statute requiring Holocaust instruction. House Bill 1527 (2025), which would have put the Holocaust and the history of antisemitism into the required world history course, passed the House 85 to 7 and failed in the Senate 22 to 24. The 2019 Social Studies Content Standards name no event. The Holocaust appears nowhere, and Nazism only among guiding topics the document marks as not required. Teachers can teach this history now under the history benchmarks every course carries, such as WH.6_12.1-6.E4.1 (the world wars) and WH.6_12.1-6.E4.2 (ideologies). A revision due in late 2026 names the Holocaust, genocide, and antisemitism in its first draft.
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · The Modern State of Israel
Guide: North Dakota Standards Companion (PDF)

Ohio

The law: Ohio has no statute requiring Holocaust instruction. Ohio Revised Code Chapter 197, from Senate Bill 310 (2020), created the Holocaust and Genocide Memorial and Education Commission, which seeks ways to give schools resources to teach about the Holocaust and genocide. Ohio’s standards name the Holocaust in Modern World History.
Start with: The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · Jewish Resistance and Rescue
Guide: Ohio Standards Companion (PDF)

Oklahoma

The law: 70 O.S. § 11-103.6o (Senate Bill 1671, effective July 1, 2022). Beginning in 2022–23, Holocaust education is taught to students in grades 6 to 12, as prescribed in the Oklahoma Academic Standards, within existing courses. The State Department of Education supplies resources and professional learning. The 2026 Oklahoma Academic Standards for Social Studies, approved by the State Board on March 26, 2026, carry it in Modern World History (MWH.C.6.6), United States History (USH.C.5.3), and the new Twentieth Century Totalitarianism elective. They name antisemitism, Zionism, and the State of Israel.
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · The Modern State of Israel
Guide: Oklahoma Standards Companion (PDF)

Oregon

The law: ORS 329.494, from Senate Bill 664 (2019). Since the 2020–21 school year, every district must provide instruction about the Holocaust and genocide, and since September 30, 2026, that instruction rests on standards the State Board of Education adopts for it. Oregon’s 2024 social science standards ask students in grades 6 and 7 to investigate the origins of anti-Judaism, and high school students to explain the origins of antisemitism and the Holocaust.
Start with: Adversus Judaeos · The Expulsions · The Years Before the Killing · The Postwar Trials
Guide: Oregon Standards Companion (PDF)

Pennsylvania

The law: Section 1554 of the Public School Code, added by Act 70 of 2014. Schools may offer instruction in the Holocaust, genocide, and human rights violations within social studies and language arts, and the legislature strongly encourages it. A 2017 State Board study found that 93 percent of school entities offer it.
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Camp System · Jewish Resistance and Rescue · The Postwar Trials
Guide: Pennsylvania Standards Companion (PDF)

Rhode Island

The law: R.I. Gen. Laws chapter 16-93 (P.L. 2016, ch. 92 and 104, enacted June 17, 2016). Every school district must include a unit of instruction on the Holocaust and genocide, in middle or high school as the district decides, from the 2017–18 school year. Districts use materials the Department of Education collects and posts, so that all students have received it by graduation. Chapter 16-93.1 (2021) created the permanent Rhode Island Holocaust and Genocide Education Commission. The Rhode Island Social Studies Standards (endorsed February 2023) name the history of antisemitism, the Holocaust, the Balfour Declaration, and the Immigration Act of 1924 in their objectives.
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · The Modern State of Israel
Guide: Rhode Island Standards Companion (PDF)

South Carolina

The standards: South Carolina has no statute requiring Holocaust instruction. The 2019 South Carolina Social Studies College- and Career-Ready Standards carry it in fifth grade (5.3.CE), sixth grade (6.5.CE), Modern World History (MWH.4.CX, MWH.5.CX), and United States History (USHC.4.CC). The South Carolina Council on the Holocaust, created by statute in 1989 (S.C. Code § 1-29-10), works with the Department of Education on Holocaust education, and Act 138 of 2024 (§ 1-1-1710) wrote the IHRA definition of antisemitism into state law. A revision of the standards began in 2026, and the 2019 standards remain in effect.
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · The Modern State of Israel
Guide: South Carolina Standards Companion (PDF)

South Dakota

The standards: South Dakota has no statute requiring Holocaust instruction, and no bill to require it was introduced from 2019 to 2026. The Social Studies Standards adopted April 17, 2023, to be implemented from the 2025–26 school year, name the Holocaust in eighth grade and high school U.S. History (8.SS.5.I, 9-12.USH.18.K) and in World History (9-12.WH.8.J). They also name the ancient Hebrews and the Tanakh, Maimonides, the Balfour Declaration, and the founding of Israel. A 2024 law (SDCL 20-13-57) adopted the IHRA definition of antisemitism for the Division of Human Rights.
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · The Modern State of Israel
Guide: South Dakota Standards Companion (PDF)

Tennessee

The standards: Tennessee’s Social Studies Standards name ancient Israel, the Jewish diaspora, antisemitism, the Holocaust, and the establishment of the State of Israel. Tennessee has no law requiring Holocaust instruction. A 2025 law, Public Chapter 293, requires public schools to integrate a definition of antisemitism into their conduct policies and encourages Jewish American Heritage curricula that include the Holocaust.
Start with: Who Are the Jews? · The Diaspora · American Jewry · The Years Before the Killing
Guide: Tennessee Standards Companion (PDF)

Texas

The law: Texas Education Code §29.9072 (2019, amended 2021) sets aside a Holocaust Remembrance Week, with age-appropriate instruction that week, as each school district determines. The Texas Holocaust, Genocide, and Antisemitism Advisory Commission publishes approved resources for grades K–5, 6–8, and 9–12.
Start with: the K–5 lessons for the early grades, then The Years Before the Killing · Contemporary Antisemitism
Guide: Texas Standards Companion (PDF)

Utah

The standards: Utah has no statute requiring Holocaust instruction. The Utah Core Standards for Social Studies (2016) carry it: United States History II names the Holocaust among the questions of total war (U.S. II Standard 6.3), and World History asks how the genocides of the twentieth century were justified and carried out (WH Standard 6.2). Senate Concurrent Resolution 1 (2021), signed by Governor Cox, encouraged the State Board to keep the Holocaust and other genocides in the standards and urged every local education agency to teach the Holocaust to all elementary and secondary pupils. House Bill 312, signed March 25, 2026, directs a revision of the secondary standards by the 2028–29 school year.
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · The Modern State of Israel
Guide: Utah Standards Companion (PDF)

Vermont

The standards: Vermont has no statute requiring Holocaust instruction. The Vermont Holocaust Studies Act (H.294 and S.87, 2023), which would have required six hours a year in grades 6 to 12, died in committee. The State Board adopted the national C3 Framework, which names no event, and Education Quality Standards Rule 2120.6(d) requires history within global citizenship. The Agency of Education’s K-8 Framework, guidance rather than rule, places the Holocaust and the history of antisemitism in grade 7 and ancient Israel in grade 5. Teachers can teach this history now under the C3 history indicators, such as D2.His.16.9-12 (evidence from multiple historical sources).
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · The Modern State of Israel
Guide: Vermont Standards Companion (PDF)

Virginia

The standards: Virginia’s 2023 History and Social Science Standards of Learning place the Holocaust in three courses: grade 6 U.S. history, world history, and Virginia and U.S. history. They name antisemitism, Kristallnacht, Jewish resistance, and the creation of the modern state of Israel. A 2009 law directs the state to give teachers a manual on the Holocaust and genocide.
Start with: Who Are the Jews? · The Years Before the Killing · Jewish Resistance and Rescue · Liberation and the Displaced Persons
Guide: Virginia Standards Companion (PDF)

Washington

The law: RCW 28A.300.115, first enacted in 1992 and updated by Substitute Senate Bill 5612 in 2019. Every middle, junior high, and high school is strongly encouraged to teach the Holocaust, and schools that do must follow best practices the state developed with the Holocaust Center for Humanity.
Start with: The Years Before the Killing · Jewish Resistance and Rescue · The Nazi Ghettos · The Camp System
Guide: Washington Standards Companion (PDF)

West Virginia

The standards: West Virginia has no statute requiring Holocaust instruction. Bills to require it passed the Senate in 2023, 2025, and 2026 and died in the House. The College- and Career-Readiness Standards for Social Studies (Policy 2520.4, effective July 1, 2025) carry it in Contemporary Studies (SS.CS.19), United States Studies (SS.USC.27), and World Studies (SS.W.25). The West Virginia Commission on Holocaust Education, created in 2001 (W. Va. Code § 5-28-1), advises schools.
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · The Modern State of Israel
Guide: West Virginia Standards Companion (PDF)

Wisconsin

The law: Wis. Stat. § 121.02 (1) (L) 8., from 2021 Wisconsin Act 30. Since July 1, 2022, every school board must include instruction on the Holocaust and other genocides in social studies, at least once in grades 5 to 8 and at least once in grades 9 to 12.
Start with: The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · Jewish Resistance and Rescue
Guide: Wisconsin Standards Companion (PDF)

Wyoming

The standards: Wyoming has no statute requiring Holocaust instruction, and no bill to require it has been introduced. The Social Studies Content and Performance Standards (2014, with 2018 additions) name no event in any benchmark. The single reference to Jewish history is a glossary example, the diary of Anne Frank. Course content is a district decision under W.S. 21-9-101. Teachers can teach this history now under the grade 12 benchmarks every course serves, such as SS12.4.5 (primary and secondary sources, multiple perspectives) and SS12.4.1 (cause and effect). A rewrite proposed in 2026 is also skills-only.
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · The Modern State of Israel
Guide: Wyoming Standards Companion (PDF)

Australia

New South Wales

The requirement: from 2027, the History 7–10 Syllabus (2024) makes the Holocaust mandatory content for every Stage 5 student, inside the core depth study Australia at war, WWII. It covers the experiences of Jewish people and other victims, the survivors who came to Australia, and the Nuremberg trials. A full depth study on the Holocaust is an option. Until then the 2012 syllabus, available to December 2028, names the Holocaust in its core study of Australians at war.
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · Jewish Resistance and Rescue
Guide: New South Wales Standards Companion (PDF)

Victoria

The requirement: since 2020, Victorian government secondary schools must teach the Holocaust as part of core Levels 9 and 10 History, under the Department of Education’s policy, Holocaust Education – Delivery Requirements. The Victorian Curriculum 2.0 gives the Holocaust three content descriptions of its own.
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Nazi Ghettos · Jewish Resistance and Rescue
Guide: Victoria Standards Companion (PDF)

Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, the ACT, and the Northern Territory

The requirement: these six teach from the Australian Curriculum, version 9.0, endorsed by education ministers on 1 April 2022, where the Year 10 Second World War sub-strand is mandatory and content description AC9HH10K03 names the Holocaust. Queensland expects full use by the end of 2027, South Australia teaches an adapted version, and Western Australia’s adapted syllabus, taught from 2026, names the Holocaust at WA10HAKUH4. No department in the six has a Holocaust mandate of its own like Victoria’s.
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · Jewish Resistance and Rescue
Guide: Australian Curriculum Standards Companion (PDF)

New Zealand

New Zealand

The requirement: the new Social Sciences curriculum for Years 0 to 10, published in August 2026 and required from 1 January 2027, names the Holocaust in a Year 10 case study. Schools choose one of two: Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, or the Easter Rising. Where it is chosen, its content is prescribed, from antisemitism long before the Nazis and the Nuremberg Laws to Kristallnacht and New Zealand’s response to Jewish refugees. NCEA History prescribes no content.
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · Jewish Resistance and Rescue
Guide: New Zealand Standards Companion (PDF)

Canada

Alberta

The requirement: the Holocaust is a required part of Grade 11 social studies. In Social 20-1 and 20-2, students study ultranationalism as a cause of genocide, and at the 10 to 12 levels every bracketed item in an outcome, here the Holocaust, is a required component. In November 2023 the Province announced that Holocaust education will be a mandatory part of its new social studies curriculum, and the draft Grade 8 curriculum, in optional pilot in 2026–27, names it.
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · Jewish Resistance and Rescue
Guide: Alberta Standards Companion (PDF)

British Columbia

The requirement: since the 2025–26 school year, the required Grade 10 Social Studies course carries the learning standard “the Holocaust and the concept of genocide,” under updates the Ministry of Education and Child Care made effective July 1, 2025. The Province had announced in October 2023 that every student would learn about the Holocaust. The change is a curriculum update, not a statute, and its elaborations are still under development.
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · Jewish Resistance and Rescue
Guide: British Columbia Standards Companion (PDF)

Manitoba

The requirement: on April 24, 2025, the Province announced that Holocaust education would be mandatory in all schools, through the grades 6, 9, and 11 social studies curriculum updated from fall 2025. Grade 6 requires the Holocaust within Canada’s Second World War (6-KG-042), and Grade 9 the conditions that enable genocide (9-KG-035). Grade 11 History of Canada requires the factors that shaped Canada’s response to the Holocaust and the plight of the Jewish people (4.4).
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · Jewish Resistance and Rescue
Guide: Manitoba Standards Companion (PDF)

New Brunswick

The requirement: in New Brunswick’s Anglophone curriculum, Grade 7 Social Studies asks every student to research the Holocaust and the human rights decisions that followed. Modern History, a Grade 11 option, gives the Holocaust a Big Idea of its own, Crimes Against Humanity, from Jewish life in Europe before the Holocaust to survivor testimonies and historical and modern examples of antisemitism.
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · Jewish Resistance and Rescue
Guide: New Brunswick Standards Companion (PDF)

Newfoundland and Labrador

The standards: Newfoundland and Labrador has no Holocaust requirement. The Grade 9 social studies guide names the Holocaust beside the use of atomic weapons and asks students to study one of the two in greater detail. One of its moral issues for inquiry is the refusal to admit Jewish immigrants during the 1930s, and its question asks whether the Canadian and Newfoundland governments indirectly participated in the Holocaust. Teachers can teach this history now under those outcomes.
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · Jewish Resistance and Rescue
Guide: Newfoundland and Labrador Standards Companion (PDF)

Nova Scotia

The standards: Nova Scotia has no Holocaust requirement. Social Studies 8 (2022) asks students to evaluate the impact of the Second World War on a changing Canadian society, and its suggested guiding questions ask about the Évian Conference, the St. Louis, the internment of Jewish refugees, and the 1947 change to Canada’s immigration laws. Global History 12 asks students to examine the genocides of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Teachers can teach this history now under those outcomes.
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · Jewish Resistance and Rescue
Guide: Nova Scotia Standards Companion (PDF)

Ontario

The requirement: since 2023, Ontario’s Grade 6 Social Studies curriculum has required learning about the Holocaust, including Canada’s response to it. From 2026–27, the revised Grade 10 Canadian History course adds the Holocaust’s impact on Jewish communities and antisemitism in Canada.
Start with: The Years Before the Killing · Jewish Resistance and Rescue · Contemporary Antisemitism
Guide: Ontario Standards Companion (PDF)

Prince Edward Island

The standards: Prince Edward Island has no Holocaust requirement, and the required Grade 7 to 9 social studies courses do not name it. They teach historical thinking, including reading sources for bias and point of view. The elective Canadian History 621A asks students to analyze Canada’s role regarding Jewish immigration and the Holocaust. Teachers can teach this history now under those outcomes.
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · Jewish Resistance and Rescue
Guide: Prince Edward Island Standards Companion (PDF)

Québec

The standards: Québec has no Holocaust requirement. In the Secondary Cycle One history program, the unit on civil rights and freedoms teaches that in the same period there was a movement to deprive European Jews of their freedom and civil rights. The unit’s cultural references, which the program says are not themselves objects of study, include the minutes of the Wannsee Conference and the Nuremberg Laws. Teachers can teach this history now under that program.
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · Jewish Resistance and Rescue
Guide: Québec Standards Companion (PDF)

Saskatchewan

The requirement: Grade 6 outcome PA6.3, revised in August 2025, asks students to explore the effects of injustice or abuse of power on its victims, including victims of the Holocaust. Grade 8 adds restrictions on the immigration of Jews during the Second World War and the changes to Canadian human rights law that followed the war and the Holocaust. In November 2023 the Province announced that Holocaust education would be a compulsory part of the renewed Social Studies 10, now posted in preliminary form.
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · Jewish Resistance and Rescue
Guide: Saskatchewan Standards Companion (PDF)

United Kingdom

England

The requirement: the Holocaust is statutory content in the Key Stage 3 history programme of study, for ages 11 to 14, and has been compulsory since 1991. The government confirmed in 2025 that it will stay compulsory in the revised national curriculum. Two turning points in the medieval story happened in England: the blood libel took its specific form at Norwich in 1144, and England expelled its Jews in 1290.
Start with: The Blood Libel · The Expulsions · The Years Before the Killing
Guide: England Standards Companion (PDF)

Scotland

The standards: No law or guidance requires Scottish schools to teach the Holocaust. Curriculum for Excellence prescribes no content, and Education Scotland confirmed in a 2025 freedom-of-information response that it holds no document setting a mandatory or recommended status for Holocaust education. The word does not appear in the SQA National 5 or Higher History specifications, and the nearest named content is an option a centre may choose, the treatment of Jews and other minority groups in Nazi Germany. Teachers can teach this history now under the social studies outcomes every school uses, such as SOC 4-04b (conflicting world belief systems) and SOC 4-01a (conflicting sources of evidence). The SQA topic Migration and Empire, 1830 to 1939, names Jewish immigrants to Scotland.
Start with: The Russian Pogroms · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System
Guide: Scotland Standards Companion (PDF)

Wales

The standards: The Curriculum and Assessment (Wales) Act 2021 makes five Humanities statements of what matters mandatory and leaves every topic to the school. The Holocaust is not named in the Act, the What Matters Code, or the Hwb guidance, and no regulation requires it. At GCSE it appears inside one WJEC option in six, The Third Reich, which reaches the Final Solution. Teachers can teach this history now under the statements every school must follow, among them 2.3.4, human societies shaped by human actions and beliefs, and 2.3.5, a fair and inclusive society that confronts and addresses racism. The story of Wales includes the anti-Jewish riots at Tredegar and Ebbw Vale in 1911.
Start with: The Russian Pogroms · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System
Guide: Wales Standards Companion (PDF)

Northern Ireland

The standards: no law or curriculum order requires schools in Northern Ireland to teach the Holocaust. The statutory Key Stage 3 order, the Education (Curriculum Minimum Content) Order (Northern Ireland) 2007, sets skills and Key Elements and names no historical event but the partition of Ireland. CCEA’s guidance gives the Holocaust as a non-statutory example, and the optional GCSE unit on Nazi Germany names the Nuremberg Laws, Kristallnacht, and the Final Solution. The Department of Education’s draft Northern Ireland Curriculum 2028 would name the Holocaust at Key Stage 3. Teachers can teach this history now under the statutory History Key Elements, such as investigating the impact of significant events and ideas of the twentieth century.
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System
Guide: Northern Ireland Standards Companion (PDF)

Ireland

Ireland

The requirement: every Junior Cycle student studies the Holocaust. Since September 2020, History has been a core subject that every student beginning Junior Cycle must study (Circular 0016/2020). Its learning outcome 3.10 requires students to explore the significance of genocide, including the causes, course and consequences of the Holocaust. The new Leaving Certificate History specification, for introduction in September 2027, names antisemitism in every Ireland option.
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · Jewish Resistance and Rescue
Guide: Ireland Standards Companion (PDF)

South Africa

South Africa

The requirement: every Grade 9 learner meets the Holocaust. Social Sciences is one of the nine compulsory subjects in Grades 7 to 9. The Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement prescribes, in Grade 9 Term 1, the rise of Nazi Germany, the Nuremberg Laws, the extermination camps, and the Holocaust, with the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising among its examples of resistance. Grade 11 History, an elective, returns to Nazi Germany and the Holocaust as a case study in ideas of race.
Start with: The Nazi Synthesis · The Years Before the Killing · The Camp System · Jewish Resistance and Rescue
Guide: South Africa Standards Companion (PDF)

Another state or country? Write to education@teachjewishhistory.org.

Are you a state, district, or ministry reviewing resources? A one-page Curriculum Review Summary is available for committees, and you can write to editor@teachjewishhistory.org for alignment detail for your standards.