With the help of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Grant funding stream, Camp des Milles has developed an online tool entitled ‘Three Steps from Racism to Genocide’ which allows users to explore the stages of genocide – as well as ways to resist.
Camp des Milles is the only large French interment and deportation camp still intact and open to the public. The memorial site has set itself an ambitious goal - drawing on academic research and historical data, Camps des Milles seeks to offer an explanation of the individual and collective processes that led to tragedies such as the Holocaust and to build capacities to resist such phenomena.
Fondation du Camp des Milles – Mémoire et Education)
The IHRA played a significant role in supporting the development of the digital tool, developed in a partnership between the Camp des Milles Foundation, the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum and the Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah.
The traditional focus in museums on historical facts and remembrance are complemented at the Camp des Milles memorial museum by a unique area - the so-called reflection area. This section features films, audio material and interactive displays that help the public to better understand how human behavior can lead to genocide and crimes against humanity and it documents a variety of possible actions of resistance and rescue. This so-called convergence approach promoted by the Camp des Milles underlines that that the lessons learned from the Holocaust are universal and constitute the basis for understanding mechanisms that led to similar events.
The clickable interactive digital tool is freely accessible on the Camp des Milles website, and constitutes an important educational tool which can serve both teachers and students not only in classes of history of the Holocaust, but also in related fields such as civic education or social sciences/humanities.
Milles – Mémoire et Education)
Opened in 2012, the Camp des Milles houses a large history museum focused on education and culture and welcomes around 100,000 visitors per year. Camp des Milles aims to increase vigilance in the face of antisemitism, racism and extremism of any kind. Its collections, audiovisual pieces and illustrations not only strive to keep the memory and history of the Holocaust alive, but also deal with other contemporary genocides, as well as the resistance to these crimes.
