Holocaust education bill signed in Washington state

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Schools in Washington will be 'strongly encouraged' to teach students about the Holocaust under a bill signed into law by Gov. Jay Inslee.

The bill won't require schools to teach the material, but will add it as an encouraged curriculum item for middle schools, junior high schools, and high schools. The state schools superintendent is charged with developing guidelines for teaching the material, and also with creating trainings for teachers.

Inslee signed the bill Friday morning; it earlier passed unanimously in both the House and Senate.

A systematic campaign of genocide waged by Nazi Germany during World War II, the Holocaust saw the deaths of more than 17 million, including around 6 million Jews, mostly in camps in Germany, Poland, Austria and France.

Advocates have said that teaching about the events is becoming more important as the last survivors of the period are dying.

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Associated Press