BOUNTIFUL—In preparation for the “Americans and the Holocaust: A Traveling Exhibition for Libraries” that will come to the Davis County Library Clearfield Branch in September, an event was held recently featuring Matthew Ence, a history teacher at Bountiful High School who has a course dedicated solely to the Holocaust.

“I’ve been interested in the Holocaust history since I was a young child, maybe five years old,” said Ence. “My father was in the military and we visited Dachau, Anne Frank’s house and other sites. It kind of sparked an interest for me.”

Ence has been a teacher for eight years. “I’m retired military,” he said. “This isn’t my first profession but I saw an opportunity to get into teaching and I took it. I taught in a charter school and they would have a two to three week seminar where teachers could teach what they wanted. I decided I wanted to teach about the Holocaust."

Auschwitz. Stock photo

 History teachers have very limited time to teach about the Holocaust, said Ence. “It may be just a mention. But it’s a big topic and I never felt satisfied taking just a small amount of time.”

Ence decided to teach it as a class at Bountiful High in 2021. “I wanted to make it a full course as an elective,” he said. “I talked to various people in the Davis School District administration and the Utah State Board of Education and asked them ‘what do I have to do?’”

Nobody was out there teaching the Holocaust on a high school level, said Ence. “The local administration was supportive if I designed a course and got enough kids to take it.”

Some states already had a curriculum designed, he said. “I used some of that and got help from the Holocaust (Memorial) Museum in Washington, D.C. I went through the teacher fellow program and trained to become a Holocaust educator to promote learning in local schools and the community as a whole.”

Ence said he still has a connection with the museum. “They have me review, develop and update resources and lesson plans. I give guidance to educators on how to teach effectively and make sure it’s correct, truthful and respectful about the Holocaust.”

It can be taught at all grade levels but the main concern is to make sure they get it right, he said. “A lot of teachers aren’t sure how to do that. It’s a sensitive topic. I can show them the resources and point them in the right direction. They have to be willing to take a little more time to teach about the Holocaust.”

Ence has taught his class for two years. “At first I was worried about how it might be received,” he said. “That has not happened. There hasn’t been an issue and the parents are very supportive.”

It’s a semester class. “That gives me a lot of time to go into the details,” Ence said. “I approach it chronologically so that the kids understand the process over time. From Nazism, to the Jews being excluded from society, the war and the extermination. I do it with respect to be sensitive to the victims and their families but I make it clear about what and how it happened.”

Ence said he helps his class to understand the mechanism that led to mass murder on a large scale. “People made choices. The choice to collaborate, to be a bystander or some chose to rescue, those were all factors in the decisions people made.”

Today there is modern genocide such as Cambodia, etc. he said. “We see a pattern to this. The warning signs often occur. I hope if we see them again we identify them and speak out and speak up to prevent things from happening again.”

People want to know more about this, he said. “We see novels and movies about it. With technology they can find out what’s true and not true from a credible source. The museum site is easy to navigate.”

The traveling exhibit is made possible by the U.S. Holocaust Museum and American Library Association (ALA). It examines the motives, pressures and fears that shaped Americans’ responses to Nazism, war and genocide in Europe during the 1930s and 1940s.

 The Davis County Library was selected as one of 50 U.S. libraries to present the touring version of the “Americans and the Holocaust” special exhibition which began in 2024 and

continues through 2026, according to a library release. This traveling exhibition is based on the special exhibition of the same name at the Museum in Washington, D.C.

“To have it here in Davis County is a great opportunity,” said Ence. “I’ll be there to answer questions.”

“Americans and the Holocaust” will be on display at the Clearfield Branch, along with a series of related special events, from Sept. 28, 2025 to Nov. 8, 2025. Admission is free. The Clearfield Branch is located at 1 North Main Street.

The library is in the process of creating a calendar of related public programs and presenters that will be on the Davis County Library site soon. For more information about “Americans and the Holocaust” visit https://www.daviscountyutah.gov/library or call 801-451-3045.

To learn more about the exhibition, visit ushmm.org/americans-ala