The North Carolina Council on the Holocaust is a state agency in the N.C. Department of Public Instruction, established in 1981 by Governor James B. Hunt, Jr., and authorized in 1985, by the General Assembly. It is composed of 24 members, of whom six are Holocaust survivors or first-generation lineal descendants of survivors. All members are volunteers appointed by the Governor, the Speaker of the House, or the President Pro Tempore of the Senate; six are appointed at large.
Through its education and commemoration programs, the Council strives to help prevent atrocities similar to the systematic program of mass murder by the Nazis of six million Jews and other targeted groups, including Roma (gypsies), homosexuals, handicapped persons, and religious and political dissidents, from 1933 to 1945.
The primary mission of the North Carolina Council on the Holocaust is to educate North Carolina public school teachers and students about the facts and lessons learned from the Holocaust. The Holocaust Council also provides:
- Historical information regarding the Holocaust and antisemitism to public school students and teachers
- Lesson plans and teaching strategies for teachers on how to teach the history of antisemitism and the Holocaust.
