Texas' school district's ignorance about the Holocaust moves US closer to its own 'Kristallnacht'

Kristallnacht, which means “The Night of the Broken Glass,” refers to the events of Nov. 9-10 1938, when hatred and rhetoric reached such a fever pitch in Germany and Austria that it was basically open season on all Jews. That happened in an era in Germany, right before the official start of World War II, when Germany was itching to blame its problems on a minority – never mind one that had helped build the country and kept it going.
So in many ways it wasn’t too surprising that Kristallnacht happened. During the riot-like event, Jewish-owned stores, buildings and synagogues had windows smashed, many people were killed and The Final Solution to eradicate the Jewish people was launched in earnest by emboldened German and Austria civilians and paramilitary forces bent on murdering and maiming Jews.
They did a pretty good “job,” too, of meeting their goals as historical accounts reported that during Kristallnacht, 30,000 Jews were arrested and incarcerated in Nazi concentration camps, Jewish homes, hospitals, and schools were ransacked and buildings were destroyed with sledgehammers. More than 1,000 synagogues were burned and more than 7,000 Jewish businesses were destroyed or damaged.
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Those paragraphs are the beginning of a column that I wrote about Kristallnacht in 2015 for The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro, MA. I wrote it as one of dozens of stories and columns that I've written over the years about the Holocaust Stamps Project at the Foxboro Regional Charter School in Foxboro, MA, which from 2009 to 2017 collected more than 11 million stamps to symbolize the 6 million Jews and 5 million non-Jews who were slaughtered by the Nazis before and during World War II by the Nazis as part of their Final Solution.
The column was posted in its entirety on this blog back in January to bring attention to the frightening mob rule aspect of the Jan. 6 insurrection, and how much closer to a Fascist state that we moved that somber day.
Democracy eventually triumphed that day, but it may not survive, given that half the nation --- supported by Republicans-turned-Trump zealots --- now deny that the insurrection was more than a peaceful protest.  
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Over the summer, I posted a series of stories and columns on the importance of Holocaust education that I wrote for Jewish Rhode Island of Providence's August edition, and the need for such education, which 19 states will require early in 2022, is greater than ever.
Even I was shocked to read this story, first reported by NBC News in October, The headline itself should send shivers down the spines of all reasonable people --- and should have the surviving World War II veterans shaking their heads and wondering where the country they fought for has gone. 

The headline: "Southlake school leader tells teachers to balance Holocaust books with ‘opposing’ views."
And it gets worse from there!
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The story, from Oct. 14, 2021 and datelined Southlake, Texas, reads, in part:

A top administrator with the Carroll Independent School District in Southlake advised teachers last week that if they have a book about the Holocaust in their classroom, they should also offer students access to a book from an “opposing” perspective, according to an audio recording obtained by NBC News.
Gina Peddy, the Carroll school district’s executive director of curriculum and instruction, made the comment Friday afternoon during a training session on which books teachers can have in classroom libraries. The training came four days after the Carroll school board, responding to a parent’s complaint, voted to reprimand a fourth grade teacher who had kept an anti-racism book in her classroom.
A Carroll staff member secretly recorded the Friday training and shared the audio with NBC News.
“Just try to remember the concepts of [House Bill] 3979,” Peddy said in the recording, referring to a new Texas law that requires teachers to present multiple perspectives when discussing “widely debated and currently controversial” issues. “And make sure that if you have a book on the Holocaust,” Peddy continued, “that you have one that has an opposing, that has other perspectives.”
“How do you oppose the Holocaust?” one teacher said in response. 
“Believe me,” Peddy said. “That’s come up.”
"Another teacher wondered aloud if she would have to pull down “Number the Stars” by Lois Lowry, or other historical novels that tell the story of the Holocaust from the perspective of victims. It’s not clear if Peddy heard the question in the commotion or if she answered.
"Peddy did not respond to messages requesting comment. In a written response to a question about Peddy’s remarks, Carroll spokeswoman Karen Fitzgerald said the district is trying to help teachers comply with the new state law and an updated version that will go into effect in December.
“Our district recognizes that all Texas teachers are in a precarious position with the latest legal requirements,” Fitzgerald wrote, noting that the district’s interpretation of the new Texas law requires teachers to provide balanced perspectives not just during classroom instruction, but in the books that are available to students in class during free time. “Our purpose is to support our teachers in ensuring they have all of the professional development, resources and materials needed. Our district has not and will not mandate books be removed nor will we mandate that classroom libraries be unavailable.”
"Fitzgerald said that teachers who are unsure about a specific book “should visit with their campus principal, campus team and curriculum coordinators about appropriate next steps.”
"Clay Robison, a spokesman for the Texas State Teachers Association, a union representing educators, said there’s nothing in the new Texas law explicitly dealing with classroom libraries. Robison said the book guidelines at Carroll, a suburban school district near Fort Worth, are an “overreaction” and a “misinterpretation” of the law. Three other Texas education policy experts agreed.

“We find it reprehensible for an educator to require a Holocaust denier to get equal treatment with the facts of history,” Robison said. “That’s absurd. It’s worse than absurd. And this law does not require it.”
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Be glad that you're not living in Texas or in any state where any alleged educator thinks that something as undeniably horrific as the Holocaust --- state-sponsored murder of more than 11 million innocent people and 6 million who were massacred because of their religion and ethnic background ---- has another side. 
I feel sorry for Texas students for getting their education in such a frightening state as Texas that allows such laws to pass.
So what's the opposing view of the Holocaust?
Is it, as the late Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott said almost 30 years ago in 1992 that Hitler was good at the beginning, but just went too far? Yes, she said that, and I always wondered if that meant Hitler should have stopped at 3 or 4 million Jews?
Spare me!
The bottom line is that there is absolutely NO opposing view of the Holocaust, unless you also believe in the modern-day Hitlers who think they can lie and demonize people until they're considered subhuman.
That's what Hitler did as he turned the vast majority of the German people into virulent anti-Semites who supported the extermination of the Jewish people.
That's why those who once believed that the Holocaust couldn't happen in the United States are wrong;
It can and will happen here as long as educators demand "opposing" views to the Holocaust.
All Americans should realize how close we are getting to becoming a Nazi-like, Fascist state when a local school district can demand such a ridiculous thing like a "opposing" view to the Holocaust.