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Apr 27, 11:52 AM EDT

Librarian likens Holocaust, treatment of Indians

CASPER, Wyo. (AP) -- A librarian at Ft. Washakie School is developing a
curriculum that she says shows similarities between the Nazi Holocaust that
killed millions of Jews others and the U.S. government's treatment of
American Indians.

Robin Levin is completing the curriculum at the school on the Wind River
Indian Reservation. She is a member of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's
teaching fellows program.

"A lot of our young people struggle in defining their futures," Levin said.
"My theory is that if you don't have a firm grip on you cultural past, you
won't have a firm grip on you cultural future."

Levin is comparing the Holocaust with the U.S. government's policy of
placing Indian students in boarding schools. Students at such schools were
forbidden from speaking their native languages and forced to give up their
traditions.

Levin, who is Jewish, said it's important to share the story of both
tragedies with American Indian students.

Gene Meier, superintendent of Ft. Washakie School, said he believes there's
no doubt that boarding school movement shares similarities to the
Holocaust.

"It may not have been as quick, it many not have been as in your face,"
Meier said, "but truly, there has been an agenda in the history of the U.S.
to eradicate Native Americans."

Meier said teaching American Indian students about the Holocaust allows
them to consider the issues of social injustice, protection of tribal
sovereignty and how to be better human beings.

"That's where I see the connection between the Holocaust and Indians," he
said.

Meier said the school is honored to have Levin working there. "It's not
everyday you get a national fellow to work with your community and your
students," he said.

Christina Chavarria, program coordinator for the National Institute for
Holocaust Education at the memorial museum, said Levin's project allows
people to make a connection between the American history and the Holocaust.

"People have this perception that (the Holocaust) is Jewish history. They
don't see the connection to themselves," Chavarria said. "Robin is helping
us make that connection to an audience that, at first, may not see how it
is connected to this history."

Chavarria said Levin's work will carry a message further than just the Wind
River Reservation.

"This could be really significant for not just Holocaust studies, but for
American Indian studies," Chavarria said. "This is a history that many
people don't know."