Lord Baker, who introduced the National Curriculum in the 1980s, has said that he would ban the teaching of Nazis in schools.
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, he expressed his desire to concentrate on teaching “the story in our own country”.
He said: “It doesn’t really make us favourably disposed to Germany for a start.”
Lord Baker now runs a number of courses which teach the lives of great British engineers and inventors, in line with his beliefs on the importance of British history.
“Why I’ve got a thing against the Holocaust and all of that is I think you study your own history first,
“I’m sure that German children are not studying the British Civil War, right?
“I think children should leave a British school with some idea of the timeline in their minds,” he said.
Holocaust charities have refuted Lord Baker’s suggestion.
James Smith, Chairman of the Holocaust Centre, said that any ill-feeling towards modern Germany would be due to it being “badly taught”.
“Forgetting how much of our legislation that protects fair and equal societies is rooted in the knowledge of how far humans can sink would be a backward step for civil society and democratic values.”
Lord Baker’s remarks come as ministers prepare to examine the National Curriculum, in partnership with a Coalition panel tasked with addressing the structure of lessons in England.
A report is expected this year.
