SV teacher honored for educating about Holocaust, antisemitism
James Lucot reflects on history often. He talks about the Garden of the Righteous Among the Nations, located in Jerusalem. It’s a place where the state of Israel honors non-Jews that risked their lives saving Jews during the Holocaust.
He understands the significance of being deemed “righteous.” That’s why being nominated for the Righteous Among Neighbors award, given out by the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh to non-Jewish Pittsburghers, is “the most humbling honor” he has ever received.
Lucot is a history teacher at Seneca Valley Senior High School. He previously was named the 2020 Holocaust Center Educator of the Year by the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh for his years of teaching of the Holocaust at Seneca Valley High School, as well as Holocaust studies at Butler County Community College.
This year, he was named as part of the 2024 class for the center’s Righteous Among Neighbors honor along with 10 others. The honor is given to local community members for their efforts to stand up to antisemitism and support the Jewish community.
“This year’s 11 honorees have demonstrated their dedication to uprooting antisemitism and helping the Jewish community to thrive,” said Emily Loeb, director of programs and education at the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh. “We are grateful for their friendship and are thrilled to recognize them as Righteous Among the Neighbors.”
Lucot has been active in the community, through teaching and other forms of advocacy, for over 25 years.
“My uncle was killed in World War II. My grandmother explained to me what my family had to sacrifice when we had to stop the Nazis. Since I was a teenager I would meet with survivors,” Lucot said.
He currently teaches Advanced Placement history classes at Seneca Valley, but makes the Holocaust a main focus of his class. He gives a speech at the beginning and the end of the year to his students on combating antisemitism and other forms of hate.
Lucot teaches his students that Jewish people were not only killed by Hitler, highlighting other periods of violence throughout history to teach them it’s more than just a single episode that happened some time ago.
“My objective is for them to understand it’s a history of hate. It’s important when students can make that conceptual understanding, that racism, oppression, these are man made, we can’t repeat that again,” Lucot said. “I’ve had several friends who are survivors, they’re almost all gone now, and I made a promise to keep teaching.”
The center said the award was created due to the importance of addressing antisemitism. Lucot is someone they decided to nominate as an organization, because of the difference he has made, taking concrete action and having a local impact.
“We created the project two years ago. We’re living in a time of rising antisemitism. And for the Jewish community, sometimes there can be a feeling of, ‘who will stand up for us?’” said Noah Schoen, a community outreach associate for the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh. “We thought it was important for Jews and non-Jews alike to know there are people doing that.”
Lucot’s presence in the community included attending the funeral of one of those killed in the Tree of Life synagogue shooting, as well as the subsequent trial of shooter Robert Bowers, who received a death sentence. He said the experiences are very hard to put into words.
He also makes a point of approaching his classes with the famous President John F. Kennedy quote in mind, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”
“Everybody has to do something today, everyone. We’re better than this. Our country is better than this,” Lucot said of rising antisemitism in America.
