“Now You Know, Don’t Be Indifferent”: The Emotional Effects of Learning About Historical Violence and Their Relationship with Current Pro-Social Motivation

How does learning about historical violence inspire prosocial action today? Prior work has focused on whether such experiences are (emotionally) impactful but seldom tested the mechanisms of impact. We propose a framework of actor-specific emotional pathways connecting knowledge of historical violence to contemporary upstanding intentions: empathy for victims, moral emotions toward exemplars (e.g., admiration), and toward perpetrators (e.g., guilt). We tested this in a pre-registered study among Dutch youths (N = 1,371) participating in a Holocaust museum program, using Structural Equation Modeling to compare post-visit responses to a control group. We found that the program increased empathy for victims, positive emotions toward exemplars, and negative emotions toward perpetrators compared to the control group. However, only the “victim path” (empathy) mediated the program’s effect on upstanding intentions against antisemitic bullying. These findings highlight the central role of victim-centered narratives and inform educational efforts to foster present-day moral engagement.