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<\/a><\/p>\nTexas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick speaks on stage on the second day of the 2026 Republican National Convention at the American Airlines Center on September 10, 2026 in Dallas, Texas. (Kevin Dietsch\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Dan Patrick\u2019s statement, provided exclusively to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Friday, comes after a month of confusion following a press conference in which he and a conservative Christian activist threatened schools with potential loss of state funding if they did not comply with his directive to purge their libraries. <\/p>\n
\u201cI believe Texas students must learn about the Holocaust, and that includes reading books such as \u2018Night\u2019 by Elie Wiesel, \u2018The Diary of Anne Frank,\u2019 and other books about the Holocaust,\u201d Patrick told JTA, singling out two books on the removal list he had promoted \u2013 one of which, \u201cNight,\u201d that he previously explicitly called for removal from middle schools. <\/p>\n
Patrick added that his initiative was \u201cfocused on age-inappropriate, sexually explicit books in public school libraries across Texas.\u201d At his earlier press conference, he had directed viewers to an online list compiled by an activist group that features several books about the Holocaust and Jewish identity.<\/p>\n
Patrick\u2019s threats have teeth. In Texas, lieutenant governors are more powerful than in many other states, playing central roles in shaping the budget and determining the legislative agenda.<\/p>\n
Patrick also appeared to walk back some of the harsher proclamations from his Aug. 19 press conference, at which the Republican had stated, \u201cWe\u2019re coming for the books.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cAs the law states, local communities have the right to make their own decisions about their public school libraries,\u201d he told JTA Friday.<\/p>\n
The lieutenant governor, who is up for reelection this fall, appeared at the conference with Bonnie Wallace, the head of the activist group Recover America, and told viewers to \u201cgo to RecoverAmerica.com.\u201d That group has circulated a list of more than 2,100 \u201cHarmful Books in Libraries.\u201d Its list, which it describes as \u201cbooks with harmful, sexually explicit, and vulgar content,\u201d includes more than a dozen titles of particular import to Jewish readers. <\/p>\n
Recover America\u2019s flagged books include both volumes of Art Spiegelman\u2019s \u201cMaus,\u201d a comic-book adaptation of Frank\u2019s diary and Bernard Malamud\u2019s novel of a blood libel \u201cThe Fixer\u201d \u2014 all books that have been removed from school districts in Texas and other states in the past amid broader conservative-led library culture wars. In some cases those books were restored to the districts following public outcry, but spurred deeper dialogue about the state of Holocaust education and antisemitism awareness in public schools.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nPolitical activist and writer Elie Wiesel on November 3, 1980 in New York, New York. (Santi Visalli\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Patrick\u2019s latest push would go much further than a handful of districts, affecting the more than 5.5 million students in public schools across the state.A<\/p>\n
One book of particular contention on Recover America\u2019s list was \u201cNight,\u201d Elie Wiesel\u2019s bestselling memoir of surviving Auschwitz and Buchenwald, which has been taught in schools for decades. After a Houston Chronicle story noted the book\u2019s inclusion on the Recover America \u201charmful\u201d list, Patrick initially doubled down on \u201cNight,\u201d saying that it was not appropriate for middle schools owing to its \u201cviolence.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cIf \u2018Night,\u2019 by Elie Wiesel, were made into a movie, it would likely be rated R,\u201d Patrick wrote on the social network X on Aug. 26. \u201c\u2018Night,\u2019 which includes depictions of graphic violence and the machine-gunning of babies, should not be available to sixth graders in middle-school libraries. High school is more age-appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n
His tweet appeared to contradict the state\u2019s own K-12 required reading list, passed this summer, which mandates that \u201cNight\u201d be taught in the eighth grade beginning in 2030. <\/p>\n
Now, in response to questions from JTA, the lieutenant governor said he would defer to the Texas State Board of Education on the appropriate grade to teach \u201cNight.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThe State Board of Education decides the appropriate grade level for books and will determine whether \u2018Night,\u2019 by Elie Wiesel, is at the appropriate grade level,\u201d Patrick told JTA in his statement. <\/p>\n
He continued to insist that books in schools should be held to \u201cFCC standards,\u201d referring to the Federal Communications Commission, an agency that governs broadcasting content and does not regulate publishing.<\/p>\n
The head of the Texas Holocaust, Genocide and Antisemitism Advisory Commission, a governor-appointed panel which advised the state on the inclusion of \u201cNight\u201d and other Holocaust texts on its required reading list, did not return a JTA request for comment. <\/p>\n