A resource for encouraging character development

I think one Holocaust topic that is often overlooked is a discussion of rescuers and the character development that can be learned from those individuals. I recognize that for most teachers the reason this area of the Holocaust is overlooked is due to time constraints, but I do think there is something important in making sure this topic is at least recognized. I think it helps remind students that even in what is one of humanity’s darkest hours, there were good people who tried to help.

Now I’ll admit that I do not have time to actually do a whole lesson on this subject, but I do have a copy of the poster set created by the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, a non-profit organization that recognizes and offers financial assistance to rescuers. JFR publishes a poster set that explores the character traits of rescuers such as compassion, moral leadership, courage, integrity, and social responsibility. JFR believes that rescuers are, “not just heroes from the past, but also role models for the present” and wants students to realize that rescuers are not unique but have the same character traits that young people can and do have.

I keep the posters up in my classroom throughout the year and I watch as students read over them throughout the first semester. During second semester, when I teach the Holocaust unit, I will discuss the posters directly and talk about the importance of these character traits. I keep the posters up the rest of the year so that students are reminded, visually, of those characteristics that make up the best of humanity. Again, I don’t have time to do a lot with this lesson because like all teachers I live in a world where one week is considered a lot of time on one subject, but I think having the posters up year round and then addressing them directly helps remind students that people have been - and are - capable of being good and just.

This poster set and the accompanying Teachers Guide is available for free loan from the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education's Resource Center. The posters are also available for purchase in English and Spanish (“Poster Set on Rescue: Traits that Transcend”) directly from JFR.

Holocaust fatigue in students

As a High School teacher, I often hear “Why do we have to learn about the Holocaust? We already know everything!” or “I’m so tired of learning about the Holocaust. It is so depressing.” Although this attitude can be frustrating, I take solace in the fact that their middle school and freshman teachers are doing their job.

Because these students come to me with pretty good background knowledge of the Holocaust, I’m able to expose them to so much of the history which they know little or nothing about. I see it as a challenge to make sure they leave my class saying, “I didn’t know about __________” or “I learned so much more in your class.”

So much of their prior knowledge revolves around the camps, hiding, and the ghettos. In my two week unit we also cover: the history of antisemitism, Jewish life before the Holocaust, other victims, the progression of events (Nuremberg Laws, the T4 euthanasia program, and the Wannsee Conference), Einsatzgruppen, and rescue and resistance.

Students also read All But My Life by Gerda Weissmann Klein, whose writing takes a different approach than most of the memoirs/diaries they’ve previously read. If there is time, I always like to conclude the unit with a lesson over contemporary genocides so they can see exactly WHY we’re spending so much time on this historical event- because it can happen again and unfortunately it has happened repeatedly since 1945.

When my students state they already know everything about the Holocaust, I reply “I’ve been studying this history for fifteen years and I’m continually learning more. It is my goal to take you above and beyond what you’ve already learned.” After the unit, they still say it is depressing but I’ve never had a student say they already knew the material. Enrichment is the cure for Holocaust fatigue.

Essay Contest resources and advice!

Last year was my first to tackle the White Rose Student Essay Contest. The colleagues in my informal PLC, Gay Ramsey from Trailridge Middle School and Jen Jenkins from Westridge Middle School, were invaluable to me. They shared their project plans and calendar. They explained how they taught various aspects of the research process to their students. We solved problems and shared frustrations together. We met at MCHE the day the final essays were due, turned in our students’ papers, and then went out for dinner . When the winners were announced last May, Gay was holding my hand, literally – just as she had held it figuratively through the entire process. Honestly, I could not have done it without them!

This year we added another member to our group, Kristin Ridgway from Hocker Grove Middle School, and started planning at the end of 1^st Quarter. The documents associated with this blog entry are a result of that meeting. Many of them have my name in the footer, but they are the result of the cumulative effort of the four of us. Each person in the group reserves the right to make changes as needed for her particular group of students and her school schedule. Some of us spend a bit more time on one step of the process than another. Of course, we all must monitor the learning of our students along the way and make necessary adjustments. Nevertheless, the Project Description and Calendar provide a guide for the teacher and students from the start of the project about the tasks that must be accomplished and the time allotted for completing them. The Topic Approval Form is designed to prevent research project pitfalls before they happen: students who pick a topic that doesn’t truly interest them or about which they can’t obtain enough information.

Gay, Jen, and I decided to begin the White Rose Project this year with an introduction to the Kansas City area survivors. MCHE has provided us with two unique resources for this task. First, The Holocaust: Through Our Own Eyes is a wonderful video that provides an overview of the Holocaust in the length of one class period. It was produced by MCHE and features the testimony of KC area survivors. Second, Mosaic of Memories is a PowerPoint presentation created by MCHE that can be used in the classroom in 2-3 periods. (Gay and I allowed 3 days on the calendar because we talk too much!) Mosaic also tells the story of the Holocaust from the point-of-view of KC area survivors. We think that these two resources will be instrumental in helping the students choose the survivors whom they would like to research for their projects.

The Survivors Chart associated with this blog entry is an adaptation of MCHE's White Rose topic list for 2010-11. Gay and I have added columns cross-referencing the list of survivors with The Holocaust: Through Our Own Eyes, Mosaic of Memories, and The Memory Project (another MCHE publication).

Finally, Gay, Jen, and I feel that it is important for our students to gain a solid foundation of general Holocaust knowledge in the course of this project. As 8^th graders, this is probably the first time most of our students have learned anything about the Holocaust. We want them to have facts rather than myths and misconceptions. They will have other opportunities to learn about the Holocaust – in high school English and history classes. We don’t need to teach them everything; we want to teach broadly and leave them curious to learn more. Their White Rose essays – no matter the topic – will be stronger if they understand how their piece of the puzzle fits into the larger picture. An excellent text for providing this general overview of the Holocaust is Tell Them We Remember by Susan D. Bachrach. That is why it is required reading in the beginning steps of the White Rose project. The reading guide that I used with students last year and intend to use again is also attached for your use.

If you are lucky enough to have colleagues in your school district who have participated in White Rose, I urge you to seek them out. Band together and work as a team. It makes the process much less stressful and more enjoyable. If you are alone and tackling the project for the first time on your own, contact Jessica Rockhold at MCHE. There are people who are willing to help you!

Emotional impressions of A Film Unfinished

I recently had the chance to see the just released movie “A Film Unfinished” at the Glenwood Theatre. Because of my commitment to the subject of the Holocaust I have seen many, many movies on this subject. However, this movie was one of the hardest I’ve ever had to watch.

For those of you that don’t know the movie, it features four film reels that are all titled “Das Ghetto.” They weren’t found all together and the most recent one was Reel #4 found in 1995. Hidden away in an underground vault in East Germany, “Das Ghetto” chronicles 30 days of filming in the Warsaw Ghetto. The film was done by the Nazis to use as propaganda.

After reel #2, I realized that we were going to go through all of the reels, all four of them. I wasn’t really sure that I could sit through all four reels. To watch the black and white footage and realize that you were seeing human beings that more than likely were dead three months after filming was very disconcerting and disturbing. Not to mention the fact that the producer kept showing you four survivors of the Warsaw Ghetto watching the film at the same time you were. The light of the film reflected off their faces as they cried and grimaced at the images that were real to them some 60 years ago.

The most memorable line of the entire film was given by one of these women survivors. As she watched the corpses thrown down a slide into a pit and the Nazi cameraman change position in the pit to get a better angle she said “I can’t watch this now. I’m human now and I can’t watch these scenes.” For the entire 88 minutes of this film you kept thinking to yourself “How could you live in this place and be sane?” or “You would have had to feel like you dropped through a black hole and were without a doubt in hell or in a psychotic state of hell.” The survivor’s statement made me realize that you did go into another dimension in the Warsaw Ghetto and in that dimension you weren’t human. Plain and simple, humans could not have survived this experience. The only way to survive was to morph into an inhuman state.

Teaching Anne Frank and the Holocaust while preparing for assessments

In this day and age of testing, it can be very hard to teach the subjects we are passionate about. This is particularly true teaching middle school in Kansas, where students are given the reading assessment in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. However, it is important for us as educators to still teach those topics that we feel are essential for students going forth in their education. The Holocaust is one subject I feel this way about.

Most middle school students read The Diary of Anne Frank. In many districts, the story (diary, excerpts or the play) is in the language arts textbook. It is possible to teach the key points of the Holocaust while using Anne Frank's story.

Before reading the story, take a class period to explain the major details of the Holocaust. It is hard for students to understand why the Franks are going into hiding when they don't know what was happening in Europe. It is possible to give an overview in one class period and students will start the story with excellent prior knowledge.

In order to tie the subject in with state tested standards, you can teach your unit on persuasive techniques before teaching Anne Frank, and then discuss Nazi propaganda during the unit.

While reading the story, be sure to use context clues to discuss vocabulary and ask questions which require the students to use inference, again tying the story with state standards.

Anne Frank can be an excellent tool for character study and the elements of character which are tested on the reading assessment. Motivations, character changes, environment changing the characters and character drives are all done very well in this story.

If reading the actual diary, it can be a great chance to discuss author's viewpoint and position. As with all stories, plot structure can be analyzed in this story as well.

Personally, I have found it hard to come to terms with the fact that high stakes tests are going to have to take precedence in our classes. However, I have also come to the realization that I can still teach the things I love while also tying those things to assessment goals. They do not have to be taught independent of each other.

A helpful resource

When searching for Holocaust resources to use in classroom setting, the number of memoirs can be overwhelming. If you then looking just for segments of a memoir to use in class, this task can be even more daunting.

A few years back I had the pleasure of hearing Sir Martin Gilbert speak. He signed my copy of Kristallnacht – Prelude to Destruction and while I was talking to him I told him I was a high school teacher. He gave me a copy of a book by his wife Holocaust Memoir Digest: Volume 2.

The Holocaust Memoir Digest has proven to be a very valuable resource. It takes a memoir, for example All But My Life by Gerda Weissman Klein, and makes it very user friendly for teachers. It breaks down the memoir and literally tells you, by page number, what topics are covered. Klein’s book, for example, includes topics like:

• Pre-war Jewish and community life
• Pre-war antisemitism
• The coming of the war
• Daily life in the ghetto
• Deportation
• Auschwitz-Birkenau
• Personal reflection

Also included are timelines linked to the memoir and maps to makes the geography understandable.

Volume 2, the volume I have, covers the following memoirs:

• Gerda Weissmann Klein (All But My Life)
• Saul Friedlander (When Memory Comes)
• Art Spiegelman (Maus: A Survivor’s Tale, Part I and II)
• Fanya Gottesfeld Heller (Strange ad Unexpected Love, a Teenage Girl’s Holocaust Memoirs)
• Erika Kounio Amariglio (From Thessaloniki to Auschwitz ad Back, Memoires of Survivor from Thessaloniki)
• Solomon Gisser (The Cantor’s Voice)
• Samuel Bak (Painted in Words – A Memoir)

The Memoir Digest also includes a very helpful section called Using the Digest. It takes various questions about the Holocaust and tells you which memoirs could be used to help answer these questions. For example a question like: In the pre-war years, how was Jewish religious life observed? The Digest tells you which of these memoirs to examine to help answer this question. There are over 10 pages of these kinds of questions.

There are three volumes in this Digest Series by Ester Goldberg. All three volumes are available in the MCHE Resource Center. 

For more information visit: http://www.holocaustmemoirdigest.org/.

Relating the Holocaust to Other Genocides: A Seminar Series for Educators

CLICK HERE FOR REGISTRATION FORM

Conference Room C
Jewish Community Campus
5801 W. 115th Street
Overland Park, Kansas
 
These sessions examine Holocaust history as it relates to other modern genocides. Participants will explore the history of the Holocaust and its connections to genocides in Armenia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur. Analysis of primary source documents, discussions of the stages of genocide and hands on practice with these resources will equip teachers with tools to engage their students in discussions of the relevance of Holocaust history as well as discussions of genocide prevention and awareness. Sessions will feature hands-on work with lesson plans appropriate for 7-12 th grade classrooms with an emphasis on cross-curricular approaches. All sessions will be led by members of the Isak Federman Holocaust Teaching Cadre with oversight by MCHE's Jessica Rockhold.

Schedule of Sessions:
All sessions meet from 4:30-7:30. Educators may sign up for individual sessions or the entire series.

January 12, 2011 - Defining Genocide / Case Study: The Armenian Genocide

These lessons will analyze the definition of genocide and the eight stages of genocide as well as explore resources for teaching the Armenian genocide and its relationship to the Holocaust

 February 9, 2011– Genocide and the Power of the Written Word: Diaries, Memoirs and Propaganda

These lessons will feature resources and methods that draw connections among genocide experiences, using primary sources including diaries and survivor memoirs and a detailed unit exploring propaganda in the Holocaust and Rwanda.

 March 2, 2011—Choosing to Act: Resisters, Bystanders, Perpetrators

These lessons will explore the responses of various groups to the Holocaust and other genocides, specifically decisions made by bystanders as well as a document-based question on resistance.

 April 13, 2011—Memory and Memorialization: Visual Representations of Genocide Experiences

These lessons will explore art from the Holocaust and other genocides as well as memorialization of these events.

A registration fee of $15 per session covers a light meal and materials. Registration must be received at least 1 week prior to the session for individual sessions or by January 1, 2011 for the entire series. Optional graduate credit (1 hour) through Baker University will be available for an additional $50 fee (payable to Baker).