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Why teach about the Holocaust
• One of the most effective subjects for examination of basic moral issues
• Critical lessons on human behavior
• Examines what it means to be a responsible citizen
1. Define the Holocaust
• 1933-1945 Hitler is in power of Nazi Germany
• State-sponsored systematic, persecution and annihilation of European Jewry
• 6 million Jews murdered
• Other victims: Gypsies, handicapped, Poles, homosexuals, Jehovah Witness, Soviet prisoners of war, and political dissidents
• Teaching Tip:
• Things I want to remember:
2. Do not teach or imply that the Holocaust was inevitable
• Just because a historical event happened doesn’t mean it had to
• Individuals, groups, and nations made decisions to act or not to act
• Focusing on these decisions helps students become critical thinkers
• Teaching Tip:
• Things I want to remember:
3. Avoid simple answers to complex questions
• Difficult questions are raised
• Do not oversimplify• Get students
thinking and examining all facets
• Teaching Tip:
• Things I want to remember:
4. Strive for Precision of Language
• Generalizing can lead to distorting the facts
• Help students clarify information
• Identify differences between: prejudice/discrimination, collaborator/bystander, armed/spiritual resistance, concentration camps/killing fields
• Avoid stereotypical descriptions
• Teaching Tip:
• Things I want to remember:
5. Strive for balance in establishing whose perspective informs your study of the Holocaust
• Student discussion on Holocaust participants
• 4 categories-victims, perpetrators, rescuers, bystanders
• Examine actions, motives, decisions of each group
• Portray ALL individuals
• Students should investigate all resources origin and authorship
• Teaching Tip:
• Things I want to remember:
6. Avoid comparisons of pain
• Highlight different policies toward different groups
• Do not present as comparison of suffering
• Avoid generalizations suggesting exclusivity
• Teaching Tip:
• Things I want to remember:
7. Do not romanticize history
• Only small fraction of non-Jews helped rescue Jews
• Do not overemphasize heroic tales
• Accuracy of fact and balanced perspective are priority
• Teaching Tip:
• Things I want to remember:
8. Contextualize the history
• Place events in historical context
• View within a contemporaneous context
• Don’t categorize groups of people based only on their experiences during the Holocaust
• Look at other cultural contributions that groups made during other times in history
• Teaching Tip:
• Things I want to remember:
9. Translate statistics into people
• Individual people are behind the statistics
• Diversity of personal experience
• Make meaning out of collective numbers
• Add individual voices to a collective experience
• Teaching Tip:
• Things I want to remember:
10. Make responsible methodological choices
• Use graphic material judiciously
• Avoid images and text that exploit students’ emotional vulnerability
• Do not skip any topics of the Holocaust
• Find appropriate approaches to address material
• Teaching Tip:
• Things I want to remember:
1. Define Genocide
• Any acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, national, ethical, racial or religious group
• Examples: killing members of a group, causing serious bodily or mental harm, prevent births, moving children from one group to another
• Teaching Tip:
• Things I want to remember:
2. Investigate the context and dynamics that have led to genocide
• What steps toward genocide in a society have been or could be?
• Analyze factors or patterns from early stages
• Examples: political considerations, economic difficulties, local history, context
• Think scope, intent, and tactics
• Teaching Tip:
• Things I want to remember:
3. Be wary of simplistic parallels to other genocides
• Each genocide has unique characteristics of time, place, people, and methods employed
• Avoid facile comparisons to other genocides
• Careful comparisons to tactics
• Avoid comparing pain and suffering
• Teaching Tip:
• Things I want to remember:
4. Analyze American and world response
• What was done or not done?
• Why action was or was not taken?
• Present facts on choices before, during, and after mass killing
• Begin with US choices• Discuss stakeholders• Then discuss global
community
• Lead students to understand the complexity of responding to genocide
What might cause genocide?How to prevent it?
• When does a nation have the political will to take all necessary steps to stop genocide?
• How much international cooperation can be mustered? How much is needed?
• What are the possible ramifications of intervention?
• Is a nation willing to absorb casualties and death to stop genocide?
• Teaching Tip:
• Things I want to remember:
5. Illustrate positive actions taken by individuals and nations in the face of genocide
• Do not exaggerate the number or their frequency of those who have stood up during a genocide
• Any action has potential impact
• Teaching Tip:
• Things I want to remember: