7 Classroom Resources on the Holocaust
International Holocaust Remembrance Day is Thursday, January 27th. This is a day when we remember the 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust, their loved ones, and the ways in which this incalculable tragedy has transformed our world. It is also a time for educators to ensure their readiness to integrate instruction on the Holocaust into their annual teaching plans.
bell hooks Taught Us to Transgress
Like many people of my generation who cut their teeth on the critical insights of bell hooks, news of her passing in December unleashed a wave of reflection for me about the ways she’s impacted me as a person and public scholar. Beyond the many moments of resonance I experienced while reading her writings over the years, her impact on me is most powerfully encapsulated in an experience I had in 2008 when I met her.
Dismantling Democracy
Students examine the steps the Nazis took to replace democracy with dictatorship and draw conclusions about the values and institutions that make democracy possible.
World War: Choices and Consequences
Investigate how World War I heightened divisions between “we” and “they” among people and nations and left behind fertile ground for Nazi Germany in the following decades.
Do You Take the Oath?
Students consider the choices and reasoning of individual Germans who stayed quiet or spoke up during the first few years of Nazi rule.
European Jewish Life before World War II
Students analyze images and film that convey the richness of Jewish life across Europe at the time of the Nazis’ ascension to power.
Exploring Identity
Students identify the social and cultural factors that help shape our identities by analyzing firsthand reflections and creating personal identity charts.
The Weimar Republic: The Fragility of Democracy
Explore the efforts to build a democracy in Germany in the 1920s, and examine the misunderstandings, myths, and fears that often undercut those efforts.
The Holocaust: Bearing Witness
Students are introduced to the enormity of the crimes committed during the Holocaust and look closely at stories of a few individuals who were targeted by Nazi brutality.
How Should We Remember?
Students both respond to and design Holocaust memorials as they consider the impact that memorials and monuments have on the way we think about history.
Introducing The Unit
Students develop a contract establishing a reflective classroom community in preparation for their exploration of this unit's historical case study.