Holocaust and Human Behavior: A Facing History & Ourselves High School Elective Course
This curriculum is designed for Tennessee and Southeast educators teaching a high school elective course on the history of the Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide.
![Teacher and student interact at Memphis' Student Leadership Fall Conference.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-06/08102018_Facing_History_Focht_026.jpg?h=4362216e&itok=CWBy-Kv1)
The Holocaust and Jewish Communities in Wartime North Africa
Explore the impact of the Holocaust and World War II on Jewish communities in North Africa in this 3-lesson mini-unit.
![A group of people walk down a street in Casablanca.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-06/717620_unit_banner.jpg?h=2a25a39c&itok=fSS2691Y)
Americans and the Holocaust: The Refugee Crisis
Explore the motives, pressures, and fears that shaped Americans’ responses to Nazism and the humanitarian refugee crisis it provoked during the 1930s and 1940s.
![A crowd of American men and women hold signs protesting Nazi Germany's actions.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/AP_3811161102_Medium_res.jpg?h=00d1719e&itok=OsmUgwd2)
Stereotypes and “Single Stories”
Students create working definitions of stereotype as they examine the human behavior of applying categories to people and things.
![Photograph by James Luna.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/HHB_Chapter_2_Medium_res.jpg?h=c9f93661&itok=OtysDNT5)
Race and Space
Students examine the Nazi ideology of “race and space” and the role it played in Germany’s aggression toward other nations, groups, and individuals.
![Hitler Youth and League of German Girls in Tianjin, China](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Bundesarchiv_Bild_137-040965%2C_China%2C_Tientsin%2C_HJ_und_BDM_Vereidigung_Medium_res.jpg?h=7fb2964e&itok=f7n1FWQ6)
Children’s Emigration Project
Students discover the complexities of Martha Sharp's rescue project by analyzing historical correspondences.
![Children stand in front of a sign reading Maison d' Enfants USA](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-09/image_2_360x260.jpeg?h=f1cce077&itok=THWs_fo8)
The Sharps’ Dilemmas
Students are introduced to upstanders Waitstill and Martha Sharp, an American minister and his wife who undertook a rescue mission to help save Jews and refugees fleeing Nazi occupation.
![Martha and Waitstill Sharp wave to a crowd before leaving New York City for Europe. Martha wears a corsage of flowers on her coat and holds a bouquet of flowers in her left hand. Stamped in ink on verso: "Photo by William T. Hoff, New York Municipal Airport"](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-09/Martha_and_Waitstill_Sharp_waving_for_Web_or_Office_Use.jpg?h=a9a611f7&itok=ld5w1FcD)
Ukraine: Discussing the War and Refugee Crisis with Students
Use this lesson to help students process how they are feeling about the devastating war in Ukraine, develop media literacy in what news they consume and how, and explore the mounting refugee crisis.
![Ukrainian Refugees crossing a fallen bridge.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/2022_RussiaUkraineConflict_FH2168262.jpg?h=7fb2964e&itok=suTcwNTN)
Creating Student Projects
Help students develop a larger understanding and appreciation of the Jewish resistance movement during the Holocaust.
![Black and white photograph of six Jewish partisans standing in a forest clearing](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-12/4f728076-da8b-4921-a9c2-26834c0b5d06jpgpagespeedcejNOI-oC_Xq.jpg?h=fff89ad5&itok=PdRWicBS)
Sonia Orbuch: Becoming a Partisan
Explore the choices of Jewish partisan Sonia Orban, and gain a deeper understanding of the complexities that young people faced during the German occupation of Poland.
![Sonia Orbuch, a Jewish partisan in Poland during the Holocaust, and her husband on their wedding day in 1945.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_2016_PartisanSoniaOrbuchafterWorldWarII_FH227675.jpg?h=01b11b5d&itok=fXjQZD3M)
Vitka Kempner: Identity and Resistance
Explore the choices of Vitka Kempner, a Jewish partisan who chose to resist the Nazis.
![Picture of Vitka Kempner](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-12/Vitka_Kempner.jpeg?h=8276ab78&itok=5w9R8E7w)