Examining the Holocaust and Human Behavior: 18-week Curriculum Outline
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Recommended for 8th and 10th grade, this outline provides an instructional pathway for middle school educators teaching the Holocaust.
The Artist and His Mother by Arshile Gorky
This image, which is on the cover of Facing History's publication Crimes Against Humanity and Civilization: The Genocide of the Armenians was painted by the artist Arshile Gorky. It is based on a photograph of Gorky and his mother, Sushan der Marderosian, taken in 1912. Although Gorky is generally identified as an American artist, he was born Vosdanig Adoian near the city of Van in what was then the Ottoman Empire. A few years after the photograph was taken, Gorky and his mother were victims of the Armenian Genocide. While he survived, Gorky remembers his mother dying in his arms. As an artist Gorky returned to the subject of the 1912 photograph many times throughout his career.
![Painting of artist Arshile Gorky and his mother.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-09/GenocideOfTheArmeniansArshileGorky.jpeg?h=83a548ea&itok=vPFn3ux0)
The Artist and His Mother by Arshile Gorky (en español)
This image, which is on the cover of Facing History's publication Crimes Against Humanity and Civilization: The Genocide of the Armenians was painted by the artist Arshile Gorky. It is based on a photograph of Gorky and his mother, Sushan der Marderosian, taken in 1912. Although Gorky is generally identified as an American artist, he was born Vosdanig Adoian near the city of Van in what was then the Ottoman Empire. A few years after the photograph was taken, Gorky and his mother were victims of the Armenian Genocide. While he survived, Gorky remembers his mother dying in his arms. As an artist Gorky returned to the subject of the 1912 photograph many times throughout his career. This resource is in Spanish.
![Painting of artist Arshile Gorky and his mother.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-09/GenocideOfTheArmeniansArshileGorky.jpeg?h=83a548ea&itok=vPFn3ux0)
Totally Unofficial: Raphael Lemkin and the Genocide Convention
This resource challenges students to consider how individuals, groups, and nations can take up Raphael Lemkin’s challenge to eliminate genocide.
![Totally Unofficial: Raphael Lemkin and the Genocide Convention Cover](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/TotallyUnofficialcover.jpg?h=07cdb8c0&itok=fwNBRG_P)
Witness to a Massacre
Barbara Turkeltaub, a Jewish girl who was hidden by Catholic nuns during the war, describes witnessing a Nazi massacre.
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_530.jpg)
Stitching Truth: Women's Protest Art in Pinochet's Chile
This resource helps students explore the courageous stories of the women in Chile who challenged the silence and terror imposed by Pinochet's dictatorship from 1973–1990.
![Stitching Truth: Women's Protest Art in Pinochet's Chile Cover](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/stitchingthetruth_Lowres.jpg?h=f2bc82e7&itok=Haz4tTQO)
United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Crime of Genocide
The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, or the Genocide Convention, is an international treaty that criminalizes genocide and obligates state parties to pursue the enforcement of its prohibition.
![A photograph of several delegates who signed the UN Genocide Convention Credit: US Holocaust Memorial Museum, gift of United Nations](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-09/Lemkin_Ratification_Of_Genocide_Convention_FH131485.jpg?h=6db1c67f&itok=hEICVT3F)
Negotiating the Convention on the Punishment and Prevention of the Crime of Genocide
Lemkin proved himself a relentless activist. He worked tirelessly as a lobbyist, a strategist, and an agitator, in order to establish the Genocide Convention with the help of the United Nations on December 9, 1948.
![A photograph of several delegates who signed the UN Genocide Convention Credit: US Holocaust Memorial Museum, gift of United Nations](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-09/Lemkin_Ratification_Of_Genocide_Convention_FH131485.jpg?h=6db1c67f&itok=hEICVT3F)
International Law in the Age of Genocide
While Lemkin was able to convince diplomats at the United Nations to pass the Genocide Convention, his work was not complete upon his death. The job of lobbying governments across the world to ratify the convention was left to ordinary people.
![A photograph of several delegates who signed the UN Genocide Convention Credit: US Holocaust Memorial Museum, gift of United Nations](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-09/Lemkin_Ratification_Of_Genocide_Convention_FH131485.jpg?h=6db1c67f&itok=hEICVT3F)
Les excuses du premier ministre Harper
Les excuses faisaient partie du processus organisé par le gouvernement et les Premières Nations en tant que signataires de l'entente; il s'agissait d'une tentative d'aborder le rôle du gouvernement dans l'histoire des pensionnats autochtones.
![Graphic from cover of "Stolen Lives: The Indigenous Peoples of Canada and the Indian Residential Schools."](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/SL_graphic5.png?h=bc3345c8&itok=_uc8CaVR)
Rohingya Refugees Arriving by Boat, 2017
Refugees arrive on the Bangladesh side of the Naf River on October 1, 2017, after fleeing their village in Myanmar.
![A woman and a baby are helped off a boat.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/2017_RohingyaRefugeesArrivingbyBoat_FH261964.jpg?h=eb24755d&itok=pei1Gszb)