Curriculum Model

An Outline of a Workshop "How to teach the Holocaust"

By Lucy Smith

1.  Why teach the Holocaust?

To educate people to be sensitive and vigilant toward behavior with potential for a Holocaust.

2.  The Holocaust as everyone's concern

The Holocaust became a measuring stick of everyone's humanity.

3.  What led to the Holocaust. An Outline of the history of the relationship between Jews and  "Gentiles" (non-Jews) before the Holocaust?

Centuries of persecution, libel and humiliation of the Jews culminated in the Holocaust.

4.  Reading from  relevant extracts of  Holocaust literature; diaries, testimonies, novels.

Use of a variety of existing literature give students a more accurate image of the period and its better understanding.  Avoid reading just one book.

5.  How to extract the true human meaning of the Holocaust in Europe from the testimonies of survivors and other forms of the Holocaust literature ?

Use of a variety of materials, like videos and films with witnesses testimonials, provides true human experiences and emotions.

6.  The Holocaust as factual history.

Factual History of the Holocaust is needed to better understand the concepts such as; what was a ghetto, a life in hiding, or in a concentration camp.  It provides a variety of experiences and human reactions to evil.  The role of saviors is very important as a model of the possibility of positive behavior under difficult circumstances

7. The emotional aftermath of the Holocaust among the survivors and perpetrators.

We need to remember, and to teach, that every cruelty deeply affects both the victims and the perpetrators.

8.  Pitfalls in teaching the Holocaust:  The difficulty of "translating"   cultural and  historical periods to the language of present time, which often leads to misunderstanding and confusion. Putting too much stress on tortures may bring out unhealthy interest. How to avoid these pitfalls and how to respond to them when needed?

It is important to remember that students have only experienced  a contemporary life and need help in imagining a life different from theirs. Descriptions of other ways of life are needed.   When students display an unhealthy interest, are dwelling on horror or disgusting things, they should be discouraged.

9. Mercantile approach, soap-opera style and sensationalism cheapen the Holocaust.

It is important to provide good and tasteful educational materials.

10.  Learning to distinguish between the real and fake materials to teach  the Holocaust and to choose the ones which deals with genuine human experiences

It is important to avoid materials which tend to be soap-operish, cheap,  a Holocaust background for a romance, etc.

11.  Expanding teaching of the Holocaust to include sensitivity to any situation with potential for becoming a Holocaust.  How to recognize it and react to it and what to do to stop it while there is still  time?

Practice team teaching (English, Social Studies & History) Use contemporary examples of wrong-doing and show students how they can try to correct it.  For example Amnesty International letter writing, the fight against Child Labor, and similar actions.  Teach the content of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and explain its meaning and values.

12. The importance of the distinction between "right" and wrong". Acquiring ethical sensitivity for Good and Evil such as those which dictated the behavior of the Rightous Heroes of the Holocaust.

Explain to students that during the Holocaust lying to save someone's life was a morally superior action than "truth" would be.  Tell students about  rescuers like Raoul Wallenberg, Pastor Trocme, Oscar Schindler and others.  Discuss with the students various dilemmas of daily life from the ethical point of view and help them to see that often things can't be clear-cut and obvious.  Show them that "right" and "wrong" can have many aspects.