holocaust studies | Imamother

myfriends715

Wed, Jun 25 2008, 9:34 pm

I guys... I hope this is in the right section.. iy"h next yr I will b teaching a 1x a week class about the holocaust to 12th grade kiruv students.. im very excited and awed by the responsibility to impart this important part of history on these girls.. can anyone tell me a list of resources I can use to get more information and to be able to create comprehensive lessons.. lists on movies (educational ones) are great as well

manhattanmom

Wed, Jun 25 2008, 10:22 pm

yo'ma wrote:

google holocaust, I'm sure you'll get tons of things.

But maybe not from the best/appropriate sources....

You may want to arrange for some survivors as guest speakers and then have q/a sessions with your students to make it "more tangible" for them. I know for myself, all of my grandparents were born in NY and growing up I didn't know ANYONE personally who was a survivor so hearing speakers in person and being able to talk to them informally afterwards was always something I appreciated.

Myfriend--if you're interested--I took a trip to Poland 3 years ago and have tons of pictures--PM me if you want some--also there was a woman in my group who was a professional photographer so I have a CD of her pictures from the trip--like 3,000 of them!!

Toot

Wed, Jun 25 2008, 10:42 pm

What kind of background do they have, both in Judaism and in general WWII history?

Schindler's List is very long and drawn out, but Life is Beautiful is fantastic, and The Pianist is also very good, about life in the ghetto.

If you want to talk specifically about Nazi mentality (and cult/brainwashing in general), The Wave is a great book/movie for that. The whole movie is available on YouTube.

Have them read Night by Elie Wiesel, or do excerpts from it in the class. There is also a whole collection of children's art and poetry from Terezin, most famously the poem/song "I Never Saw Another Butterfly." And of course, The Diary of Anne Frank.

I second the suggestion to bring in survivors, that is the most important thing. The students need to hear the stories firsthand. Also impress upon them that they are among the last ones with the privilege to hear their stories from the survivors themselves.

If I think of anything else, I'll let you know. Best of luck!