Auerbach Central Agency for Jewish Education

Holocaust Resources

Articles

Teaching the Lessons of the Holocaust:
Critical Issues for Classroom Study

Prepared by Josey G. Fisher, ACAJE Holocaust Education Consultant

1. Richness and diversity of Jewish life in pre-war Europe.
2. Long history of anti-Jewish feeling which provided the seed-bed for Nazi ideology.
3. Nature of prejudice, stereotyping, scapegoating, racism. Concept of the "other".
4. Role of propaganda and education in promoting Nazi ideology.
5. Stepwise progression:
   1. discrimination
   2. loss of rights and property
   3. violence
   4. ghettoization
   5. annihilation
6. Perpetrators - from education to Hitler Youth to active participants.
7. Bystanders - most prevalent group in Nazi-occupied Europe.
8. Non-Jewish victims
9. Response of the Allies, notably the U. S. and Britain.
10. Rescuers and righteous - nations, communities and groups, individuals.
11. Resistance:
    1. armed uprisings in ghettos and camps
    2. partisans
    3. couriers, sabotage, smuggling
    4. spiritual - religious observance, documentation of history, artistic expression
    5. anti-Nazi publications, strikes and protests
12. Range of personal experience during Nazi era
13. Personal experience post-war
14. Post-war trials, new definitions and laws

Remember:

1. Personalize the experience in order to engage the student.
2. Clarify the unique and universal aspects of the Holocaust experience.
3. Elicit critical thinking - in context of historical and social realities - regarding:
   -- response and responsibility of civilians both in Europe and abroad.
   -- behavior of victims, eg., Judenrat, "choiceless choices"
   Note limitations and dilemmas as well as successes.
4. Stress range of human behavior among all groups. Avoid categorizing.
5. Relate to current world issues and opportunities for social action.

Artwork: "Arrival in Theresienstadt" 1942
Drawing by child artist Helga Weissova, 1929 -