Guidelines for Teaching About the Holocaust

Sample Presentation by

Angie Hillman

Why teach about the Holocaust

• One of the most effective subjects for examination of basic moral issues

• Critical lessons on human behavior

• Examines what it means to be a responsible citizen

10 Guidelines

For teaching the

Holocaust

1. Define the Holocaust

• 1933-1945 Hitler is in power of Nazi Germany

• State-sponsored systematic, persecution and annihilation of European Jewry

• 6 million Jews murdered

• Other victims: Gypsies, handicapped, Poles, homosexuals, Jehovah Witness, Soviet prisoners of war, and political dissidents

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• Things I want to remember:

2. Do not teach or imply that the Holocaust was inevitable

• Just because a historical event happened doesn’t mean it had to

• Individuals, groups, and nations made decisions to act or not to act

• Focusing on these decisions helps students become critical thinkers

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3. Avoid simple answers to complex questions

• Difficult questions are raised

• Do not oversimplify• Get students

thinking and examining all facets

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• Things I want to remember:

4. Strive for Precision of Language

• Generalizing can lead to distorting the facts

• Help students clarify information

• Identify differences between: prejudice/discrimination, collaborator/bystander, armed/spiritual resistance, concentration camps/killing fields

• Avoid stereotypical descriptions

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5. Strive for balance in establishing whose perspective informs your study of the Holocaust

• Student discussion on Holocaust participants

• 4 categories-victims, perpetrators, rescuers, bystanders

• Examine actions, motives, decisions of each group

• Portray ALL individuals

• Students should investigate all resources origin and authorship

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6. Avoid comparisons of pain

• Highlight different policies toward different groups

• Do not present as comparison of suffering

• Avoid generalizations suggesting exclusivity

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7. Do not romanticize history

• Only small fraction of non-Jews helped rescue Jews

• Do not overemphasize heroic tales

• Accuracy of fact and balanced perspective are priority

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8. Contextualize the history

• Place events in historical context

• View within a contemporaneous context

• Don’t categorize groups of people based only on their experiences during the Holocaust

• Look at other cultural contributions that groups made during other times in history

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9. Translate statistics into people

• Individual people are behind the statistics

• Diversity of personal experience

• Make meaning out of collective numbers

• Add individual voices to a collective experience

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10. Make responsible methodological choices

• Use graphic material judiciously

• Avoid images and text that exploit students’ emotional vulnerability

• Do not skip any topics of the Holocaust

• Find appropriate approaches to address material

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• Things I want to remember:

5 Guidelines

For teaching about a

Genocide

1. Define Genocide

• Any acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, national, ethical, racial or religious group

• Examples: killing members of a group, causing serious bodily or mental harm, prevent births, moving children from one group to another

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2. Investigate the context and dynamics that have led to genocide

• What steps toward genocide in a society have been or could be?

• Analyze factors or patterns from early stages

• Examples: political considerations, economic difficulties, local history, context

• Think scope, intent, and tactics

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3. Be wary of simplistic parallels to other genocides

• Each genocide has unique characteristics of time, place, people, and methods employed

• Avoid facile comparisons to other genocides

• Careful comparisons to tactics

• Avoid comparing pain and suffering

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• Things I want to remember:

4. Analyze American and world response

• What was done or not done?

• Why action was or was not taken?

• Present facts on choices before, during, and after mass killing

• Begin with US choices• Discuss stakeholders• Then discuss global

community

• Lead students to understand the complexity of responding to genocide

What might cause genocide?How to prevent it?

• When does a nation have the political will to take all necessary steps to stop genocide?

• How much international cooperation can be mustered? How much is needed?

• What are the possible ramifications of intervention?

• Is a nation willing to absorb casualties and death to stop genocide?

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5. Illustrate positive actions taken by individuals and nations in the face of genocide

• Do not exaggerate the number or their frequency of those who have stood up during a genocide

• Any action has potential impact

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• Things I want to remember:

www.ushmm.org

All information was taken from this website.