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Teaching about the Holocaust—A Resource GuideWilliam Benedict Russell III aa Florida State University Tallahassee. willbr3@yahoo.com.Published online: 07 Aug 2010.

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eaching about the Holocaust is anemotional process that can be

extremely difficult, especially withoutthe proper resources. Most teachersspend one or two class periods on theHolocaust and usually cram the lessoninto a unit on World War II. As a teacher,I understand that time is short and that itis impossible to spend the appropriateamount of time on each topic. The mag-nitude of the Holocaust, however,deserves more than a brief side note dur-ing a World War II lesson. Furthermore,the authority used by most teacherswhen teaching the Holocaust is usually atextbook, which oftentimes providesonly a bleak overview of the horrificevent. Textbooks tend to leave outdetails about other catastrophic geno-cides, such as the Spanish and Englishslaughter of the Native Americans or theBelgian atrocities against the Congolesepeople or the genocide occurringpresently in Sudan. The resources that Iprovide in this article are not to be usedas a single authority but as a tool toenhance the lessons and, I hope, to

increase the chances of having meaning-ful learning occur. My purpose is to pro-vide educators with a resource guide ofmaterials for teaching the Holocaust.Once teachers have a list of resources forteaching the Holocaust, they can use itto create quality lesson plans.

Why Teach the Holocaust?

The Holocaust was not an accidentaloccurrence in history. The Holocaustoccurred because people of authoritylegalized discrimination and fostered anenvironment of prejudice, racism,hatred, social division, inequality, andmurder. The Holocaust was not simplya Jewish issue but was an issue foreveryone directly and indirectlyexposed to it. Not only were Jewishpeople exterminated, but also Poles,Romanies, and Jehovah Witnesses.

The Florida Commissioner’s TaskForce on Holocaust Education (2000)compiled the following reasons forteaching the Holocaust.

• The Holocaust was a watershed event,not only in the twentieth century butalso in the entire history of humanity.

• Study of the Holocaust assists stu-dents in developing understanding ofthe ramifications of prejudice, racism,

and stereotyping in any society. Ithelps students develop an awarenessof the value of pluralism, and encour-ages tolerance of diversity in a plural-istic society.

• The Holocaust provides a context forexploring the dangers of remainingsilent, apathetic, and indifferent in theface of others’ oppression.

• Holocaust history demonstrates how amodern nation can utilize its techno-logical expertise and bureaucraticinfrastructure to implement destruc-tive policies ranging from social engi-neering to genocide.

• A study of the Holocaust helps studentsthink about the use and abuse of power,and the role and responsibilities of indi-viduals, organizations, and nationswhen confronted with civil rights viola-tions and/or policies of genocide.

• As students gain insight into the manyhistorical, social, religious, political,and economic factors, which cumula-tively resulted in the Holocaust, theygain a perspective on how history hap-pens, and how a convergence of fac-tors can contribute to the disintegra-tion of civilized values. Part of one’sresponsibility as a citizen in a democ-racy is to learn to identify the dangersignals, and to know when to react.

Teaching about the Holocaust—A Resource Guide WILLIAM BENEDICT RUSSELL III

WILLIAM BENEDICT RUSSELL III, asocial studies teacher, is a doctoral studentat Florida State University in Tallahassee.His e-mail address is willbr3@yahoo.com.

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These reasons and others can provide arationale for teachers teaching aboutthe Holocaust. Florida and many otherstates have mandated that there beHolocaust education in public schools.The National Council for the SocialStudies (1997) has set national socialstudies standards, which also providerationale for teaching the Holocaust.Teachers can find the standards onlineat http://www.socialstudies.org/. Formore support on Holocaust teaching,teachers should check the approvedcurriculum frameworks of the state inwhich they teach.

Holocaust Resources

The resources range from those forthe primary level to those for the sec-ondary level. I have separated the resources into three categories—literature, film, and the Internet—andincluded appropriate subcategories. Be-cause of the amount available, I limitedthe selections to ten or fifteen resourcesfor each category. Those listed are in noway superior to other materials and arenot listed in hierarchy.

Print Materials

Books

I Never Saw Another Butterfly—Edited byHana Volavkova (1993), this book is acollection of children’s drawings andpoems from Terezin ConcentrationCamp.

Night—Elie Wiesel’s (1960) autobiographi-cal account contains his account of timespent in the concentration camps duringthe Holocaust.

Teaching about the Holocaust: A ResourceBook for Educators—Published in 2001by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum,the book can further Holocaust education.

Teaching and Studying the Holocaust—Edit-ed by Totten and Feinberg (2001), the bookis a compilation of articles by noted Holo-caust educators in which they explain whyand how to teach the Holocaust.

The Holocaust Film Sourcebook (Picart2004)—The author provides a compre-hensive list of films dealing with aspectsof the Holocaust.

The Wave—Written by Todd Strasser (1981),this is a novel based on a true incident in ahigh school in California, where a teacher

transformed his class into Nazis and him-self into a dictator.

Articles

Art Made It Real: My Terezin Musings(Gussak 2004)—The author wrote thearticle for the Journal of CulturalResearch in Art Education, describing hisexperience as an art history professor atTerezin.

The Day Hitler Blinked (Ash 1997)—Fromthe Florida State University Research inReview, the author details the accounts ofwomen who stood up against the Gestapoto get their husbands back.

Oprah Talks to Elie Wiesel—From O Maga-zine, Winfrey (2000) reports an interviewwith Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, inwhich he discusses his feelings about hisHolocaust experiences forty-five years later.

The Holocaust: Who Spoke Out?—From1995 issue of AWAKE! published by theWatchtower Bible, the article containsinformation, focusing on the Jehovah Wit-nesses, about the people who were silentor vocal during the Holocaust, giving rea-sons for their responses.

The Holocaust (Heuve Vanden 1999)—In anarticle for American Heritage, the authordescribes the buzz question among histo-rians: Was the United States an accom-plice of the Holocaust because of Presi-dent Franklin Roosevelt’s indifference?

The Holocaust Denial Controversy (Smith1995)—From Public Opinion Quarterly,this article contains the results of a surveyabout the reality of the Holocaust.

Other Publications

Anti-Semitism in America—Published by theAnti-Defamation League (2002), the doc-ument contains the results of a survey onanti-Semitism in America.

This Small Piece of History (Lenkway1991)—This is an autobiographical ac-count of the author’s escape from Germanyand his immigration to the United States.

The Story of Mary Wygodski between1941–1945—The book (n.d.) is an autobi-ographical account of the author’s life inghettos and concentration camps from1941 until 1945.

Films

(The resources under the film categoryrefer to any material that is on eithervideocassette or DVD.)

Movies

Schindler’s List—Steven Spielberg (1993)based the film on the life of OskarSchindler, who saved the lives of more

than eleven hundred Jews during theHolocaust.

Cabaret—Bob Fosse (1972) based the musi-cal on the story of an American girl whodreams of stardom while working in aBerlin nightclub in the 1930s as the Naziswere coming to power.

Europa Europa—The Holland (1991) movierelated the true story of a Jewish teen wholives as a Nazi to survive the Holocaust.

Sophie’s Choice—Pakula (1982) directedthe movie about a girl who lives in Brook-lyn after surviving Auschwitz.

The Wave—The video by Grasshoff (1990)is based on a true incident that occurred ina California high school in the 1960s,when a teacher transformed his class intoNazis and himself into a dictator.

Documentaries

Seared Souls: South Carolina Voices of theHolocaust—Produced by South CarolinaETV (n.d.), the film contains first-handinterviews with Holocaust survivors.

Anne Frank Remembered—Blair (1995) pre-sents information about Anne Frank andincludes as primary sources vintage news-reels, photographs, and home movies. Thefilm was an Academy Award Winner forBest Documentary.

In the Arms of Strangers: Stories of theKindertransport—A 2000 AcademyAward Winner for Best Documentary,director Harris describes the tales of the10,000 children who were saved fromHitler after they were placed with fosterparents in Great Britain.

Survivors of the Holocaust—Holzman(1996) provides outlines of the events ofthe Holocaust by those who survived thehorrific event.

The Twisted Cross—Hyatt (1956) offers atimeline of events that led to the Holocaust.

Propaganda

Triumph of the Will—Leni Riefenstahl(1935) produced a recording of the 1934Nazi party rally in Nuremberg.

The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefen-stahl—Muller (1993) presents interviewswith Riefenstahl, the director of Triumphof the Will.

Nazi Concentration Camps—Produced byGeorge Stevens (1945), this is the officialfilm of the Allied forces as they advancedinto Germany.

The Führer Gives a City to the Jews—Thisfilm (Gerron 1944) was made inside thewalls of Theresienstadt by the Nazis toprove to the International Red Cross thatthe Jews were being treated well.

Cartoons Go to War—Compiled by Baker(1995), the film contains vintage footage,along with training films created by anima-tion greats such as Disney and Warner Bros.

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For a more detailed list of availableHolocaust films, I highly recommendThe Holocaust Film Sourcebook (Picart2004).

Resources from the Internet

Organization Web Sites

United States Holocaust Memorial Museumat http://www.ushmm.org/ is a compre-hensive Web site that details all aspects ofthe Holocaust and provides informationand resources for teachers and students.

Washington State Holocaust Resource Cen-ter at http://www.wsherc.org/ providesresources for teaching the Holocaust.

Survivors of Shoah by the Shoah Foundationat http://www.vhf.org/ depicts the experi-ences of the Holocaust in a visual way andprovides online video testimonies ofHolocaust survivors.

Holocaust Educational Foundation at http://www.holocaustef.org/ was founded bysurvivors and their relatives, and is dedi-cated to preserving and promoting thereality of the Holocaust.

Florida Holocaust Museum at http://www.flholocaustmuseum.org/ contains onlineviews of the museum and resources forteachers.

The Holocaust Memorial Center athttp://www.holocaustcenter.org/ provideshistorical information about the Holo-caust and teacher resources.

Holocaust Lesson Plans and Curricula athttp://www.holocaust-trc.org/lesson.htmprovides numerous Holocaust lesson plansfor educators.

University Web Sites

The Holocaust Institute by Florida State Uni-versity at http://www.tfn.net/holocaust pro-vides helpful teacher resources and links toother sites about the Holocaust.

Deathly Silence by Tulane University athttp://www.tulane.edu/~so-inst/didex.htmcontains details of the Holocaust andresources for teachers and researchers.

A Teacher’s Guide to the Holocaust by theUniversity of South Florida at http://www.fcit.coedu.usf.edu/holocaust offersdetails about the history of the Holocaustand provides teaching resources.

Center for Jewish Studies at the Universityof Florida at http://www.jst.ufl.edu/ pro-vides information on Jewish educationand Holocaust institutes for educators.

All the resources listed here should beused appropriately and for suitable audi-ences. Teachers should preview or pre-read resources before incorporating

them into the curriculum. I suggest thatteachers also check with the principaland review county and state regulationsbefore teaching content or using anycontroversial resources. Because lawschange from state to state and fromcounty to county, it is better to be safethan sorry.

Conclusion

I hope that teachers will use theresources presented in this article todevelop quality lessons for teaching theHolocaust. That is a difficult task, butwith the resources provided in this arti-cle, which teachers can adapt to allow forcross-curriculum learning, the processwill become more effective.

Key words: resources for Holocaust les-son plans, resources for teaching aboutthe Holocaust

REFERENCES

Anne Frank remembered. 1995. Producedand directed by J. Blair. Columbia /Tri-Star Studios. Videocassette.

Anti-Defamation League. 2002. Anti-Semi-tism in America. New York: Anti-Defama-tion League.

Ash, B. 1997. The day Hitler blinked. Flor-ida State University Research in Review 8(Fall/Winter): 38–43.

Awake! 1995. The Holocaust—Who spokeout? August 22, 1995, 1–15.

Cabaret. 1972. Produced by C. Feuer.Directed by B. Fosse. Warner Studios.Videocassette.

Cartoons go to war. 1995. Produced anddirected by S. K. Baker. A&E HomeVideo. Videocassette.

Center for Jewish Studies at the Universityof Florida. 2004. http://www.jst.ufl.edu/(accessed July 11, 2004).

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The wonderful, horrible life of Leni Riefen-stahl. 1993. Produced by J. De Clercq.Directed by R. Muller. Image Entertain-ment. DVD.

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96 MARCH/APRIL 2005 THE SOCIAL STUDIES

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