Day 12 Holocaust Do Now Lets return to

Day 12: Holocaust

Do Now Let’s return to the poem from yesterday. Does this poem have new meaning for you, having heard the history we learned yesterday? This poem was written by Sonia Weitz, a survivor of the Holocaust. “Yom Ha’Shoah” is Hebrew* for the Day of Holocaust Remembrance. In this poem, Weitz, a Holocaust survivor, invites others to learn about her experience while also acknowledging that this is an impossible task. FOR YOM HA’SHOAH Come, take this giant leap with me into the other world. . . the other place where language fails and imagery defies, denies man’s consciousness. . . and dies upon the altar of insanity. Come, take this giant leap with me into the other world. . . the other place and trace the eclipse of humanity. . . where children burned while mankind stood by and the universe has yet to learn why. . . has yet to learn why

Today We will start by watching video interviews several men and women who survived the Holocaust. They will talk about their experiences and you will answer questions based on what they say. You will need to click the links to each video. They are not embedded in the Powerpoint.

Questions Are to be answered in your journal or on a piece of paper. I will collect journals and these papers at the end of class today. You will have 30 minutes to complete as much of the Powerpoint as you can.

Abraham Lewent: Life in the ghettos http: //www. ushmm. org/museum/exhibit/online/phis tories/phi_ghettos_conditions_uu. htm Scroll to his name Question: What was the main cause of death in the ghettos? Why do you think Germans did not provide food to Jews living in the Ghettos?

Children eating in the ghetto streets (1940 -43)

Henny Fletcher Aronsen: Deportation http: //www. ushmm. org/museum/exhibit/online/ phistories/phi_deportations_before_uu. htm Scroll to her name Describe how the Nazi soldiers treated the Jews in this story. Did they treat them like fellow human beings, why or why not?

Polish Jews being loaded onto a train

David Bergman: Survival in the Camps http: //www. ushmm. org/museum/exhibit/on line/phistories/phi_survival_witness_uu. ht m How do you think David managed to survive, despite the harsh conditions? What was his motivation?

Helen Lebowitz Goldkind: Arrival at the concentration camp http: //www. ushmm. org/museum/exhibit/online/phis tories/phi_survival_experience_uu. htm Scroll How to her name do you think that the Nazis were able to treat children this way? What did they have to believe to be capable of this violence?

Charlene Schiff: Survival in the Camps Charlene Schiff managed to escape from a concentration camp and live in secret in the woods until she was saved by Russian troops http: //www. ushmm. org/museum/exhibit/online/phis tories/ Why did Charlene do such awful and even disgusting things in the woods? What was her motivation?

A crematorial at the Majdanek extermination camp in Poland.

Gerda Weissmann Klein In 1944, American and Russian troops came to free the Jewish victims in the concentration camps, arrest the Nazis, and provide the Jews a safe place to live. http: //www. ushmm. org/museum/exhibit/online/phis tories/phi_liberation_encounter_uu. htm Why was the soldier’s use of the word “ladies” so significant to Gerda?

Frima Laub: After it is over http: //www. ushmm. org/museum/exhibit/online /phistories/phi_aftermath_memories_uu. htm Why do you think it is so hard for Frima to forget what happened?

Survivors, just after liberation of the concentration camps.

Class Discussion On your paper, write the following questions What made the Holocaust possible? How can we explain why ordinary people participated in the mass murder of innocent people? • What could have prevented the Holocaust?

On your paper Write responses, comments, questions, or thoughts you have. You have three minutes to do this.

Now pass your paper to your partner Allow them to read what you wrote, and add their own comments, comment on what you said, or draw connections. You have three minutes.

Bringing in back together Let’s If share our ideas. you’d like to share, raise your hand. Try to build off what others say, adding to what your classmates have commented.