March 11-13, 2012 [Blog long overdue]
Went to a three-day conference about teaching the Holocaust located at the American Jewish University. It was hosted by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Some lectures/workshops that I participated in and/or listened in on:
An Overview of Holocaust History
Dr. Eric Steinhart, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
"The Museum believes that a solid foundation in Holocaust history is important for teachers to bring this subject into their classrooms. Focusing on events in Europe between 1933 and 1945, this lecture contextualizes the immediate antecedents to and evolution of Nazi Germany's persecution of Jews and other targeted groups within the history of the Second World War. The lecture captures the geographic diversity of the Holocaust, giving equal attention to Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union as well as to Central and Western Europe."
Guidelines for Teaching about the Holocaust
Christina Chavarria, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
"The study of the Holocaust demands that teachers take special care in developing a solid rationale and instructional goals and strategies for the classroom. These concurrent sessions will help teachers think about their approach to teaching about the Holocaust. Why does teaching the Holocaust demand special attention? What are some guidelines for teachers to follow?"
Teaching about the Holocaust in the 21st Century
Dr. John K. Roth, Claremont McKenna College
"How was the Holocaust education changed in the last 40 years? What effects do current events, popular culture, and media have on how we approach this subject? What is the relevance of the Holocaust on our students, especially as we move further away from the event itself? Dr. John Roth, for over 40 years a leader in Holocaust studies, leads teachers in a session that attempts to answer these and other questions."
IWitness (Main Site)
Sheila Hansen, USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education
"Designed for secondary school educators and students, the IWitness site will be a vital channel for millions to access and interact with the Institute's Visual History Archive."
Teaching the Holocaust through Art
Ilaria Benzoni-Clark, Education Director, Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust
"Teachers will participate in an activity that focuses on the use of visual arts in teaching the Holocaust. Teachers will explore works of art from the Museum's Lichtblau-Leskly collection. They will also learn about artistic expression as a form of resistance during the Holocaust."
Jewish Partisans--Breaking the Myth of Jewish Passivity
Mitch Braff, Founder and Executive Director, Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation
"The number one question students ask about the Holocaust is 'Why Jews did not resist?' The answer is quite complicated, but part of the response includes discussing the approximatley 30,000 Jews who fought back against the Germans and their collaborators as armed resistance fighters - partisans. This session will introduce you to the Jewish partisans and the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation's free multi-media resources, includes its E-Learning courses on 10 documentary films, posters for their classrooms, and printed guides."
The Roots of Nazi Antisemitism
Dr. Michael Berenbaum, American Jewish University
"Antisemitism did not begin with the Nazi Party. What is the relationship between the ancient history of what has been called 'the oldest hatred' and the Holocaust? Dr. Berenbaum's session will lead teachers through the evolution of antisemitism that led to Nazi antisemitism."
Nazi Racial Ideology
Dr. Eric Steinhart, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
"In this session Dr. Steinhart will explain how a racial ideology drove the decisions that resulted in what the Nazis called 'the final solution.' This lecture explores the historical development and consequences of the Nazi racial worldview. It positions Nazi racism within broader European history, focusing specifically on political and intellectual developments during the nineteenth century. The lecture contextualizes Nazi anti-Semitism within a broader constellation of Nazi racial thinking that also targeted Slaves, Roma and Sinti, individuals of color, and the mentally and physically disabled. The presentation concludes by offering an overview of how Nazi racism influenced the course of Germany's repressive policies prior to and during the Second World War."
State of Deception Lesson Propaganda
Marilyn Lubarsky, Regional Education Corps, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
"How did the Nazis spread their message of racial purity and antisemitism? These concurrent sessions lead teachers through a lesson on propaganda with resources taken from the Museum's online exhibition, State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda."
The Holocaust and Contemporary Genocide
Greta Stults, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
"The presentation will build on the information teachers have learned about the Holocaust and help them connect the dots between the Holocaust and contemporary genocide. We will introduce the creation of the term, 'genocide' and the UN Genocide Convention as a result of the legacy of the Holocaust, and illustrate some recognizable patterns across genocides. Teachers will learn about the history of contemporary genocide and gain contextual understanding of the genocides in Bosnia, Rwanda, and Darfur. The presentation will introduce the museum's Committee on Conscience and share additional resources available to teach about contemporary genocide. Finally, teachers will learn about approaches to genocide prevention."
Context is Everything: An Interactive Timeline Lesson
Peter Fredlake, History/Social Studies
"How can teachers bring the study of the Holocaust into their classrooms in an engaging way that puts the learning in the students' hands? This highly-adaptable lesson, developed by members of the Regional Education Corps, will help teachers present the chronology of the Holocaust in all its complexity.
Media Resources for Teaching about the Holocaust
Peter Fredlake, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
"The Museum has developed several media resources for teaching about the Holocaust. This session will focus on a new resource about the relevance of fighting antisemitism today, and teachers will receive a list of recommended websites."
A Survivor Remembers
Peter Feigl, Holocaust survivor and diarist featured in Salvaged Pages
"Survivors of the Holocaust bring a unique and human dimension to the study of this history. Peter Feigl recounts his own remarkable story. "
With Peter Feigl, Holocaust survivor and diarist featured in Salvaged Pages.
Certificate of completion. :)
An excellent resource for teaching about children and the Holocaust is the new book Storming the Tulips. Written by Hannie J. Voyles (from Chico, CA), a survivor who went to school with Anne Frank, the book is an intimate encounter with history, as told by twenty former students of the 1st Montessori School in Amsterdam. They were children, contemporaries of Anne Frank, and this book is a companion to her Diary of a Young Girl. While Anne’s story describes her sequestered life in the Annex, Storming the Tulips reveals what children on the outside endured—on the streets, in hiding, and in the concentration camps.
ReplyDeleteTheir friends disappeared. Their parents sent them away. They were herded on trains and sent to death camps. They joined the Nazi youth. They hid Jews. They lost their families. They picked the pockets of the dead. They escaped. They dodged bullets. They lived in terror. They starved. They froze. They ate tulip bulbs. They witnessed a massacre. They collected shrapnel. And finally, they welcomed the Liberation. Some lost their families, most lost their homes, but they all lost their innocence as they fought to survive.
Learn more here http://linkshrink.com/3pi