Joseph's 8th gr. class visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on their recent trip to Washington D.C. and although you may not be able to take your class there, the website for the museum is fabulous and has an entire section on Holocaust education.
I'd encourage everyone who's not visited there to take a tour around the website. Gripping first hand accounts:
Young people would probably enjoy Irmgard Hunt's "On Hitler's Mountain." It's a first-hand account of what it was like to live a few miles from Hitler's 'Wolf's Lair.'
Living in Chicagoland with it's large Jewish population in some of the burbs, you may find valuable resources. I would encourage you to get in touch with local synagogues or perhaps the JCC. Perhaps, they could put you in touch with an actual holocaust survivor who would love to share his/her experience with young people.
I would also recommend the short book by Viktor Frankel, Man's Search for Meaning.
Frankel was a prominent psychiatrist in Vienna when the Nazis sent him off to Auschwitz. In his book he gives us a glimpse of his professional perspective on the horrors of Auschwitz and the heroic love of some of his fellow prisoners.
The truth that emerges from his pen is that when all else is stripped away from a person, what remains intact and inviolate is the ability to choose one's way...one's dignity and humanity cannot be taken by force. They are lost only by resignation.
Thank you for allowing the truth of the holocaust to speak to your youngsters when there are antisemites who would tell them that it never happened...that it is a Jewish fable to gain support for Israel.
Stephen Speilberg's Holocost Documentary is the best educational video that I've seen and continue to recommend it to others. Survivors tell their stories. Great video clips but none of the ones that absolutely turn your stomach. It is great.
Cindy! I judged a speech contest this week-end and one of the contestants told about Superman's creator being Jewish and that Superman came from the story of Moses and that the X-Men came from the survivors of the Holocaust.
I don't know where the information came from, but it should be pretty easy to find it. I had no idea those were the inspirations for those characters. Amazing what you can learn from some of these brillian Jr. High kids. :)-->
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markomalley
http://www.remember.org/
Oh, and here's a middle-school lesson plan with slides from Auschwitz and Birkenau:
http://www.umich.edu/~iinet/crees/outreach/thobe.htm
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mstar1
I recently saw a very good movie that I posted about Here, which was a documentary about middle school students studying the holocaust.
I think that I made the point in the post that it should be required viewing for everyone but especially Middle School age kids.
I cant find the link right now, but aside from it being in wide release, it is also available from the producers for school groups
Paper Clips
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jardinero
Cindy!
Joseph's 8th gr. class visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on their recent trip to Washington D.C. and although you may not be able to take your class there, the website for the museum is fabulous and has an entire section on Holocaust education.
I'd encourage everyone who's not visited there to take a tour around the website. Gripping first hand accounts:
www.ushmm.org
J.
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lovematters
Young people would probably enjoy Irmgard Hunt's "On Hitler's Mountain." It's a first-hand account of what it was like to live a few miles from Hitler's 'Wolf's Lair.'
www.onhitlersmountain.com - She is the girl sitting on Hitler's lap.
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oenophile
Cindy,
Living in Chicagoland with it's large Jewish population in some of the burbs, you may find valuable resources. I would encourage you to get in touch with local synagogues or perhaps the JCC. Perhaps, they could put you in touch with an actual holocaust survivor who would love to share his/her experience with young people.
I would also recommend the short book by Viktor Frankel, Man's Search for Meaning.
Frankel was a prominent psychiatrist in Vienna when the Nazis sent him off to Auschwitz. In his book he gives us a glimpse of his professional perspective on the horrors of Auschwitz and the heroic love of some of his fellow prisoners.
The truth that emerges from his pen is that when all else is stripped away from a person, what remains intact and inviolate is the ability to choose one's way...one's dignity and humanity cannot be taken by force. They are lost only by resignation.
Thank you for allowing the truth of the holocaust to speak to your youngsters when there are antisemites who would tell them that it never happened...that it is a Jewish fable to gain support for Israel.
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waterbuffalo
Cindy!
Stephen Speilberg's Holocost Documentary is the best educational video that I've seen and continue to recommend it to others. Survivors tell their stories. Great video clips but none of the ones that absolutely turn your stomach. It is great.
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Cindy!
Thanks for all the ideas!!!
Sharon...I keep meaning to email you and keep getting sidetracked!
I'm going to check out as many of these suggestions as I can.
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Belle
Cindy! I judged a speech contest this week-end and one of the contestants told about Superman's creator being Jewish and that Superman came from the story of Moses and that the X-Men came from the survivors of the Holocaust.
I don't know where the information came from, but it should be pretty easy to find it. I had no idea those were the inspirations for those characters. Amazing what you can learn from some of these brillian Jr. High kids.
:)-->
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