Bringing the Holocaust Unit to Closure: Implications for the Future
Lesson (printable) PDF version »
Student Handouts PDF version »
Dr. Joyce Witt, Highland Park High School, Highland Park, Illinois
STATE STANDARDS
This lesson is designed to meet the standards set by the Bradley Commission on History in Schools (1987–88.) It comports with the following guidelines:
- Habits of Mind: Understand the significance of the past to their own lives, both private and public, and to their society
- Vital Themes and Narratives: Values, beliefs, political ideas, and institutions
RESOURCES AND HANDOUTS
Current Events
For example, in May 2003, the hazing incident at nearby Glenbrook North High School in Northbrook, Illinois, made a profound impact on my students. Since Northbrook is a nearby suburb, I used this incident as an opener to talk about bystander behavior: all of those students who stood by and watched what was happening, who had cell phones in their hands, but no one called for help. They watched as their fellow students were being beaten. "All it takes for the triumph of evil is for good men to stand by and do nothing." (Edmund Burke)
Materials
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A. Videotapes
- Schindler’s List ( 1994) MCA Universal Home Video.
- A Week of Remembrance: The Dedication of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (1994) United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
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B. Web resources
- http://www.ushmm.org/research/library/faq/06/01/ceremony/index.php?content=wiesel
- http://www.ushmm.org/research/library/faq/06/01/ceremony/index.php?content=clinton
Remarks from President Clinton and from Elie Wiesel:
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C. Handouts
- "Press Conference Proceedings" from the White House: President Clinton and Elie Wiesel, December 13, 1995, The White House, Office of the Press Secretary.(See Handout 1.)
- Remarks from Leon Bass. The Liberation of the Nazi Concentration Camps 1945; Eyewitness Accounts of the Liberators (Washington, D.C.: United States Holocaust Memorial Council, 1987). (See Handout 2.)
