American Responses to the Holocaust
This timeline and lesson plan helps students understand the historical and societal context of American responses to the Holocaust, including the responses of individuals and of the US government.
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Definition of the Holocaust
Definitions are important. One of the Museum’s guidelines for teaching about the Holocaust is to define the term “Holocaust.” This short activity helps students understand the definition of the term.
Teacher Guide: Number the Stars
The Number the Stars: Teacher Guide offers resources for building historical context, activities, and prompts for students, including survivor testimony clips, writing prompts, close reading exercises, and artifact analysis.
Teacher Guide: The Boy on the Wooden Box
In his memoir, Leon Leyson describes how he survived the Holocaust as a boy with the help of German businessman Oskar Schindler. This Teacher Guide provides resources for building historical context and activities and prompts for students, including survivor testimony clips, writing prompts, close reading exercises, and artifact analysis.
Holocaust-era Artifacts
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has an unparalleled repository of Holocaust artifacts that traces the experiences of millions of people, documenting what happened during the Holocaust. These primary sources are tangible pieces of evidence that advance understanding of these historical events. This activity encourages students to think about the value of primary sources, and how everyday objects can provide greater understanding of historical events.
Holocaust Timeline Activity
This lesson is structured around a multi-layered wall timeline that encourages critical thinking about the relationship between Nazi policy, World War II, historical events, and individual experiences during the Holocaust.
Holocaust Film Guide
This guide is designed to support viewing a film related to the Holocaust by helping students assess the film's historical accuracy. It emphasizes the role of genre and places the film within historical context. The guide encourages students to examine how and why the Holocaust happened.
Lesson: History Unfolded Teacher Guide
This teacher guide helps students navigate the History Unfolded database and provides educators with activities to use in the classroom.
Exploring the Role of Ordinary People in the Holocaust
This lesson explores the online exhibition Some Were Neighbors. In this lesson, students will examine examples of choices of ordinary people during the Holocaust and think critically about the fears, pressures, and motivations that might have shaped their behaviors.
Three Minutes in Poland
After viewing archival film footage documenting Jewish life in Nasielsk, a small town in Poland, before the German invasion in September 1939, students explore how the community changed during the Nazi occupation that followed.