According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, “the Holocaust was a watershed event not only in the 20th century but in the entire history of humanity. Students will learn the why, how, when, and where the Holocaust took place, including the key historical trends/antecedents that led up to and culminated in the ‘final solution’. Additionally, students will reflect on the roles and responsibilities of individuals, groups, and nations when confronting the abuse of power, civil and human rights violations, and genocidal acts. The Holocaust was not an accident in history; it was not inevitable. It occurred because individuals, organizations, and governments made choices that not only legalized discrimination but also allowed prejudice, hatred, and ultimately mass murder to occur. Students will question the role of silence and indifference to the suffering of others, or to the infringement of civil rights in any society, as a factor that can – however unintentionally – perpetuate these problems.” (https://www.ushmm.org/teach/fundamentals/rationale-learning-objective)
How is identity formed?
How does a group or nation define its identity? How is membership defined?
How do individuals and groups use their agency to impact politics, economics, and social systems?
Individuals can impact societies and even bring about change by reacting to the existing structure in accordance with their beliefs and ideals.
Individual rights and responsibilities vary depending on the type of governance and the social and economic conditions of a society.
Individuals and groups within society use their agency to impact the political, economic, and social systems of their community, nation, and region of the world.
Major Concepts:
Formation of identity
Need to belong
Impact of attitudes and beliefs on decision making
Defining race, prejudice, and stereotypes
Major Content:
Cultural and scientific history of race
How American society has defined individual identity and how that data has been used
Unit Assessments:
"Who Am I" Collage and personal essay
Major Concepts:
How groups and nations define identity and membership
How language and religion impact membership
Universe of obligation
How nationalism, democracy, and race shape a nation’s identity
Major Content:
Review of American democracy, race, and citizenship
Overview of history of Anti-Semitism
Case study of the Armenian Genocide
Unit Assessments:
Essay & Socratic Seminar: How nationalism, democracy, race, and religion shape a nation’s identity
Major Concepts:
How economic, social, and political crises threaten democracy, impact racism, and increase anti-Semitism
Major Content:
Economic, political, and social issues in post World War I Germany including formation of the Weimar Republic, Treaty of Versailles, rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party
Hyper inflation, the impact of the Great Depression
Rise of anti-Semitism
Struggle for democratic stability
Unit Assessments:
Pre World War II Jewish Life Photo Project
Major Concepts:
How the Nazi party dismantled democracy and consolidated power
Use of propaganda
Choices of the German people
Reaction of the international community.
Major Content:
Hitler becoming Chancellor
Reichstag Fire
Boycotts & book burnings
Nuremburg Laws
Rearmament and violation of the Treaty of Versailles
Anschluss
Evian Conference
Kristallnacht
Annexation of Czechoslovakia
Invasion of Poland.
Unit Assessments:
Major Concepts:
Steps/process to genocide
Obedience, following orders, and euphemisms
Roles of perpetrators, victims, resisters, rescuers, and bystanders
Major Content:
Milgram and Zimbardo obedience experiments
Hitler Youth, the SS, the Gestapo
Wannsee Conference
Formation of ghettos
Labor and death camps
The Final Solution
Le Chambon
Oskar Schindler
White Rose
Liberation by the Allies.
Unit Assessments:
Individual holocaust literature selection, character cut out, and socratic seminar
Major Concepts:
Judging guilt and determining responsibility for crimes against humanity
Role of citizens in a democracy
How individuals can make a difference
Commemorating and memorializing the Holocaust
Major Content:
The Nuremburg Trials
The United Nations Declaration of Human Rights
Current issues of anti-Semitism/racism
The legacy of the Holocaust in the 21st century
Unit Assessments:
None due to Readers Theater Exhibition Night and Reflection Paper
Final Course Assessments: Reflection Paper
Project Based Learning & Exhibition:
2019-2020 Integrated Social Studies, English and Theater Project: Readers Theater - TBD
2018-2019 Integrated Social Studies and Theater Project: Readers Theater - Voices in the Dark
Skills:
Research, reading, writing, discussion, and listening
Presenting controversial and disturbing ideas and historical events in a critically friendly manner using clear evidence from course materials
Development of theater skills including reading, speaking, and performing
Major Instructional Strategies:
How to use online course forums for coursework
Deepening in-class discussion, building arguments, using evidence, listening skills, etc.
Major Texts/Resources/Materials Used:
Facing History and Ourselves – their curriculum and text is the foundation of the course
Holocaust & Human Behavior edited by Margot Stern Strom published by Facing History and Ourselves
60 Minutes, "The Bad Samaritan," "The Armenian Genocide" – videos available on Youtube
Documentary: California Newsreel, A Matter of Race – episode 1
Film: Universal Pictures, Schindler’s List
Documentary: Warner Brothers, Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport
Other Works of Literature that can be integrated:
The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bojahlian
Parallel Journeys by Helen Waterford and Alfons Heck
Night by Elie Wiesel
The Nazi Officer’s Wife by Edith Haan Beer
In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer by Irene Gut Opdyke