Refugees Today

1) View these short videos of child refugees from WWII, from the United State Holocaust Memorial Museum and Facing History. Answer the questions on Holocaust Child Refugees worksheet.

• Leo Melamed: Life As A Refugee

• Ruth Berkowicz Segal: Fleeing Poland

• Finding Safety in Italy-Facing History Video

• Sophie Turner Zaretsky: Transition From Poland to London

• Gerda Blachmann Wilchfort: Refugee on the St Louis

• Oral History-Kindertransport 

2) View the slideshow Migration and Refugees Today (also found at the bottom of this page) to see current images.

3) Read the following excerpts about refugees today:

• Fleeing for Our Lives, Amnesty International

• Migrant Stories-Why They Flee, The Conversation

• Children on the Run, UNHCR

4) Students in groups will draw anchor charts about the refugee crisis today. Charts should include information about the crisis today to compare with the experiences of the refugees from the Holocaust. 

• What are the similarities between the two time periods? 

• What are the differences?

• How does identity help to explain the issues that refugees face today?

5) View this video clip from Samantha Power, UN Ambassador (2013-2017): Small Things We Can Do for Refugees: The Importance of Humanizing Refugees

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT: How can we humanize refugees today?

Design an exhibit for your school about the refugee crisis today. 

• Find a photograph and three documents about a refugee today.

• Where are they from? 

• Why did they leave their home?

• What aspects of their identity helps us to humanize them? 

• If you were introducing them to your friends, what would you say about them?