American Jewry attempted to raise consciousness, but only
constituted 3% of the population; and since they weren’t looked upon favorably
by most of society, who would listen to them anyway?
Historical Context:
The events of the Shoah did not take place across Europe and North
Africa without a tremendous amount of ambivalence from a tremendous amount of
people. As the German war machine swept
across the European continent, the Allies focused on winning the war, at all
costs. The by-product of this strategy
was the loss of 12 million lives in the Nazi camps and by Nazi hands in the
ghettos, forests, and killing fields.
But was it solely at Nazi hands?
Rationale to Teach: American society today is full of people who don’t want to get involved, those who look the other way at injustice, or simply mind their own affairs. When faced with a problem it is much easier to turn away and melt into what we consider normalcy – there we generally don’t find the types of controversies that make us uneasy. American teenagers need to find a reason to care, to shake free from their me-centered tendencies. This unit gives them a chance to see what silence can reap.
Major Topics:
1. USA
a. American antisemitism
b. Franklin D. Roosevelt
2. The Vatican
a. Pope Pius XII
b. Defense of papal actions
Comment: Obviously the entire subject matter of the Holocaust is sensitive in nature. The teacher, however, should approach this topic of bystanders with definite care and a measuring of words. Two groups that will come under fire in this part of the curriculum are near and dear to the hearts of many of your students: the United States government and the Roman Catholic Church.
In these post 9/11 days, American patriotism remains high. Despite the poor economy of 2002-03, Americans continue to fly the flag and offer support to each other. To attack our past government’s performance, particularly as it attempted to deal with a minority group, may meet with resistance from your students. Tread lightly and lay the facts out as concisely as possible. The results are what they are – the government of President Roosevelt did nothing to stop the slaughter of Europe’s Jews. That cannot be denied.
The indictment of Pope Pius XII may be met with disdain as well. I would caution you to read up on the man and his tenure as a cardinal in Germany. Laying out an accurate, complete profile of his professional career will help to set the stage for any rationalization of his deeds during the war years.
Above all else, reassure your students that this topic covers specific people at specific times, and is not meant as any attempt to tear down the sovereignty of either the US government nor of the Catholic Church.
Resources:
Classroom notes with lines of questioning/student interaction
Barnett, Victoria J. Bystanders: Conscience and Complicity During the Holocaust. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2000. This book is a wonderful survey not only of specific events of the Shoah, where villages in which Jews and Christians had existed peacefully for centuries and suddenly found themselves on opposite sides, but of human behavior as well. A must when researching bystander mentality and its outcomes.
Berenbaum, Michael. Witness To the Holocaust, New York: Harper Collins Publishers, Inc. 1997. For what was known in the West, see pp. 248-294; for material about the decision not to bomb Auschwitz, see pp. 295-304.
Cornwell, John. Hitler’s Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII. New York: Viking, 1999.
Grobman, Gary. The Holocaust: A Guide For Teachers – Resisters, Rescuers, and Bystanders © 1990 http://remember.org/guide/wit.root.wit.res.html. Includes questions and suggestions for student activities.
Hilberg, Raul. Perpetrators, Victims, Bystanders: The Jewish Catastrophe 1933-1945. New York: Harper Perennial, 1993. See pp. 195-260 for Hilberg’s take on bystanders.
The In-Crowd and Social Cruelty with John Stossel. Videocassette. © ABC News, 2002. I use this video as a contemporary example of what indifference can do. Stossel shows us that cruelty is common, and bystanding makes it worse. On the tape, one child psychologist notes that if even one bystander would attempt to put a stop to the cruelty, it would stop within a matter of seconds. Just one…
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