One of the major stumbling blocks to action had been
unbelievability of the situation, of the reports. Even with new, eyewitness, mostly trustworthy accounts, those who
came upon the scenes of human destruction were still in no way prepared for
what they faced.
Historical Context:
As the war wound to a close, the Allies began to come upon scenes
that were indescribable. What appeared
to be prison camps from afar were soon revealed to be Hell on earth. Neither soldiers nor medical personnel were
prepared for the human destruction that greeted their entry into the various
camps. Mounds of corpses, emaciated
persons barely able to remain upright, and a stench that clung to one’s clothes
were the assaults to the senses. In
this context, Jewish life was about to be reconstituted.
Rationale to Teach: In liberation we can celebrate the spirit of the survivors. That is not to say, however, that those who perished should in any way be condemned. The Holocaust redefined the term randomness… to have survived was not an implication of chosenness, nor was death a punishment of any kind. But for the survivors, an almost completely new life was about to begin – one that would probably in no way resemble the pre-war life.
Major Topics:
1. Turning points in the war
2. Deportations
3. Liquidations
4. Western camps
Comment: Students will be amazed that as the war wound to a close that the Jew-killing continued. They will see that the “euthanasia” program went on, sometimes even in villages and towns occupied by the Allies. Students should also be exposed to first-person accounts of the liberations, from both the liberators and the survivors.
Resources:
Classroom notes with lines of questioning/student interaction
Berenbaum, Michael. Witness To the Holocaust, New York: Harper Collins Publishers, Inc. 1997. For comments about liberation, see pp. 305-326.
Chamberlain, Brewster and Marcia Feldman, eds. The Liberation of the Nazi Concentration Camps 1945: Eyewitness Accounts Of the Liberators. Washington, DC: United States Holocaust Memorial Council, 1987.
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.
Liberation 1945: Testimony. Videocassette. © United States Holocaust Memorial Council, Wentworth Films, Inc. 1995.
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