It's
possible that one could meet their future mate in the DP camps and get
married. But, you've lost your family
and now might leave your ancestral home for Israel or America; it would be like
starting a different life, not necessarily like bettering the existing life...
Historical Context:
After the war the Displaced Persons Camps became the new centers for
Jewish life in Europe. In some cases,
Jews were able to reconstitute their lives; in others, attempts at a return to
pre-war life were met with only more violence.
The Jewish world had changed; as Elie Wiesel has said, not all the
victims were Jews, but all Jews were victims.
Rationale to Teach: Students must see that despite the decimation the Jewish people faced during and immediately after the Second World War, they displayed a resiliency that would make their forebears proud. In the face of so much adversity, in a time where they didn’t know where it was safe to live, these people went on and prospered yet again. Under this backdrop, a nation was created, and an ongoing crisis was escalated. Students by this time should have seen the underlying causes of the Arab/Israeli conflict, and now they will see the open wound.
Major Topics:
1. What to do after liberation?
2. Displaced Persons camps
3. Emigration
4. Children in hiding
5. General characteristics of survivors
Comment: This chapter leaves us with hope: hope that because of all the Jews faced, they recovered and went on with life. Although students may be shocked at the immediate aftermath of the war, of the conditions in the DP camps, of the modes of transportation for traveling Jews, they will see that this generation of Jews was as hardy, if not more so, than their ancestors.
Resources:
Classroom notes with lines of questioning/student interaction
Grobman, Gary. The Holocaust: A Guide For Teachers – The Aftermath © 1990 http://remember.org/guide/Facts.root.aft.lib.aft.html. The final chapter in Grobman’s excellent curriculum. Includes student questions and activities.
Survivor Testimony: Nesse Godin. These are notes I took while in Washington, DC attending the Mandel Teacher Fellowship seminar in August 2002. They can also be accessed from my Mandel comments section as part of the seminar notes.
Survivor Testimony: An Evening With Eva Mozes Kor. These are notes I took at Mrs. Kor's presentation at Olivet Nazarene University on April 13, 2004. Mrs. Kor is a survivor of the Mengele twins experiments at Auschwitz.
Videocassette. © MPR Film und Fernsch Produktion GmtH for the History Channel, 2000. The final film in this excellent series.
Spiegelman, Art. Maus: A Survivor’s Tale; My Father Bleeds History Volume I, New York: Pantheon Books, 1986.
Spiegelman, Art. Maus: A Survivor’s Tale; And Here My Troubles Began Volume II, New York: Pantheon Books, 1991.
** In each of these volumes, Art Spiegelman takes us on a journey with his father through every aspect of the Holocaust. I have included the reference here due to the major storyline involving Art’s dealings with his father in the modern world; teachers could use these two books at appropriate times throughout a survey of the Holocaust. I cannot recommend these books enough – I have used them in both world history and in my Holocaust class, and I have had nothing but success with them in motivating students.
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