The Holocaust: A Guide For Teachers

INTERNET-BASED BOOK

The Holocaust – A Guide For Teachers

Grobman, Gary. The Holocaust – A Guide For Teachers – available on the Internet at http://remember.org/guide. Printed, 103 pages.

REVIEW

For my purpose, which was to start a new social science class at my school without spending a lot (any!) of money, this curriculum was perfect! Gary Grobman has made available a comprehensive study of the Shoah, complete with activities, discussion ideas, tasks for further research, and study questions. Divided into short (the longest chapter is 7 ½ pages of text), concise readings, Grobman created a useful survey of the events before, during, and after the Holocaust. While not as detailed as a traditional text one might purchase, I have had great success with this as my base and have been able to supplement it from any number of print and/or video resources that I own.

Beginning with an introductory chapter on prejudice and stereotyping (see below), the author then moves into a discussion entitled “Who Are the Jews?” My students get a great deal of use from this chapter and its study questions, as most of the kids in my school don’t know much if anything about Judaism. I would estimate that out of 1950 students in my school that there are perhaps fewer than ten-fifteen kids who would claim any degree of Jewish background. So they come to this with minimal knowledge, and feel better about the rest of our study with this as a foundation.

Grobman next moves into discussions on the long- and short-term backgrounds of the Shoah, culminating with a chapter that is a biography of Adolf Hitler. The rise of the National Socialists is chronicled, and then he moves into the seeds of war and it being used as a cover for the systematic murder of European Jewry. The “book” concludes with a presentation on the aftermath of the Shoah: post-war trials, the creation of the state of Israel, and Holocaust revisionism.

I have had many students comment that they actually like the study questions/vocabulary assignments that Grobman includes. For those who work a little ahead, they tell me that they feel very prepared for our classroom discussions after having gone over these chapters. And for those students who believe in stretching themselves outside the classroom, Grobman has enough suggestions for further study and research to provide enrichment for those who so desire.

NOTE: The Holocaust – A Guide For Teachers coordinates well with Ronnie Landau’s The Nazi Holocaust, reviewed elsewhere.

PASSAGE/QUOTE FOR CLASSROOM USAGE

I combine two quotes to get my classes started on our Holocaust unit. The first is from Gary Grobman, from his Introduction (http://remember.org/guide/History.root.in.html) and the second is from the American historian, Will Durant:

For many people around the world, the terror and threat of genocide is not an anachronistic notion perpetrated by barbarians generations ago, but rather is a current reality.

– Gary Grobman

From barbarism to civilization requires a century; from civilization to barbarism needs but a day.

– Will Durant

Write the quotes on the chalkboard or on an overhead projector transparency. Ask the students their first impressions of the quotes; do they think there is truth in them – are they accurate expressions of the human condition as we know it? Next, create a chart on the chalkboard with the headings GOVERNMENT, TECHNOLOGY, ECONOMICS, and MEDICINE. How have these elements of society evolved throughout human history? Have students brainstorm ideas to write under each heading, preferably from older examples to more recent. Ask students if and/or why Durant’s quote could be true? How is it that man could abandon all of the so-called advances of civilization in favor of a more barbarous existence? Ask the class if all of life regresses, or simply emotions, actions, etc. After, ask them to re-evaluate the quotes and see if they have anything else to add or if their opinions have changed.

RATIONALE FOR USAGE/UNIT RELEVANCE

As stated earlier, this is a nice survey “text” for classroom use. There are materials here for all major topics, including Holocaust events, victim groups, bystanders, rescuers, camps, ghettos, Christian antisemitism, and post-war trials. Available videos, such as the History Channel series “Hitler’s Holocaust” supplement this curriculum well.

CLASSROOM METHOD OF USAGE

I use the Grobman text on a regular basis. As it blends well with the units I cover, students are always asked to read the short chapters and then do the vocabulary and study questions. We will also from time to time look at some of the suggested activities and discussion questions.

STUDY QUESTIONS/DISCUSSION GUIDE

The following is an activity that is included in the chapter “Stereotypes and Prejudices”. I ask students to work independently to answer/complete the following statements. They are instructed to write down responses that reflect current American pop culture (movies and television, books and magazines, and music and music videos). They are under no circumstances to attempt to be politically correct – I am after feelings in the real world. It is always amazing to me that when we come back to the large group to share, that rarely is there a perception that is off base from the contemporary majority opinion, as they perceive the world in which they live. Students are generally able to reach a consensus as to what society feels about the following cases. As we go through our sharing, we take time to notice how these prejudices can adversely affect political, social, and economic opportunities for the victims of such abuse.

Have students independently complete the following sentences, then form small groups to compare their answers and discuss if there is any prejudice and bigotry in their answers or in those of their classmates, as well as what factors (television, newspapers, friendships, attitudes of their parents) may have contributed to such prejudice:

a) All athletes are

b) People on welfare are all

c) He's a cheap

d) Drugs are used by virtually

e) All homosexuals are

f) All politicians are

g) All people with AIDS are

h) All people who sleep on grates are

i) All Christian Fundamentalists are

j) All male hairdressers are

k) All male ballet dancers are

l) All Jewish mothers are

m) All Harvard graduates are

n) All construction workers are

o) He's so dumb, he must be

p) He's so smart, he must be

q) He's quick-tempered, so he must be

r) He drinks like a fish, so he must be

s) He likes watermelon, and so does every

Write down characteristics which stereotype each of the following groups: