LESSON PLAN

ORDINARY PEOPLE

Objectives:

Analyze the roles played by everyday people in a variety of situations.

Identify the roles of perpetrators, rescuers, and bystanders in daily life.

Compare the roles of bystanders, rescuers, and perpetrators during the Holocaust of World   War II to current examples.

Materials:

Current magazine or news paper articles.

Courage to Care - a film about a few individuals who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews.

Key Terms:

Victim
Bystander
Perpetrator
Rescuer

Procedure/Activities:

Develop the meaning of perpetrators, bystanders, and rescuers, by presenting a current newspaper articles on a specific events. Divide students into groups and give a different articles to each group to analyze. Student Handout 1 can be used to help the students organize the information from the article.

Use Student Handout 2 to guide whole class discussion on one article. Discuss individual situations in which perpetrators, bystanders, and rescuers can be identified. Encourage students to write their reactions to the situations. What did they do? What could they have done? Why?

Provide students with accounts of Holocaust perpetrators, bystanders, and rescuers. Guide the discussion into analyzing the reasons the persons acted as the did and how they were treated by others for the actions they took.

Suggested activities to accompany the film Courage to Care:

Develop a chart that compares the methods used by rescuers to hide Jews from the Nazis.

Use cooperative learning groups to reenact the events described in each story.

Compile a collection of the students personal accounts of acts of courage or compassion.

Research the stories of other rescuers that were not featured in the film.

Note: At the end of the film, the present occupations of the individuals are mentioned. Students may find it interesting that most chose a helping profession (psychologist, etc) and make some predictions why.

Title of Article:________________________________________________

Directions: Read the assigned article. Analyze the actions of the persons or groups identified in the article. Explain why the individuals or groups were placed in the categories to which they were assigned.

Bystander

Rescuer

Perpetrator

Give reasons why the individual or groups acted as they did.

Compare the events and actions of the individuals in the article to those of the Holocaust.

Analyze the roles played by the various governments involved.
 
 

Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina - A new cease-fire accord failed to curb fighting Wednesday in central and southwestern Bosnia, where civilians appeared to be bearing the brunt of the attacks. "The aggression continues with the same intensity," said Stjepan Siber, deputy commander of Bosnia's Muslim-led government army. Presidents Alija Izetbegovic of Bosnia and Franjo Tudjman of Croatia signed an accord Tuesday in Geneva calling for fighting to stop "immediately and by no later than Saturday. Serbs, who control 70 percent of Bosnian territory, were not party to the agreement. Several earlier agreements failed to halt the bloodshed, and Siber held out little hope that fighting between Croat and government forces would ease before Saturday, if then. State-run Bosnia radio reported heavy shelling around Mostar, the major city in southwestern Bosnia, where 55,000 Muslims are under siege by Croats. U. N. officials say 10 to 15 people are dying daily from shelling and sniper fire. Croats, meanwhile, accused government soldiers of murdering 29 civilians Tuesday in the tiny village of Uzdol, near Prozor about 30 miles north of Mostar. A spokesman for the self-declared Croatian government in Bosnia, Toni Vucic, said of 29 villages killed in Uzdol, 18 were men, eight were women, and three children. The Croats said 11 Muslim soldiers were killed by Croat Soldiers as they fled Uzdol. the Croats listed eight dead among their troops. News photographer Laurent Rebours, who visited Prozor and the Uzdol after the killings, said about half the houses in the village, once home to 583 people, were burned down. He said six corpses were still in the village Wednesday, including a dead man lying in a courtyard with a chest wound. His wife's bullet-riddled body was on the dining room floor inside their house. The bodies of an older couple were found huddled together under blankets in a barn, where they apparently tried to hide. "I think they had no time to understand what happened," Rebours said. "It seemed as if they had heard noises, went outside and then were killed." British U.N. peacekeepers reportedly were heading to the village to investigate. At the outset of Bosnia's war, Croats and government forces fought together against heavily armed Bosnian Serbs who belled over a decision to secede from Yugoslavia. But the alliance collapsed in bitter fighting over central Bosnian territory. There is evidence of murder and other atrocities against civilians by both sides. Sarajevo, Bosnia's besieged capital, was relatively calm Wednesday during a visit by Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev, who is trying to get three-way geneva peach negotiations restarted. Talks on a plan to divide Bosnia among its three warring factions ended abruptly September 1, when Izetbegovic objected to what he said was an unfair deal that rewarded Serb agression. All sides have expressed willingness to resume talks, but no date has been set.

Sept, 16, 1993
The Times-Picayune

Objectives:

Understand the problems faced by groups of people interested in maintaining their religious heritage.

Analyze the role played by religion in Hitler's decision to annihilate the Jews.

Analyze the change in American immigration policy that allowed persons to seek escape from religious persecution.

Compare the religious freedom faced by Jews in America to that of other immigrants during the 20th century.

Describe the similarities/differences between the role of religion in the life of Jews today to role under Nazi occupation.

Define the role of the clergy in the Holocaust.

Materials:

Copy of taped presentation - Free Your Mind - Part II

Anthology of Holocaust Literature p. 11-13 - Sabbath by Marga Minco

Key Terms:

Religious persecution

Intolerance

Procedure/Activities:

Discuss the role that religion plays in lives today.

Show the taped segment of Free Your Mind - Part II. Analyze the story to determine if there are perpetrators, bystanders, and rescuers apparent. Discuss the reactions to the story an determine individual actions students might take.

Research the role religion played in the persecution of Jews and Jehovah Witnesses during the Nazi regime. Discuss the reasons for the persecution (religious, economic, political. Determine how these reasons compare with the persecution of the Gypsies during the same period? Of American Indians?

Allow students to choose sides (Jews, Jehovah Witnesses, or Nazis). and defend the actions taken by the group. Provide opportunities for students to express their personal convictions regardless on the group they defended.

Research the various religions groups today. Determine the kind of persecutions they may have faced within the history of the United States.
    Jews (Reform, Orthodox, Conservative)
    Protestants
    Catholics

Objectives:

Compare the kinds of discrimination faced by Jews under Nazi occupation to the discrimination they faced in the U. S.

Describe the political and economic conditions which allowed the Holocaust to be possible.

Analyze the role played by everyday people in perpetuating racism.

Compare the consequences of Nazi terror on the lives of Jewish and Gypsy victims.

Describe the techniques used by governments to get people to conform.

Compare the lives of the Jewish victims prior to 1933 to life in ghettos.

Compare the actions taken against Jews in Germany during World War II and those of persons in the former Yugoslavia.

Compare the plight of the Gypsies under Nazi domination to the events today.

Key Terms:

Discrimination
Racism
Stereotypes
Scapegoat
Sanskrit
Rom
Non-Conformity

Procedure/Activities:

Develop the meaning of discrimination, racism, and stereotypes.

Compare the situation in Bosnia today to that of Jews and Gypsies during the Holocaust. Formulate predictions about the outcome of the problem.

Form interest groups to further research the effects of racism on the lives of Holocaust victims.

Use examples of writings and poetry to focus on life in the ghettos and the strategies used to help victims cope with the effects of racism. Compare the writing, art work, and songs to examples of other victims of racism.

Allow students to write about an event or time when they felt discriminated against. Provide a forum for discussing their feelings and analyzing the actions they took. Determine whether there is any basis for comparison between the actions people take in the face of racism and discrimination.

Discuss the discrimination of immigrants to the United Stated during the era prior to the Holocaust. How does this compare with the discrimination face by immigrants today? Are there differences in treatments of immigrants depending on their homeland or religious belief, etc. What can everyday people do to assist recent immigrants.

Directions: Write your personal definitions of the terms listed below. Give an example of each term.

Racism:

Example:

Discrimination:

Example:

Stereotype:

Example:

    Usti Nad Labem, Czech Republic - the popularity of Magdalena Babicka, the local beauty queen, soared after her response to the question in the Miss Czech 1993 content, even though she failed to win the crown.
    Babicka, a high school junior, said during the ceremony televised across the Czech republic in April that she wanted to get a law degree and become a prosecutory.
    And then, Babicka said, she would "cleanse" her hometown of its "dark-skinned" residents.
    The ballroom crowd applauded, while across the country - and particularly in Babinka's hometown-many Czechs were glad that someone had finally spoken out about the Gypsies.
    "All Gypsies have one thing in common: They all lie,"said Miroslav Polak, a pensioner sitting on a bench in Usti Nad Labemm's main square. "Babicka is the only person who wasn't afraid to say in public the opinion of many people."
    Polk said he is glad that Usti has a gang of skinheads because they beat up the Gypsies, who make up about 5 percent of the city's 100,000 residents. A policeman who was listening to the conversation shrugged. A woman sharing the bench with Polak giggled. A passing schoolgirl said that all her friends are on Babicka's side.
    With the Czech word vycisteni-cleansing- creeping into daily use, gypsies worry that the practice will too.
    Babicka's words would probably arouse similar support in other East European countries. gypsies, who were among the targets of Nazi extermination efforts during World War II, again face a tide of racism throughout the region.
    The problem is exploding because of hard economic times. Gypsies led a relatively secure life under Communist regimes, which kept a lid on public displays of racism. But now, with the collapse of the Soviet Bloc, the lid on free speech is gone, and so are many of the jobs that the Communists handed to Gypsies. They are on their own again, when some East Europeans are looking for scapegoats.
    In neighboring Slovakia, for instance, the major of Spisske Podhradie issued an edict last month forbidding Gypsies and "other suspicious people" to leave their homes between 11 p.m. and 4:30 a.m. Gypsies also were forbidden to drive cars that were in bad shape, and police were given special powers to search their homes.
    In explaining the reason for the edict, Major Frantisek Slobodnik said that crime was out of control and that the Gypsies were responsible. "They sleep during the day and steal; at night," he was quoted as saying. the curfew drew strong support from the town's 3,500 Slovaks.
    The Slovak parliament, sensing a public relations disaster, moved to quash the curfew, declaring it unconstitutional. But the government softened the blow by promising Slobodnik that police reinforcements would be sent to Spisske Podhradie.
    "They are dealing with the problem by using repressive force," said Klara Orgovanova, a Gypsy who advises the Slovak government but is quitting her job at the end of the summer in disgust. "Criminality is a cliche. It's not the problem."
    In the Hungarian city of Eger, known as the country's skinhead capital, Gypsies staged a protest march earlier this month after a Gypsy youth was beaten into a coma by skinheads. It was the city's 25th assault on Gypsies since 1991.
    The several million Gypsies who live in Eastern Europe are descendants of Indians who migrated this far westward by the 15th century, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, and many have retained their nomadic ways. Even during communist times, many gypsies continued to move from place to place, defying borders and police.
    In general, they have not assimilated into the mainstream cultures of the countries in which they live. Gypsies have dark skin, and they speak their own language, which is related to ancient Sanskrit. They call themselves Rom and view the word Gypsy as an epithet.
    Although they have a rich musical tradition, many are illiterate. Few have high school diplomas. And some hardly speak the language of the country in which they live.
    Most Gypsies are poor, and they are the underclass of Eastern Europe. In Hungary, Gypsies account for about 5 percent of the population, but more than 50 percent of the prison population. In Romania, unemployment among Gypsies is nearly 80 percent.
    Gypsies are usually the first thrown out of work when a factory must cut back, and they are the last hired if jobs become available, according to Gypsy leaders and human rights officials. Sometimes employers publish want ads that include the phrase, "Gypsies not accepted," and some stores have signs saying, "Gypsies not served."
    Gypsy leaders say the accusations against their people are exaggerated. They acknowledge that Gypsies are probably committing more crimes on a proportional basis than the rest of the population, but they say they are not committing nearly as many as claimed. They argue that high crime rates among Gypsies are caused by their poverty, which is in turn linked to the discrimination they face.
    The leaders admit that some Gypsies have become leery, especially where education is concerned. Mothers do not insist that children stay in school, so they frequently drift away before they can read or do arithmetic. According to Michal Husak, a businessman and journalist in Prague, the government must cooperate with Gypsy organizations to keep children in school.
    Husak said Gypsy organizations in Prague have given the government a plan for creating a Head Start Program for Gypsy children. But so far, he said, the government has not responded.
    The attitude in official circles is not promising. While saying they are doing all they can to help, government officials have taken relatively little concrete action, partly because Gypsies have little political influence.

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