IDENTIFYING VICTIMS

Directions: Listed below are the names of groups that the Nazi regime targeted during the Holocaust. Who were they and what explanation can you give for the discrimination they faced?

Jews

Gypsies

Mentally and Physically Handicapped

Homosexuals

Soviet Prisoners

Polish and Slavic citizens

Communists Socialists

Trade Unionists

Jehovah's Witnesses

To the teacher:
Encourage students to research the fate of a variety of people involved in the Holocaust. Then, examine the fate of ordinary people in contemporary situations. As an example: the person who filmed the Rodney King beatings, and the person who rescued the truck driver during the Los Angeles riots.
 

Objectives:

Examine the efforts of governmental collaboration on human rights issues.

Investigate how the actions of governments affect their relationship with other nations.

Determine the role played by non-governmental officials and civil servants in decision making.

Materials/Resources:

C-Span In The Classroom

Key Terms:

Intervention
Compromise
Deliberations

Procedure/Activities:

View C-Span programming dealing with U. S. policy toward refugees. Compare the policy to the policy of Soviets toward Jews.

Discuss how the present policy compares to that of governments toward victims fleeing the Holocaust.

Compare the actions of both U. S. and foreign governments toward immigrants today. Investigate the laws that govern the status of immigrants.

Examine the manner used by Nazis to gain power and exercise control over the German government. Encourage students to think about effective use of governmental power.

Directions: Think of a world issue that is important to your generation today. Research the current governmental policy regarding the issue. Develop a plan that you would use to address the issue if you held a position of power.

ISSUE:

CURRENT POLICY:

MY PLAN:

Objectives:

Know the characteristics of a nation.

Understand the effects that laws governing nations have on immigrants to the nation.

Analyze the problems resulting from disputes among nations.

Materials:

News articles and editorials on the current crisis in Bosnia, Africa, or Russia

MTV tape on Eastern Europe and ethnic cleansing

C-Span in the Classroom

Key Terms:

Ethnic Cleansing
Immigration
Identity

Procedure/Activities:

Trace the events of the national disputes over a two week period. Examine the problems that occur for those who remain or flee their homeland. Determine what role the communities of the world should play in these disputes.

Discuss the social, political, and economic issues involved in the partitioning of a country. Guide students to analyze their feelings when personal conflicts arise that require separation from home, family, or peer group.

Study first person accounts of those involved in national disputes. Examine their family, religious, and political feeling to determine their sense of belonging.

Language Arts

Compile a list of words specific to the Holocaust
Research word origins
Determine the relationship between similar words (labor camp, ghetto, killing center)
Read and discuss a variety of journals, poems, and other first person accounts.
Compare the writings as they relate to the author's purpose in telling the story.
Investigate the role of authors who wrote about resistance efforts.
Design a flyer that may be have been used as propaganda against Jews and other victims.

Science

Research the types of medical experiments performed on victims. Determine the effects on the lives of the victims today.
Describe the technological changes made by the Nazis in an effort to make killing more efficient.

Art

Investigate the events surrounding the stolen art treasures plundered by Nazis and the efforts to locate them.

Math

Graph the percentage of victims living in a specific region prior to the Holocaust, immediately  after the Holocaust, and today. Determine the entire percentage of the population in each instance.

Geography

Chart the regions surrounding concentration camps and study the geographical conditions that might have hampered/helped those fleeing to safety.

    The way we communicate our feelings, whether it's verbally or through art, music, or poetry, gives insight into our feelings. Out of every human experience there is an emotional attachment. Fear, Pain, anger, joy, and excitement are but a few of the emotions that could communicate the depth of an experience. There is no place where this is more evident than in times of personal turmoil. The victims of the Holocaust as well as other victims of tragic events often used journals, writings, and poetry to show defiance, and reaffirm their religious and cultural beliefs. The following writings are a few examples depicting the cries of agony, hope, and helplessness in the face of Nazi tyranny.

Today the ghetto knows a different fear,
Close in its grip, Death wields an icy scythe.
An evil sickness spreads a terror in its wake,
The victims of its shadow weep and writhe.

Today a father's heartbeat tells his fright
And mothers bend their heads into their hands.
Now children choke and die with typhus here,
A bitter tax is taken from their bands.

My heart still beats inside my breast
While friends depart for other worlds.
Perhaps its better--who can say?--
Than watching this, to die today?

No, no, my God, we want to live!
Not watch our numbers melt away.
We want to have a better world,
We want to work--we must not die!

The last, the very last,
So richly, brightly, dazzlingly yellow.
    Perhaps if the sun's tears would sing against a white
    stone...

Such, such a yellow
Is carried lightly 'way up high.
    It went away I's sure because it wished to kiss the
    world goodbye.
For seven weeks I've lived in here,
Penned up inside this ghetto
But I have found my people here.
the dandelions call to me
And the white chestnut candles in the court.
    Only I never saw another butterfly.

That butterfly was the last one.
Butterflies don't live in here,
    In the ghetto.

From I Never Saw Another Butterfly, McGraw-Hill, 1976

From tomorrow on, I shall be sad---
From tomorrow on!
Today I will be gay.

What is the use of sadness---tell me that?---
Because these evil winds begin to blow?
Why should I grieve for tomorrow---today?
Tomorrow may be so good, so sunny,

Tomorrow the sun may shine for us again:
We shall no longer need to be sad.

From tomorrow on, I shall be sad---
From tomorrow on!
Not today: no! Today I will be glad.
And every day, no matter how bitter it be,
I will say:
From tomorrow on, I shall be sad,
Not today!

I must be saving these days,
(I have no money to save),
I must save health and strength,
Enough to last me for a long while.
I must save my nerves,
And my thoughts, and my mind
And the fire of my spirit;
I must be saving of tears that flow---
I shall need them for a long, long while.
I must save endurance these stormy days.

There is so much I need in my life:
Warmth of feeling and a kind heart---
These things I lack: of these I must be saving!
All these, the gifts of God,
I wish to keep.
How sad I should be
If I lost them quickly.

I'd like to go away alone.
Where there are other, nicer people,
Somewhere into the far unknown,
There, where no one kills another.

Maybe more of us,
A thousand strong,
Will reach this goal
Before too long.

I believe
In the sun
even when
it is not
shining.

I believe
in love
when feeling
it not.

I believe
in God
even when
He is silent.

    It is now clear to me that what took place exceeded all expectations. In our opposition to the Germans we did more than our strength allowed--but now our forces are waning. We are on the brink of extinction. We forced the Germans to retreat twice--but they returned stronger than     before.
    One of our groups held out for forty minutes; and another fought for about six hours. The mine which was laid in the area of the brush factory exploded as planned. Then we attacked the Germans and they suffered heavy casualties. Our losses were generally low. That is an accomplishment too. Z. fell next to his machine-gun.
    I feel that great things are happening and that this action which we have dared to take is of enormous value.
    We have no choice but to go over to partisan methods of fighting as of today. Tonight, six fighting-groups are going out. They have two tasks--to reconnoiter the area and to capture weapons. Remember, "short-range weapons" are of no use to us. We employ them very rarely. We need many rifles, hand-grenades, machine-guns and explosives.
    I cannot describe the conditions in which the Jews of the ghetto are now "living." Only a few exceptional individuals will be able to survive such suffering. The others will sooner or later die. Their fate is certain, even though thousands are trying to hide in cracks and rat holes. It is impossible to light a candle, for lack of air. Greetings to you who are outside. Perhaps a miracle will occur and we shall see each other again one of these days. It is extremely doubtful.
    The last wish of my life has been fulfilled. Jewish self-defense has become a fact. Jewish resistance and revenge have become actualities. I am happy to have been one of the first Jewish fighters in the ghetto.
    Where will rescue come from?

*Written during the Revolt, 1943, Warsaw Originally published by World Hashomer Hatzair, Kibbutz Merchavia, Israel, 1963.

May 5

    There are rumors flying about that tonight there will be a police raid on the Jews. Papa hasn't been home since yesterday--and what if he returns today right in the middle of the raid? We wrote him a letter that he and my cousin shouldn't come today, and gave it to a boy from Kraino who just happened to be here.

May 6

    A terrible day. At about 3 a.m. I was awakened by banging. It was the police, starting the raid. I wasn't frightened--Papa and my cousin are in Kraino and they know that the other cousins are in hiding. a few minutes later there was knocking at the door, and my uncle quickly opened. Two policemen come in--one Polish and one Jewish--and immediately began to search the house. One of them told me to get dressed, but the other one asked me how old I was, and when I told him, "Fourteen," he left me alone. They snooped around a bit, but they didn't find anyone, just the two men from Plotzk, whom they took with them. When the police left I fell asleep. Very early my cousin woke me up, because Papa had arrived in a wagon. Although I didn't feel afraid, I dressed quickly and went outside, but he had already left--he couldn't wait because of the raid.
    The stuff on the wagon had already been unloaded. Just then I saw a policeman turning into our yard. I started to run, but he began to yell: "Where are the potatoes? Bring the rest!" and other things which I couldn't make out. "Now it is really the end," I thought. When they had finished loading everything he went back to police HQ.
    Papa isn't here. What were we going to do? Mama and my aunt went to the police. I was awfully upset. They had taken everything we owned, now we would die for a piece of bread. Soon Anshl came and told us that Papa and my cousin had been arrested. I started to cry. They had taken Papa away from us, they had taken all our possessions. Suddenly I felt a deep yearning for Papa. Who cared about the things? Mama ran to the Judenrat to ask them to release Papa because he's sick and can't live without his medicine, and if they should assign him to hard labor in a concentration camp it would be a disaster.
    At the Judenrat they told her Papa would be released after they examined him, and we began to hope he might be set free. I didn't go into the street because I might be caught, too, but my brother and Anshl took food to the prisoners. When Anshl came home he told us that his brother-in-law was also in prison. the panic was horrible. Everyone hid wherever he could find a corner, and the relatives and wives of the prisoners were sobbing hysterically. How could you not?
    The Bielin were helping to conduct the raid. When things calmed down a bit, two automobiles drove up. One of them had a platform in the back. When I saw them the thought struck me that Papa might be sent away, and I began to weep uncontrollably. Papa had told my brother to bring him food, several pairs of underwear, and a small pan. when I saw my brother packing the things, I burst into tears again.
    All this time Mama was at the Judenrat asking them to intervene, and they kept telling her Papa would be released. My brother came to get a warm hat, but he was too late--the automobile was already on the next block. I began to scream when they approached: "Papa, where are, let me see you just once more" then I saw him, in the last car, and he was crying. I watched the car until it disappeared at the crossroads. I burst into tears and felt a deep love for Papa, and his love for me, and realized that when I had written on May 1 that he didn't love me it was a lie, totally false, and, who knows, maybe I would have to pay for suspecting him of something that wasn't true. god willing, when he comes home, I will behave differently toward him. I cried for a long time, and when I remember Papa's tear-stained face, I cried even harder. Papa was the most precious of all, and he had been taken away from us, and he was sick, too.
    When we quieted down, Mama went to the police because it was getting close to 2 o"clock. I stayed in the house and thought about the fate which awaited Papa and the bad luck which had already struck us. My sister arrived and said:
    "Go the police, but take someone with you, because they given everything away." Anshl and I started out, and on the way we met Mama. Anshl took the bundle she was carrying, and I went along with her. We had made several trips before we brought all the things back to the house. You can't imagine what a joy it was, but our happiness was really superficial, because our hearts were heavy with an indescribable sadness. Mama had pleaded with the entire Judenrat to help her salvage the merchandise, and nobody wanted to help, but God saw to it that we got it back without them. When we came home we were visited by a policeman, who wanted to know if all our possessions had been returned to us. He was a friendly German, and if not for him we wouldn't have gotten a slice. Mama was exhausted from this one day as if it had stretched for four weeks.
    When I got into bed, I thought of Papa. Here I was in a comfortable bed and Papa was in a barrack, and maybe without even a handful of straw on which to rest his head. My heart constricted with pain and I started to cry, and cried myself to sleep.

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