Victims of the Holocaust

Antisemitism: Opposition to and discrimination against Jews.

Aryan: A term for peoples speaking the language of Europe and India. In Nazi racial theory, a person of pure German "blood." The term "non-Aryan" was used to designate Jews, part-Jews and others of supposedly inferior racial stock.

Assimilation: The process of becoming incorporated into mainstream society. Strict observance of Jewish laws and customs pertaining to dress, food, and religious holidays tends to keep Jewish people separate and distinct from the culture of the country within which they are living. Moses Mendelssohn (1729-86), a German Jew, was one of the key people working for the assimilation of the Jews in the German cultural community.

Auschwitz - Birkenau /oushvits - biakenow/ : A complex consisting of concentration, extermination, and labor camps in Upper Silesia. It was established in 1940 as a concentration camp and included a killing center in 1942. Auschwitz I: The main camp. Auschwitz II (Also known as Birkenau): The extermination center. Auschwitz III (Monowitz): The I.G. Farben labor camp, also known as Buna. In addition, there were numerous subsidiary camps.

Babi Yar /bahbi yahr/ : A ravine in Kiev, where tens of thousands of Ukrainian Jews were systematically massacred.

Bar-Mitzvah /bahrmitsva/ /Bat-Mitzvah /bahtmitsva/ : A term referring to a religious "coming of age" in Judaism, when a Jewish boy or girl turns thirteen. On this day, the Bar/Bat Mitzvah leads the congregation in the service and rightfully enters the congregation as an "equal" member.

Belzec /belzets/ : Nazi extermination camp in eastern Poland. Erected in 1942. Approximately 550,000 Jews were murdered there in 1942 and 1943. The Nazis dismantled the camp in the fall of 1943.

Bergen-Belsen /beagen belzen/ : Nazi concentration camp in northwestern Germany. Erected in 1943. Thousands of Jews, political prisoners, and POWs were killed there. Liberated by British troops in April 1945, although many of the remaining prisoners died of typhus after liberation.

Blood Libel: An allegation, recurring during the thirteenth through sixteenth centuries, that Jews were killing Christian children to use their blood for the ritual of making unleavened bread (matzah). A red mold which occasionally appeared on the bread started this myth.

B'richa: The organized and illegal mass movement of Jews throughout Europe following World War II.

British White Paper of 1939: British policy of restricting immigration of Jews to Palestine.

Buchenwald /bookhenvald/: Concentration camp in North Central Germany

Bund /boond/ : The Jewish Socialist Party founded in 1897. It aspired to equal rights for the Jewish population. During World War II the Bund was active in the underground resistance and some Bund members were also part of some Judenrat councils. They took part in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

Cantor: Leader of chanted prayers in a Jewish service; the congregational singer.

Chelmno /khelmno/ : Nazi extermination camp in western Poland. Established in 1941. The first of the Nazi extermination camps. Approximately 150,000 Jews were murdered there between late 1941 and 1944, although not continuously. In comparison to the other extermination camps, Chelmno was technologically primitive, employing carbon monoxide gas vans as the main method of killing. The Nazis dismantled the camp in late 1944 and early 1945.

Communism: A concept or system of society in which the collective community shares ownership in resources and the means of production. In theory, such societies provide for equal sharing of all work, according to ability, and all benefits, according to need. In 1848, Karl Marx, in collaboration with Friedrich Engels, published the Communist Manifesto which provided the theoretical impetus for the Russian Bolshevik Revolution in 1917.

Concentration camp (Konzentrationslager abbreviated as KZ) /kontsentrationslahga/ : Concentration camps were prisons used without regard to accepted norms of arrest and detention. They were an essential part of Nazi systematic oppression. Initially (1933-36), they were used primarily for political prisoners. Later (1936-42), concentration camps were expanded and non-political prisoners--Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, and Poles--were also incarcerated. In the last period of the Nazi regime (1942-45), prisoners of concentration camps were forced to work in the armament industry, as more and more Germans were fighting in the war. Living conditions varied considerably from camp to camp and over time. The worst conditions took place from 1936-42, especially after the war broke out. Death, disease, starvation, crowded and unsanitary conditions, and torture were a daily part of concentration camps.

Dachau /dakhou/ : Nazi concentration camp in southern Germany. Erected in 1933, this was the first Nazi concentration camp. Used mainly to incarcerate German political prisoners until late 1938, whereupon large numbers of Jews, Gypsies, Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexuals, and other supposed enemies of the state and anti-social elements were sent as well. Nazi doctors and scientists used many prisoners at Dachau as guinea pigs for experiments. Dachau was liberated by American troops in April 1945.

Death camp: Nazi extermination centers where Jews and other victims were brought to be killed as part of Hitler's Final Solution.

Death marches: Forced marches of prisoners over long distances and under intolerable conditions was another way victims of the Third Reich were killed. The prisoners, guarded heavily, were treated brutally and many died from mistreatment or were shot. Prisoners were transferred from one ghetto or concentration camp to another ghetto or concentration camp or to a death camp.

Dehumanization: The Nazi policy of denying Jews basic civil rights such as practicing religion, education, and adequate housing.

Desecrating the Host: Jews were accused of defiling the Host, the sacred bread used in the Eucharist ritual, with blood. The red substance that can grow on bread which has a blood-like appearance is now known to be a mold. This allegation was used as the reason for a series of antisemitic attacks.

Diaspora: From the Greek word meaning dispersion, the term dates back to 556B.C. when Nebuchadnezzar exiled the Judeans to Babylonia and refers to the Jewish communities outside Israel.

Displacement: The process, either official or unofficial, of people being involuntarily moved from their homes because of war, government policies, or other societal actions, requiring groups of people to find new places to live. Displacement is a recurring theme in the history of the Jewish people.

DP: Displaced Person. The upheavals of war left millions of soldiers and civilians far from home. Millions of DPs had been eastern European slave laborers for the Nazis. The tens of thousands of Jewish survivors of Nazi camps either could not or did not want to return to their former homes in Germany or eastern Europe, and many lived in special DP camps while awaiting migration to America or Palestine.

Displaced Persons Act of 1948: Law passed by U.S. Congress limiting the number of Jewish displaced persons who could emigrate to the United States. The law contained antisemitic elements, eventually eliminated in 1950.

Drancy: Largest transit camp for the deportation of Jews from France.

Einsatzgruppen /ainzatsgroopen/ : Mobile units of the Security Police and SS Security Service that followed the German armies to Poland in 1939 and to the Soviet Union in June, 1941. Their charge was to kill all Jews as well as communist functionaries, the handicapped, institutionalized psychiatric patients, Gypsies, and others considered undesirable by the nazi state. They were supported by units of the uniformed German Order Police and often used auxiliaries (Ukrainian, Latvian, Lithuanian, and Estonian volunteers). The victims were executed by mass shootings and buried in unmarked mass graves; later, the bodies were dug up and burned to cover evidence of what had occurred.

Euthanasia: Nazi euphemism for the deliberate killings of institutionalized physically, mentally, and emotionally handicapped people. The euthanasia program began in 1939, with German non-Jews as the first victims. The program was later extended to Jews.

Final Solution (The final solution to the Jewish question in Europe): A Nazi euphemism for the plan to exterminate the Jews of Europe.

Führer /fewra/ : Leader. Adolf Hitler's title in Nazi Germany.

Gas chambers: Large chambers in which people were executed by poison gas. These were built and used in Nazi death camps.

Generalgouvernement (General Government): An administrative unit established by the Germans on October 26, 1939, consisting of those parts of Poland that had not been incorporated into the Third Reich. It included the districts of Warsaw, Krakow, Radom, Lublin, and Lvov. Hans Frank was appointed Governor-General. The Germans destroyed the Polish cultural and scientific institutions and viewed the Polish population as a potential work force.

Genocide: The deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, cultural, or religious group.

Gestapo /geshtahpoh/ : Acronym for Geheime Staatspolizei /gehaime shtahtspolitsai/ , meaning Secret State Police. Prior to the outbreak of war, the Gestapo used brutal methods to investigate and suppress resistance to Nazi rule within Germany. After 1939, the Gestapo expanded its operations into Nazi-occupied Europe.

Ghettos: The Nazis revived the medieval term ghetto to describe their device of concentration and control, the compulsory "Jewish Quarter." Ghettos were usually established in the poor sections of a city, where most of the Jews from the city and surrounding areas were subsequently forced to reside. Often surrounded by barbed wire or walls, the ghettos were sealed. Established mostly in eastern Europe (e.g., Lodz, Warsaw, Vilna, Riga, or Minsk), the ghettos were characterized by overcrowding, malnutrition, and heavy labor. All were eventually dissolved, and the Jews murdered.

Gypsies: A collective term for Romani and Sinti. A nomadic people believed to have come originally from northwest India. They became divided into five main groups that still exist today. By the sixteenth century, they had spread to every country of Europe. Alternately welcomed and persecuted since the fifteenth century, they were considered enemies of the state by the Nazis and persecuted relentlessly. Approximately 500,000 Gypsies are believed to have perished in the gas chambers.

Holocaust: Derived from the Greek holokaustonwhich meant a sacrifice totally burned by fire. Today, the term refers to the systematic planned extermination of about six million European Jews and millions of others by the Nazis between 1933-1945.

Homophobia: Fear of homosexuals.

Judaism: The monotheistic religion of the Jews, based on the precepts of the Old Testament and the teachings and commentaries of the Rabbis as found chiefly in the Talmud.

Kippah /kippa/ : The skull cap worn by Jewish men. A Kippah is worn to symbolize that man exists only from his Kippah down; God exists above the Kippah.

Korczak, Dr. Janusz (1878-1942): Educator, author, physician, and director of a Jewish orphanage in Warsaw. Despite the possibility of personal freedom, he refused to abandon his orphans and went with them to the gas chamber in Treblinka.

Kristallnacht /krishtahlnakht/ : Also known as The Night of the Broken Glass. On this night, November 9, 1938, almost 200 synagogues were destroyed, over 8,000 Jewish shops were sacked and looted, and tens of thousands of Jews were removed to concentration camps. This pogrom received its name because of the great value of glass that was smashed during this anti-Jewish riot. Riots took place throughout Germany and Austria on that night.

Majdanek /maidahnek/ : Nazi camp and killing center opened for men and women near Lublin in eastern Poland in late 1941. At first a labor camp for Poles and a POW camp for Russians, it was classified as a concentration camp in April 1943. Like Auschwitz, it was also a major killing center. Majdonek was liberated by the Red Army in July 1944, and a memorial was opened there in November of that year.

Marranos: Jews who professed to accept Christianity in order to escape persecution during the Spanish Inquisition. Marrano comes from the Spanish word "swine."

Muselmann /moozelmahn/ : German term meaning "Muslim," widely used by concentration camp prisoners to refer to inmates who were on the verge of death from starvation, exhaustion, and despair. A person who had reached the Muselmann stage had little, if any, chance for survival and usually died within weeks. The origin of the term is unclear.

Nuremberg Laws: The Nuremberg Laws were announced by Hitler at the Nuremberg Party conference, defining 'Jew' and systematizing and regulating discrimination and persecution. The "Reich Citizenship Law" deprived all Jews of their civil rights, and the "Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor" made marriages and extra-marital sexual relationships between Jews and Germans punishable by imprisonment.

Operation Reinhard (or Aktion Reinhard): The code name for the plan to destroy the millions of Jews in the General Government, within the framework of the Final Solution. It began in October, 1941, with the deportation of Jews from ghettos to extermination camps. The three extermination camps established under Operation Reinhard were Belzec, Sobibór, and Treblinka.

Pale of Settlement: The area in the western part of the Russian Empire in which Russian Jews were allowed to live from 1835-1917.

Pogrom: An organized and often officially encouraged massacre of or attack on Jews. The word is derived from two Russian words that mean "thunder."

Prejudice: A judgment or opinion formed before the facts are known. In most cases, these opinions are founded on suspicion, intolerance, and the irrational hatred of other races, religions, creeds, or nationalities.

Propaganda: False or partly false information used by a government or political party intended to sway the opinions of the population.

Ravensbruck /rahvenzbrook/: Concentration camp opened for women 1939.

Resettlement: German euphemism for the deportation of prisoners to killing centers in Poland.

Revisionists: Those who deny that the Holocaust ever happened.

Scapegoat: Person or group of people blamed for crimes committed by others.

SD (Sicherheitsdienst /zikherhaitsdeenst/ or Security Service) : The SS security and intelligence service established in 1931 under Reinhard Heydrich.

Hannah Sennesh : A Palestinian Jew of Hungarian descent who fought as a partisan against the Nazis. She was captured at the close of the war and assassinated in Budapest by the Nazis.

Shoah : The Hebrew word meaning "catastrophe," denoting the catastrophic destruction of European Jewry during World War II. The term is used in Israel, and the Knesset (the Israeli Parliament) has designated an official day, called Yom ha-Shoah, as a day of commemorating the Shoah or Holocaust.

Sobibór : Extermination camp located in the Lublin district of eastern Poland. Sobibór opened in May 1942 and closed the day after a rebellion by its Jewish prisoners on October 14, 1943. At least 250,000 Jews were killed there.

Social Darwinism: A concept based on the idea of "survival of the fittest." Based on Social Darwinism, Nazis created a pseudo-scientific brand of racism which was most virulent when directed against the Jews, but others, particularly Slavs, were not exempt.

Sonderkommando /zonderkommando/ (Special Squad) : SS or Einsatzgruppe detachment. The term also refers to the Jewish slave labor units in extermination camps that removed the bodies of those gassed for cremation or burial.

SS (Schutzstaffel /shoots shtahfl/ or Protection Squad) : Guard detachments originally formed in 1925 as Hitler's personal guard. From 1929, under Himmler, the SS developed into the most powerful affiliated organization of the Nazi party. In mid-1934, they established control of the police and security systems, forming the basis of the Nazi police state and the major instrument of racial terror in the concentration camps and occupied Europe.

Star of David: A six-pointed star which is a symbol of Judaism. During the Holocaust, Jews throughout Europe were required to wear Stars of David on their sleeves or fronts and backs of their shirts and jackets.

Stereotype: Biased generalizations about a group based on hearsay, opinions, and distorted, preconceived ideas.

Theresienstadt /tereysienshtat/ (Terezín /terezeen/) : Nazi ghetto located in Czechoslovakia. Created in late 1941 as a "model Jewish settlement" to deceive the outside world, including International Red Cross investigators, as to the treatment of the Jews. However, conditions in Terezín were difficult, and most Jews held there were later killed in death camps. Theresienstadt is the German name for the town; Terezín is the Czech name.

Treblinka /treblinka/ : Extermination camp on the Bug River in the General Government. Opened in July 1942, it was the largest of the three Operation Reinhard killing centers. Between 700,000 and 900,000 persons were killed there. A revolt by the inmates on August 2, 1943, destroyed most of the camp, and it was closed in November 1943.

Umschlagplatz /oomshlagplats/ : Place in Warsaw where freight trains were loaded and unloaded. During the deportation from the Warsaw ghetto, it was used as an assembly point where Jews were loaded onto cattle cars to be taken to Treblinka. It literally means "transfer point."

Underground: Organized group acting in secrecy to oppose government, or, during war, to resist occupying enemy forces.

Raoul Wallenberg: A Swedish diplomat who deliberately stationed himself in Hungary during the war to save Hungarian Jews from their deaths.

Wannsee Conference /vanzey/ : On January 20, 1942 on a lake near Berlin the SS official, Reinhard Heydrich, helped present and coordinate the Final Solution.

Warsaw ghetto: Established in November 1940, it was surrounded by a wall and contained nearly 500,000 Jews. About 45,000 Jews died there in 1941 alone, as a result of overcrowding, hard labor, lack of sanitation, insufficient food, starvation, and disease. During 1942, most of the ghetto residents were deported to Treblinka, leaving about 60,000 Jews in the ghetto. A revolt took place in April 1943 when the Germans, commanded by General Jürgen Stroop, attempted to raze the ghetto and deport the remaining inhabitants to Treblinka. The defense forces, commanded by Mordecai Anielewicz, included all Jewish political parties. The bitter fighting lasted twenty-eight days and ended with the destruction of the ghetto.

Zyklon B: (Hydrogen cyanide) Pesticide used in some of the gas chambers at the death camps.

Display vocabulary list on a separate page suitable for printing. NOTE: You will have to use your browser's back button to return to this page.

• Many laws that limited the freedom of Jewish citizens were written in Germany when the Nazis came to power. Select one of those laws and examine the reason for the law, its impact on Jewish and non-Jewish citizens, and its relationship to other events taking place in Germany at the time.

• Identify examples of current human rights violations. Research and discuss. Include the use of documents.

• Define the concept of genocide. Discuss examples of genocide over the history of mankind to the present.

• Identify some twentieth century precursors to the Holocaust.

• Discuss the systematic persecution of Jews in Germany from 1933-39.

• Discuss how you can act against prejudice in your neighborhood or school.

• The Crusades and Inquisitions were times when religious persecution resulted in the torturing and murder of masses of people due to the victims' religious beliefs. Look further into these events. Can you think of other similar events in more recent history?

• Identify some of the danger signs that were evident in Germany preceding the genocide of the Jewish people.

• Investigate the reasons why specific groups became victims of the Nazis, including children, Gypsies, Blacks, Jehovah's Witnesses, the handicapped, homosexuals, and others, and investigate the reasons for their respective treatment.

• Many marked for persecution by the Nazis remained in Germany even after Hitler took power and his extreme ideas began to be law. Discuss some of the reasons That many peope stayed in Germany.

• Who qualified as Slavs under Nazi racial theory and why were they considered undesirable?

• Who were Kapos? Were they perpetrators of Nazi crimes, victims, both? Explain.

• Focus on the lives and experience of children forced to endure the extreme hardships and unspeakable cruelty during this period of time.

• Who were the victims of Nazi persecution? Choose one victim group and research in depth.

• The Diary of Anne Frank is one of the most popular pieces of Holocaust literature ever written. Examine how Anne Frank's diary came to be published.

• Many Jewish families in Germany had roots in their towns and villages for generations. Research the contributions of German Jews to their country through the arts, sciences, government, education, or military. To narrow your research, focus on a particular area or town, contributing area, or specific people.

• Research and read testimony of women in the Holocaust. Discuss women in the Holocaust.

• Describe the conditions of the concentration camps including how people were processed into the camp system. Use text from survivor memoirs.

• What widely differing reactions to freedom did liberators encounter among the survivors in the crucial days that followed liberation?

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  Reproducible Student Hand-Outs

  Concentration Camps. Map of Nazi concentration camps in Europe.

  Railroads Leading to Auschwitz. Map of the rail system that brought victims to the Auschwitz concentration camp.

  The Warsaw Ghetto. Map of the Warsaw Ghetto in what is now Poland.

  Ghettos in Europe. Map showing Jewish ghettos in Europe under the Nazis.

  Kristallnacht. Map plotting concentrated areas of Nazi violence against Jews during the infamous "Kristallnacht".

  Books

  • Ascherson, Neil. The Struggles for Poland.(New York, 1987).

  • Burleigh, Michael, and Wolfgang Wippermann. The Racial State: Germany.1933-1945 (New York, 1991). See especially pp.113-27.

  • Crow, David, and John Koisti. The Gypsies of Eastern Europe.(Armonk, N.Y, 1991).

  • Davies, Norman. God's Playground: A History of Poland, Vol. 2(New York, 1982).

  • Fraser, Angus. The Gypsies.(Cambridge, MA, 1992).

  • Gross, Jan Tomasz. Polish Society under German Occupation: The Generalgouvernement, 1939-1944.(Princeton, NJ, 1979).

  • Hancock, Ian. The Pariah Syndrome: An Account of Gypsy Slavery and Persecution.(Ann Arbor,1987).

  • Heger, Heinz. The Men with the Pink Triangle.(Boston, 1994).

  • Hrabar, Roman et al. The Fate of Polish Children during the Last War.(Warsaw, 1981).

  • Isherwood, Christopher. Christopher and His Kind.(New York, 1976).

  • Kenrick, Donald, and Grattan Puxon. The Destiny of Europe's Gypsies.(New York, 1972).

  • Kieler, Wieslaw. Anus Mundi: 1,500 Days in Auschwitz-Birkenau.trans. from German by Susanne Flatauer (New York, 1980).

  • Klukowski, Sygmunt. Diary from the Years of Occupation 1939-44.trans. from the Polish by George Klukowski (Urbana, IL, 1993).

  • Lautmann, Ruediger. "Gay Prisoners in Concentration Camps as Compared with Jehovah's Witnesses and Political Prisoners," in Michael Berenbaum, ed., A Mosaic of Victims: Non-Jews Persecuted and Murdered by the Nazis,(New York. 1990), pp. 200-221.

  • Lukacs, Richard C. Out of the Inferno: Poles Remember the Holocaust.(Lexington, KY, 1989)

  • Klamper, Elisabeth. "Persecution and Annihilation of Roma and Sinti in Austria, 1938-1945," Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society 5,Vol. 3, No. 2, (1993), 55-65.

  • Milton, Sybil. "The Holocaust: The Gypsies," in William S. Parsons, Israel Chamy, and Samuel Totten, eds., Genocide in the Twentieth Century: An Anthology of Critical Essays and Oral History,(New York, 1995), pp. 209-64.

  • Müller-Hill, Benno. Murderous Science: Elimination by Scientific Selection of Jews, Gypsies, and Others: Germany, 1933-1945, translated by George Fraser (Oxford, 1988).

  • Plant, Richard. The Pink Triangle: The Nazi War against Homosexuals.(New York, 1986).

  • Tyrnauer, Gabrielle. Gypsies and the Holocaust: A Bibliography and Introductory Essay.(Montreal, 1989).

  • United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The Story of Karl Stolka: A Childhood in Birkenau.(Washington, D.C., 1992).

  • Wolff, Charlotte. Magnus Hirschfeld: A Portrait of a Pioneer in Sexology.(London, 1986).

  • Yoors, Jan. Crossing: A Journal of Survival and Resistance in World War II.(NewYork, 1971).

    Visit the Voices of Victims Literature page of the Arts section for an annotated bibliography of recommended works.

    An extensive Anne Frank bibliography is available at the Wiesenthal Center site.

  Other Resources

  • Anne Frank 50th Anniversary Poster. Anne Frank Center, 1995.

  • Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. Julie Harris narrates this audiocassette reading of Anne Frank's diary. (87 minutes total time) Grades 5-12. Audio Partners.

  • Anne Frank Remembered. This videocassette combines eyewitness accounts along with photos and family letters focusing on the Anne and the Frank family. (117 minutes) Sony, 1995.

  • Anne Frank: Contemporary Classics. This informational packet contains reproducible activities, a timeline, tests, chapter-by-chapter discussion questions, and much, much more. Grades 9-12 Perfection Learning.

  • Diary Maker: Teachers Edition. The diaries of Anne Frank, Zlata Filipovic, and Latoya Hunter are highlighted in this multimedia diary-writing program. Students can create diaries of their own with colorful backgrounds, stamps, audio clips and a detailed teacher's guide. CD-ROM, Mac/Win. Grades 5-9 Scholastic, 1996.

  • Genocide: World at War Vol. 20. This videocassette, narrated by Laurence Olivier, examines the rise of Nazism, and the rationale they gave for their goal of a "master race." Film footage and interviews are also included. (52 minutes) Grades 7-12. Thames Television.

  • Jackdaw Kit: The Holocaust. This kit provides a collection of photographs and historical documents relating to Hitler's "Final Solution." A teacher's guide with reproducible activities is also included. Grades 7-12 Golden Owl, 1992 .

  • The Journey of Butterfly. This videocassette documents the creativity of the children at the Terezín camp through music, art and poetry. Also comes with a teacher guide.(62 minutes) Grades 5-12.

  • Lest We Forget: A History of the Holocaust. This CD-ROM provides a thorough overview of the Holocaust. Using text as well as archival film and audio clips, and hundreds of captioned pictures, topics such as life in the ghettoes, revolts in the death camps, and the Nuremberg trials are covered. Grades 9-12. Logos Research Systems, 1996.

  • Little Polish Boy Poster. The unforgettable picture of Tsvi Nussbaum, standing with his hands up in the Warsaw Ghetto, 1943. A poem inspired by this picture is written below it by Holocaust survivor Peter L. Fischl.

  • Nazi Holocaust: Series 1. Captioned photographs depicting the Warsaw Ghetto, Auschwitz, SS troops, and much more are provided. Grades 6-12. Documentary Photo Aids.

  • Nazi Holocaust: Series 2. Captioned photographs depicting ghettoes, concentration camps, anti-Semitic activities in Germany, and war atrocities are provided. Grades 6-12. Documentary Photo Aids.

  • My Brother's Keeper. This CD-ROM is actually a narrated tutorial by Holocaust survivor Israel Bernbaum. Through Bernbaum's paintings, students are given explanations to the symbolism used, quizzed on knowledge of such topics as the death camps, and the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, and much, much more. Grades 6-12. Clearvue, 1997.

  • The Seeds of the Holocaust, 1933-1935. This videocassette uses film footage and testimony from Elie Wiesel to try and explain the events and causes leading to the Holocaust. Fourteen reproducible reprints, a poster and guide are also included. (16 minutes) Grades 7-12.

  • Tsvi Nussbaum: A Boy from Warsaw. This videocassette recounts the story of Tsvi Nussbaum, the boy from the infamous photograph taken in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943. How Tsvi came to the ghetto, his life there, and how he feels today about his experience are chronicled. (50 minutes) Grades 10-12. Ergo Media.

  • The Warsaw Ghetto. This videocassette documents the Warsaw Ghetto through still and motion pictures taken by cameramen of the German army, and narrated by Warsaw Ghetto survivor Alexander Bernfes. (51 minutes) Grades 6-12. BBC.

  Lesson Plans from the Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust

  Anne Frank (1). Students create timelines of Anne Frank's life and history.

  Anne Frank (2). Student activities from the Anne Frank Center USA.

  Class Memorial. Students plan and conduct a memorial service commemorating the victims of the Holocaust.

  David Olère. Students analyze the artworks of David Olère and compare them to Holocaust photographs on the site.

  Diaries. Students explore the differences between Holocaust diaries and memoirs before creating their own diary.

  The Final Solution. This student activity is designed to familiarize students with the evolution of antisemitism, to acquaint them with the political ideology of Nazism, to develop empathy for Nazi Victims and their fate, and to assess responsibility.

  In the Lead. Students discuss the questions raised by Valtr Eisinger in an article published in a Terezí ghetto magazine.

  Lesson Plans on Other Sites

  The Truth About Anne Frank is a twelve hour class outline available at the Cybrary.

  Teacher Workbook for the exhibit, Anne Frank in the World, 1929-1945, produced by the Friends of Anne Frank in Utah and the Intermountain West Region.

  The study guide accompanying "Hitler's Unwanted Children" included themes for class discussion on child euthanasia.

  Who are the Jews? A unit about the history, religion, and culture of the Jewish people from Gary M. Grobman's "The Holocaust--A Guide for Teachers."

  Florida Resource Manual on Holocaust Education

  The following materials from the State of Florida Resource Manual on Holocaust Education, Grades 9-12 will enrich your class's study of this topic. This manual was distributed to all Florida high schools in the spring of 1999 and should be available in your school resource center.

  Vocabulary	Unit 2	pages 5-6
  The Other Victims of the Nazis	Unit 2	pages 29-31
  Vocabulary	Unit 4	pages 5-6
  Content Overview	Unit 4	pages 7-14
  Suggested Activities	Unit 4	pages 15-16
  The New Colossus	Unit 4	pages 21
  Excerpts on Kristallnacht	Unit 4	pages 36-37
  Photographs	Unit 4	pages 43-51
  Testimonies	Unit 4	pages 55-79
  Vocabulary	Unit 5	page 7-8
  The Occupation of Warsaw	Unit 5	pages 24-28
  The Last March: August 6, 1942	Unit 5	pages 31-34
  Testimonies	Unit 5	pages 55-90
  Categories of Prisoners	Unit 6	pages 15-22
  Excerpt from Night	Unit 6	pages 29-34
  Children of the Holocaust	Unit 6	pages 35-36
  Children	Unit 6	pages 37-40
  Nazi Leadership	Unit 6	page 45
  Stars, Triangles, and Markings	Unit 6	pages 66-72
  Testimonies	Unit 6	pages 77-116
  Meeting Again	Unit 9	pages 62-64
  Photographs	Unit 9	page 69
  Victims of Hate Crime in America	Unit 10	pages 83-95

  
  

  

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  A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust
  Produced by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology,
  College of Education, University of South Florida © 1997-2013.