Raven' Beauties

Subject: Social Studies/Art Activity

Grade Levels: 6 through 12

Objectives:

• Students design a postage stamp to honor a the Women of Ravensbrück .
• Students identify women who have made a difference in the lives of oppressed peoples.
• Analyze why people commemorate others.
• Describe ways individuals can help others.

Sunshine State Standards:

• Grades 6-8
  • VA. A.1.3.1, 1.3.3
  • VA. B. 1.3.1, 1.3.2, 1.3.3
  • VA. C. 1.3.1, 1.3.2
  • VA. D. 1.3.3

• Grades 9-12
  • VA. A.1.4.1
  • VA. B.1.4.2, 1.4.3
  • VA. C. 1.4.1, 1.4.2
  • VA. D. 1.4.1, 1.4.2

View all Sunshine State Standards

Materials:

• Sketch pads
• Markers
• Bristol Board

Procedure:
Day One

Gallery section on The Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust

Review photographs taken on location. Introduce students to the Ravensbrück Concentration Camp for Women built in November 1938, in the Prussian village of Ravensbrück. Have students divide into groups, distribute topics for each group relating to:

• History of its establishment near the former Mecklenburg health resort Fürstenberg. The SS forced prisoners from Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp and other locations build the Ravensbrück Camp. In the spring of 1939, one thousand women were transferred from the Lichtenburg Concentration Camp, creating the only large women's designated camp. Ravensbrück added a men's camp in April 1941, and a Youth Camp in the summer of 1942.
• SS Headquarters - the central offices of the administration for the concentration camp. Today, exhibitions are on the first floor in the administration, library, information, and collections, with offices located in the ground floor.
• Camp Prison - which housed the concentration camp. Today there are commemorative cells of various nations and prisoner groups.
• Crematorium - and the gas chamber site.
• Wall of Nations - part of the original camp wall. The names of 20 countries represent the incarcerated and murdered prisoners.
• Bed of Roses - Jewish and Gypsy victims are commemorated here in a mass grave of memorial stones.
• Monument - Sculpture "Burdened Woman" by sculptor Will Lamert.
• Waterworks and garages - location of the camp's own waterworks, some of the original fixtures are preserved. Today this is used for special summer exhibits.
• Foundations of the kitchen and bath buildings - humiliating arrival site.
• The Infirmary - treatment for ill prisoners, and where doctors performed inhumane, brutal experiments on prisoners.
• Industry Yard - where prisoners had to perform forced labor.

Day Two
Photographs of the women of Ravensbrück.

Design a memorial postage stamp using one or more of the women.

Day Three
Finish stamps

Prepare for professional presentation

Day Four
Have each student explain the significance of his/her postage stamp and why they chose that person to honor.

Assessment:
The quality of the student's work can be assessed by :

• Peer and/or teacher review.
• Set up your classroom as a Holocaust Gallery and Museum.
• Constructive criticism of each other's work.
• Plan an exhibition for the school.
• Offer your work as a traveling show to other schools and art councils within the community.

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