Liberation and Return to Life

Subject: Social Studies

Grade Levels: 9 through 12

Objectives:

• to describe conditions in concentration camps
• to identify major war criminals and their crimes
• to explore legal responses to issues raised by the Holocaust
• to understand the perspective of a survivor and/or a liberator Sunshine State Standards:
  • Grades 9-12
    • SS.A.1.4.3, 3.4.9, 5.4.5
    • SS.C.1.4.1, 2.4.3
  View all Sunshine State Standards

  Materials:

  All materials are available through the Florida Holocaust Museum; St. Petersburg, Florida

  • State of Florida Resource Manual on Holocaust Education, Grades 9-12, 1999 (Please Note: One copy was sent to every high school in the State of Florida in June, 1999.)
  • Judgement at Nuremberg, video
  • Robert H. Jackson’s opening statement for the United States
  • Worksheet on Nuremberg War Crimes Trial
  Procedure:
  1. In small groups, have students read testimonies of survivors. (Unit 9 State of Florida Resource Guide) Provide time for sharing and discussion. Compare and Contrast different experiences.
  2. Describe some of the conditions liberators found upon entering the camps.
  3. Distribute p.33-34, Unit 9 of the State of Florida Resource Guide, An American Soldier Writes Home. Read and discuss. At the Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg, the introductory film shows Fred Friendly, reading this letter.
  4. Discuss why many died shortly after liberation.
  5. Investigate liberation. Have students find testimony from liberators and discuss their comments.
  6. What happened after liberation? In what ways were survivors affected by events of the Holocaust even after their liberation?
  7. Read Allied Documentation.
  8. Students consider the importance of documenting eyewitness testimony from survivors, liberators, and rescuers.
  9. Research the background of the Office of Special Investigations (OSI) in the Justice Department. This office has the task of identifying and deporting Nazi war criminals in the United States. Students should be able to find out how and when this office was established, as well as some of the ongoing current work they are involved with.
  10. Research the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials and complete the worksheet on the Trials. Students should read aloud and discuss the opening statement from the trial made by Robert Jackson, the Chief American Prosecutor. Discuss the reading. Students could research in pairs the charges against the 22 defendants.
  11. Invite a Holocaust survivor and liberator to the class to discuss their personal stories. This should be videotaped. Do this in individual class settings. Refer to recommended uses of survivors in a classroom. If no survivor is available, use video testimony. Testimony is available at the Florida Holocaust Museum.
  

  

  

  A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust
  Produced by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology,
  College of Education, University of South Florida ©2000.