Lessons From The Holocaust

To destroy a man is difficult, almost as difficult as to create one: it has not been easy or quick, but you Germans have succeeded. Here we are, docile under your gaze; from our side you have nothing more to fear; no acts of violence, no words of defiance, not even a look of judgment. --Primo Levi, p. 136

Overview of Historical Concepts

1. The World Between the Wars
   1. The Treaty of Versailles
   2. The 1920s
   3. Onset of the Depression
       
2. Germany Between the Wars
   1. The Weimar Republic
   2. Hitler's Rise to Power
      1. National Socialism
      2. Appeal to the Masses
      3. Rise of the Third Reich
      4. The Politics of Hate/Pre-War Nazi Germany
3. History of Anti-Semitism
    
4. The Holocaust
   1. The Nuremberg Laws
   2. Isolation
   3. The Ghettos 1939 -1945
   4. Concentration and Death
      1. Work Camps
      2. Concentration Camps
      3. The Final Solution
5. Resistance
    
6. Bystanders and Rescuers 1938 - 1945
   1. No Safe Haven
   2. Jews in Hiding
   3. Rescuers
      1. Denmark
      2. The United States
      3. Righteous Gentiles
7. Liberation
    
8. Survivors - The most effective tools in teaching the Holocaust are the survivors who bring the Holocaust to life. Oral history testimonies are a vital link to the past. My students need that connection that lets them know that the Holocaust is not just statistics, but an event that happened to real people.
    
9. Echoes of the Holocaust
   1. War Crimes Trials
      1. Declaration of Human Rights
      2. Effects on the future
      3. Remembering
      4. Rise of the State of Israel
      5. Lessons for our time
      6. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Days of Remembrance

1997 - May 4, Sunday
1998 - April 23, Thursday
1999 - April 13, Tuesday
2000 - May 2, Tuesday