e-Newsletter for Holocaust Educators

Welcome to the sixth issue of Teaching the Legacy, the e-newsletter of the International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem. This issue focuses on Holocaust poetry, and should be of particular interest to English language and literature teachers. The main article covers the subject of Holocaust poetry and its value in the classroom. Accompanying the article is a lesson plan on a specific poem – “Refugee Blues” by W.H. Auden. The e-newsletter also includes a section of book reviews, as well as updates on recent events and new services in the “What’s New” sections. We hope you will find this newsletter of interest and we look forward to your feedback.

This issue features:

• The Value of Holocaust Poetry in Education
• "The Human Spirit in the Shadow of Death": Central Theme for Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes Remembrance Day 2006
• Ceremonies
• Lesson Plans
• Book Reviews
• What’s New at Yad Vashem?
• What’s New at the International School for Holocaust Studies?

The Value of Holocaust Poetry in Education

This article will explore how poetry can be used by educators to teach and commemorate the Holocaust. The memory of the Holocaust has been invaluably enriched by poets providing us with a window into a period that for many students - and educators - is very difficult to grasp. Numerous Holocaust-related anthologies have been published in many languages in recent years, and these poems can often be an excellent educational resource.

"The Human Spirit in the Shadow of Death": Central Theme for Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes Remembrance Day 2006

World War II was a period almost devoid of morality, a time when human behavior reached an abyss. The first steps of racial discrimination and terror eventually evolved into a massive plan for total annihilation, leading to the destruction of six million Jewish victims, including one-and-a-half million children. In the midst of this dehumanizing thrust, we focus on cases in which Jews throughout Europe tried to preserve a shadow of human dignity by maintaining basic moral values.

For the full article, click here.

Ceremonies

Dear Diary, I Don't Want to Die for grades 10-12.
One-and-a-half million Jewish children were murdered in the Holocaust, the majority of them with no one to perpetuate their memory or even their names. This ceremony highlights excerpts from the diaries of three Jewish children, as well as poems and memoirs. In addition, it includes a selection of prayers that are appropriate for a religous ceremony.
For the ceremony, click here.

Remembering Liberation for grades 10-12.
Towards the end of World War II, advancing Allied forces from east and west began discovering first-hand the horrendous scope of Nazi atrocities - hundreds of concentration and extermination camps in which prisoners had been abused in every way imaginable. For those Jews still alive in these camps, liberation meant the end of a deadly, repressive, and nominal existence. However, for most prisoners, real celebration was impossible. Too much of their world, their friends and their loved ones had been destroyed. This ceremony focuses on the complexities of liberation: the shock of the Allied troops at what they saw, and the intermingled joy and deep grief of the rescued survivors.
For the ceremony, click here.

For additional ceremonies, click here.

Lesson plans

Teaching the Holocaust Through Poetry for grades 10-12.
The Holocaust occurred 65 years ago and reams have been written about it. Different disciplines have applied their approaches to try and understand the transgressive nature of this period in human history. We have written a lesson-plan focusing on a poem written by W.H. Auden, one of England’s leading poets at the time of the 2nd World War. The poem was written about half a year before the outbreak of the war and as such, it deals more with the problems of refugees than with ghettos and concentration camps. With great prescience, Auden raises the specter of the German-Jewish refugees that had become a factor on the international agenda since the mid-1930’s, and whose fate he addresses even before the war erupts.
For the lesson plan, click here.

For additional lesson plans, click here.

Book Reviews

In this issue, we continue to present reviews of new books printed in Israel and abroad. These reviews are designed to expose readers to useful new publications that otherwise might remain unknown.

1. The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations: Rescuers of Jews during the Holocaust in Poland, Israel Gutman, editor in chief (Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2005).

2. The Jews of Bohemia and Moravia. Facing the Holocaust. Livia Rothkirchen. (University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and Yad Vashem, 2005).  

For the book reviews, click here.

The Names Database: A Year Online – Since the Central Database of Shoah Victims’ Names was uploaded to the Internet in November 2004, over seven million people worldwide have visited the site and over 150,000 additional names and biographical details have been added to the Database. For more, click here.
The New Museum: Behind the Scenes – The new Holocaust History Museum displays 1,200 personal artifacts from the Yad Vashem collection. In addition to collecting new artifacts, the Museum also conducts background research on objects which maintain significance on both an individual and communal level. For more, click here.
New Exhibition: Montparnasse Déporté, The End of L’Ecole de Paris – In January, Yad Vashem’s new Exhibitions Pavilion opened its second exhibition, “Montparnasse Déporté” (Montparnasse Deported). The exhibition focuses on the lives of Jewish painters and sculptors who were persecuted and ultimately murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators. For more, click here.
Global Teaching; Dynamic Learning. The New Virtual School for Holocaust Studies – In September 2005, the new Virtual School for Holocaust Studies was launched online. The Virtual School is set to be the largest and most important interactive Holocaust education and learning center on the Internet today. The aim of the site is to provide concrete solutions to meet users’ needs, together with simple and clear orientation. For more, click here.
New Community Outreach Guide For Holocaust Remembrance -We are pleased to offer a new online community outreach guide to initiate local Names Recovery Campaigns. Packed with valuable resources and materials, this free guide will enable Jewish communities to plan and implement meaningful memorial programs, names collection events and related activities around Yom Hashoah - Israel’s national Holocaust Remembrance Day (this year, 25 April) and other significant dates in the Jewish calendar, such as 10th Tevet, 17th Tammuz, 9th Av, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. For more, click here.

The International School for Holocaust Studies continues to run a variety of programs and educational activities. We have launched a new website dedicated to Yom Hashoah - the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day - including interdisciplinary ceremonies, lesson plans, testimonies and more. Also, we've begun offering an online course on the Holocaust, providing an extensive background to central facets of Holocaust history. In February, the ICHEIC International Forum took place at the School, and photographs have been added to our photo gallery. In early March, we conducted a videoconference with a US World War II veteran who had liberated a Nazi concentration camp, as part of our ongoing videoconferencing service. The School recently published guides for those embarking on a journey to Poland, in two new languages: French and Spanish.
For more, click here.

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