Educational Materials for Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day - Yom Hashoah

Introduction
"The Human Spirit in the Shadow of Death": Central Theme for Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes Remembrance Day 2006
Ceremonies
Lesson Plans
Yad Vashem's Central Site Marking Holocaust Remembrance Day
Guidelines for Holocaust Commemoration in English, French, Russian, Flemish, Italian
Names for Name Reading Ceremonies
Video Testimonies
Material from the Holocaust Resource Center
Online Exhibitions

Introduction

This site is dedicated to Yom Hashoah – the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day, which this year is observed on April 25, 2006. This year's annual theme, “The Human Spirit in the Shadow of Death”, has been highlighted in the resources provided below.

Featured on this site is a ceremony on children in the Holocaust. This ceremony explores the human aspect of the lives of children who perished in the Holocaust, including diary entries, poems and prayers.

Another ceremony is provided on the subject of liberation, expounding on the mixed relief and anguish of survivors at the end of the war, the shock of the Allied soldiers, and the mental scars worn by survivors for years afterwards. Several video testimonies touching on this theme have been interwoven.

The site also presents a lesson-plan for grades 10-12 on British poet W.H. Auden’s poem, “Refugee Blues” which focuses on the fate of German Jewish refugees even before the outbreak of World War II. In addition, two online art exhibitions “Private Tolkachev at the Gates of Hell”, highlighting canvasses he was inspired to paint on liberating Auschwitz and Majdanek, and a selection of works from Yad Vashem’s art museum can be found.

"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. The poem can be found in many compilations of world poetry.
For the lesson plan, click here.

For additional lesson plans, click here.

Guidelines for Holocaust Commemoration

These draft guidelines on preparing Holocaust Memorial Day have been developed by Yad Vashem and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights in an effort to help support educators who are interested in developing programs, ceremonies and lesson plans connected with Holocaust Remembrance Days in their respective countries. This provisional version of the guidelines, including various examples and educational strategies, is currently in draft form.

For Guidelines in English, click here.
For Guidelines in French, click here.
For Guidelines in Russian, click here.
For Guidelines in Flemish, click here.
For Guidelines in Italian, click here.

Names for Name Reading Ceremonies

Presented here is a link to a list of names of people who perished in the Holocaust and are registered on Pages of Testimony in Yad Vashem's Hall of Names.
Please note that this list of names was prepared for use in commemorative ceremonies and represents only a fraction of the victims' names actually registered in Yad Vashem.

To download the list, click here.

Video Testimonies

• Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum Films Collection
• Torchlighters' Testimonies from Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day, 2005