Unit+5+-+The+Holocaust

=​Unit 5 - The Holocaust=

**Background:**

**--C.P. Snow** The start of WWII began with the German invasion of Poland in 1939. Under the cover of war, Hitler escalated his plans to rid Germany of “non-Aryans”. This unit will explore how the Nazis made genocide state policy. It will also consider the choices Germans and others made as the Nazis isolated, concentrated and ultimately murdered millions of children, women, and men. We will also examine how the international community responded to the growing violence against Jews. We will explore the actions and inactions of different countries and religious institutions which raised profound questions about the different levels of responsibility.
 * "When you think of the long and gloomy history of man, you find more hideous crimes have been committed in the name of obedience than have ever been committed in the name of rebellion." **


 * Essential Questions: **


 * How does language play a role in the planning of mass murder?
 * How does war make it easier to commit mass murder against innocent people?
 * How was the Holocaust humanly possible?
 * What difference does it make knowing identities and stories of individual victims of the Holocaust?
 * Why did individuals and nations fail to stop a genocide in the heart of Europe?


 *  Key Content The me s **
 * Steps to mass murder
 * Obeying orders
 * Choiceless choices
 * Bystanders and rescurers
 * International moral responsibilities

**Materials and Resources **

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On-line resource for Facing History and Ourselves, www.**facinghistory**.org/resources

Timeline on Web 1939-1945 provides historical framework – session 5

Reading 1, "Sanitary Language", text pgs. 309-310 Reading 3, "Reserve Police Battalion 101" text pgs. 313-316 Reading 6, “Obeying Orders” – text pgs. 321-322 Reading 14, "Auschwitz", text pgs. 343-349 - Holocaust Site from Yale, Connect to pictures Reading 16, Choiceless Choices - text pgs. 351-352 – Connect to Sophies’s Choice – “In Your Shoes”
 * The following readings are from Chapter Seven of the book, __Holocaust and Human Behavior__**

Reading 5 “From Bystanders to Resisters” text pgs. 373-375 Reading 19, “As the War Ended” Text – pg. 412 – Connection between testimony of Sonia Weitz and the memories of the American black soldier, Liberator video of Sonia Weitz's testimony and memories... Reading 12, Excerpts from Schindler’s List, text pges 393-396 video clips from Schinder's list
 * The following readings are from Chapter Eight of the book, __Holocaust and Human Behavior__**

[[file:Sanitary Language.doc]]
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Directions <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Read the German words and their literal meaning. Write what you think the Nazis really meant in the last column. Revise if necessary.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">**Euphemisms are used to distance oneself from an event, deny it, camouflage it, or trivialize it.** <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Georgia,serif;">
 * Answer the following questions:**

1. Compare the literal meaning with it’s actual meaning. What differences seem most striking? 2. How do these euphemisms reflect those goals in the Holocaust?

__Activity 2__ Rena Finder: [] Sonia Weitz: []

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Georgia,serif;">**Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks:** WHII.26: Describe the background, course, and consequences of the Holocaust, including its roots in the long tradition of Christian anti-Semitism, 19th century ideas about race and nation, and Nazi dehumanization of the Jews. (H)