The Holocaust
Driving Question: How did the world respond to Nazi atrocities?
As the victorious Allied armies marched across a defeated Germany, they uncovered evidence of horrific atrocities committed against Europe’s Jewish communities and several other groups. The Holocaust was the systematic murder of over six million Jews. The Nazi state also murdered millions more people who were prisoners of war, ethnic minorities, Roma, people with disabilities, and several other groups. The horrors of the Holocaust continue to haunt communities around the world today. In this lesson, we will explore how the history and memory of the Holocaust affects our world today.
- Understand and evaluate the causes, scale, and consequences of the Holocaust.
- Use quick-sourcing skills to understand how people experienced and responded to the Holocaust.
- Use a graphic biography as microhistory to support, extend, or challenge the overarching narratives of this period.
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Guiding Questions
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Note: For more detailed directions on completing the three close reads below, refer to the Three Close Reads – Introduction activity.
Skim
Before you read, you should quickly skim the article, by looking at the headings of each section and the charts. Read the questions below as well, so you know what to look for when you read!
Key Ideas
- In what ways did the Nazis kill their victims?
- What ideas did the Nazis use to create hostility towards Jewish people?
- What are some early ways in which the Nazis restricted Jewish rights?
- Why were Jewish pregnant women, children, and mothers particularly targeted for gassing?
- According to the author, many enslaved Jews worked in private companies and were killed by people who knew them. Why is this point important?
Evaluate
- In the article, the author argues, “We need to be on the lookout for when we, too, become “used to” the casual oppression of others, when our everyday compassion for people different from us disappears.” Can you think of examples from your own life or from your society of people getting “used to” bad treatment of others? Are there ways in which we can act to avoid repeating this kind of atrocity?
As you read the primary source excerpts in this collection, use the accompanying Quick-Sourcing Tool to guide your analysis.
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Guiding Questions
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Note: For more detailed directions on completing the three close reads below, refer to the Three Close Reads for Graphic Bios – Introduction activity.
Observe
Skim the full comic, paying attention to things like prominent colors, shapes, and types of text and fonts. How do you know where to start and which direction to read? What’s in the gutters (the space between panels)? Who is the focus of the comic? What big questions do you have?
Understand
- Where did Manuel Quezon live, and what was his position in 1935?
- Why did Quezon decide to admit 1,300 Jewish refugees in 1935?
- What evidence does the author provide that it was Quezon’s conscience that led him to accept refugees?
- The artist says that the cards on the table of the poker game represent “a paper wall” that restricted the ability of Jewish refugees to find a place to live. How does she use the art to signify that Quezon was moving that paper wall to the side?
Connect
- How does this biography of Quezon support, extend, or challenge what you have learned about the Holocaust and the atrocities of the Second World War?
Extension Materials
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Guiding Questions
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Note: For more detailed directions on completing the three close reads below, refer to the Three Close Reads – Introduction activity.
Skim
Before you read, you should quickly skim the article, by looking at the headings of each section and the charts. Read the questions below as well, so you know what to look for when you read!
Key Ideas
- What is the “paradox of human rights” and what is it about?
- What were the Nuremberg Trials?
- Why does the author argue that the Nuremberg Trials were something new?
- What were the Nuremberg Principles?
- How did the trials help lay the foundations for the development of human rights in the second half of the twentieth century?
Evaluate
- This article describes some important events in the expansion of what many call “the international community.” Considering the community frame narrative for this course, do you think there is such a thing as an “international community”? Why or why not?
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Guiding Questions
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Note: For more detailed directions on completing the three close reads below, refer to the Three Close Reads – Introduction activity.
Skim
Before you read, you should quickly skim the article, by looking at the headings of each section and the charts. Read the questions below as well, so you know what to look for when you read!
Key Ideas
- What was the purpose of Norman Lindsay’s Fight or Wait?
- What kinds of experiences are reflected in George Harding’s Traffic to Mont St. Pere and Ada Harrison’s New Year, 1916?
- How did the experiences of the First World War help lead to pieces such as Hannah Höch’s Cut with the Kitchen Knife and René Magritte’s La Trahison des Images?
- What was the purpose of Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will?
- In the post-war period, Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong demanded art that could unify people and fight the enemy. How does The Communist Party Mobilizes All Its Members to Practice Agriculture in Order to Fight for the Popularization of Dazhai County reflect Mao’s demand?
- By contrast, what was the message of Ibrahim El Salahi’s The Arising?
Evaluate
- The author argues that art is a mirror we hold up to society that helps us understand our ever-changing world. How does the art in this article support, extend, or challenge this argument?