Tragic events of the past change how we act in the future. In the past 100 years, a few notably tragic events have changed history forever.
One of these events was the Holocaust, the genocide of millions of European Jews during the 1940s. If you’re a teacher, these are some ways you can properly observe Holocaust remembrance with your students.
Testimonials
A standard course about World War II will often go over the basic facts about the events known as the Holocaust, however, students might not really get the full picture of the scope and depth of the suffering until they listen to survivors talk about it from first hand experiences.
Audio and video testimonials from Holocaust survivors have been some of the most informative and haunting materials available for students to learn from. When teaching Holocaust remembrance, it’s a good idea to present multiple testimonials to your students.
Timeline
Many people understand what happened during the Holocaust in the most general sense. However, not everyone understands exactly how something like this could have happened in Germany, and most importantly, how something like this could happen again in the future.
You should find an online curriculum that can teach all of the events that led to the disasters of the Holocaust. This can include Hitler’s speeches, how European Jews were forced to wear patches, etc. But even more informative are discussions about the deeper causative factors related to Jewish integration into European society over the course of generations.
Holocaust Education
It’s clear that the events of the Holocaust must never happen again. Teachers must do the best they can at conveying how brutal the events were for millions of people and how these atrocities were carried out by everyday German citizens not so different from you and me.
The ZACHOR Holocaust Remembrance Foundation is a non profit foundation that has been formed by holocaust survivor Ben Lesser for the purpose of helping to educate children of all ages about these events.
Go to https://zachorlearn.org to access quality Holocaust educations materials.
