Possible Applications of a Unit on the Holocaust to the Florida Social Studies Standards, Grades 9-12
A Color Key: Blue:  A link to the USHMM teacher’s guide web page. Black: Directly quoting a state’s social studies standard. Red:  The correlation of studying the Holocaust to the standards. Brown:  Other information.		If a secondary teacher would decide to teach a unit on the Holocaust, it would be highly recommended to first read "Guidelines for Teaching about the Holocaust" created by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum which can be found at <http://www.ushmm.org/education/foreducators/>

Time, Continuity, and Change [History]
Standard 1: The student understands historical chronology and the historical perspective.

    In Holocaust Studies a complete understanding of the chronology of events is an absolute must. One must take the student back to the origins of anti-Semitism, the development of racial theories in all corners of the world including the United States. The time line of events in the 1930s and 1940s is to be completely understood. If a teacher centers in on an individual's story in the Holocaust, the context of that story in time is a must. If a teacher assigns research to a specific person or event, the context of the time is to be understood. Primary and secondary sources are abundant for the teacher to guide the student toward. Stories of survivors, documents, historians analysis, can lead the student to study interpretations and to make interpretations. Example: How have historians in Israel and historians in the United States over the decades differed on how the Holocaust has affected the post war world.

Standard 2: The student understands the world from its beginnings to the time of the Renaissance.

    This standard can be touch on with the development of anti-Semitism in the Middle Ages. The student can understand of the developments of Judaism in this time period with its social, cultural, economic contributions to the Western world. The student can analyze the ebb and flow of Jewish migration across the Mediterranean and European geographic setting.

Standard 3: The student understands Western and Eastern civilization since the time of the Renaissance.

    This standard can lead the student to the understanding of the anti-Semitism in the Reformation, the Jewish contributions to the Enlightenment, the Jewish culture of Eastern Europe that existed until World War II. The student can analyze the connection of the mind set of the Industrial Revolution and how it translated to industrialize murder of the Holocaust. The story of the Holocaust itself is an important part of this standard.

Standard 4: The student understands U.S. history to 1880.

    When studying the Holocaust the student is to be aware of the developments in U.S. history that have led to a free social, political, economic system that requires responsibilities and participation.

    The Holocaust is a major part of events of the world and United States in the twentieth century. The leading into the events of mass murder and the consequences of mass murder are to be understood. Example: The attitude of the United States government to the anti-Semitism before 1939; the inaction and actions of the United States government during the war; the immigration of survivors to the United States and the state of Delaware in the post war period.
 

    Holocaust studies require the knowledge of and use of maps: The chronology of war fronts, the location of the various types of camps, the transportation systems, etc. . The maps of camps are needed to understand how they operated and for what purpose. The maps of ghettos are needed to understand the events that occurred in the ghettos.

Standard 2: The student understands the interaction of people and the physical environment.

    The Holocaust created unnatural environments. Students will become aware of how humans modified and responded to the horrors they faced: racial laws, ghettos, camps.

Government and the Citizen [Civics and Government]
Standard 1: The student understands the structure, functions, and purposes of government and how the principles and values of American democracy are reflected in American constitutional government.
and
Standard 2: The student understands the role of the citizen in American democracy.

    Study of the Holocaust in grades 9-12 is the study of the antithesis of these standards in civics and government. Students need to realize what can happen when the people of a nation are not free. Holocaust studies can motivate a student to realize the importance of understanding the principles and ideals of the American government; the responsibilities, rights and privileges of citizenship. Holocaust studies can motivate a student to participate fully as a citizen of a free society.

Economics
Standard 1: The student understands how scarcity requires individuals and institutions to make choices about how to use resources.
and
Standard 2: The student understands the characteristics of different economic systems and institutions.

    In studying the Holocaust and Europe of World War II, students are faced with the economics of the Nazi regime and their wartime production. This included mass use of slave labor. Questions of transportation of war supplies and human transportation to death camps are to be faced. The economics of the death camps themselves serves an example of what happens when civilized morals become warped.