Possible applications of a Unit on the Holocaust to the Idaho Social Studies Standards
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/>

    The social studies standards are organized around the three (3) social studies courses currently required by the state of Idaho for high school graduation. These fields of study are economics (one (1) credit), U.S. History (two(2) credits), and government (two (2) credits). Standards for Critical Thinking and Analytical Skills as well as standards for Evolution of Democracy are listed separately and intended to apply to all social studies courses.

    As seen form this introduction and when one reads the specific social studies standards for Idaho, the standards are stated to U.S. history, economics, and government. Still, a unit on the Holocaust can fit many of the standards set for the state of Idaho.

301. Critical Thinking and Analytical Skills.
The student will: 01. Acquire critical thinking and analytical skills.

   In the study of the Holocaust, multiple sources are available for the teacher to direct students toward. Questions of how and why, questions of interpretation such as who did what, who knew what when, questions of reactions of victims, etc. . all can be formulated with the vast availability of primary sources and secondary sources that range from personal testimony of survivors, to photographic archives, to diaries and memoirs, to the records of the period, to historians' interpretations.

   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.

302. Evolution of Democracy.
The student will: 01. Understand the evolution of democracy.

   In the study of the Holocaust the student can understand what happens when parliamentary democratic institutions fail.

311. to 314. Economics
(All standards are placed together below.)
The student will: Understand basic economic concepts. Understand the concept of money. Understand there are many influences on economic systems. Know the different types of economic institutions and understand how they differ from one another.

    Students will be faced with the antithesis of economic principles to be learned. With the Holocaust the economics of production, transportation, and consumption are present. However: 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's to death camps are to be faced. The economics of the death camps themselves serves an example of what happens when civilized morals become wrapped.

321. to 325. Government/Civics
(Several of the government/civics standards are placed together below)
The student will: Understand the relationship between civic life, politics, and government. Understand the foundations and principles of the American political system. Understand the organization and formation of the American system of government. Understand that all citizens of the United States have responsibilities and rights.

   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. The Holocaust can be incorporated into a study of government in order to demonstrate how the development of public policy can become directed to genocide ends when dissent and debate are silenced. Inclusion of Holocaust studies in a government course helps students: compare governmental systems. study the process of how a state can degenerate from a democracy into a totalitarian state. examine how the development of public policy can lead to genocide ends. examine the role of Nazi bureaucracy in implementing policies of murder and annihilation. examine the role of various individuals in the rise and fall of a totalitarian government. recognize that among the legacies of the Holocaust have been the creation of Human Rights organizations and declarations.

331 to 335 United States History
(The United States History standards that apply to the Holocaust are used below.)
The student will: Understand the role of migration and immigration of people in the development of the United States. Understand significant conflicts in United States history. Understand the cultural and social development of the United States.

    Including a study of the Holocaust into a U.S. history course can encourage students to:
 •examine the dilemmas that arise when foreign policy goals are narrowly defined, as solely in terms of the national   interest, denying the validity of universal moral and human priorities.
•understand what happens when parliamentary democratic institutions fail.
•examine the responses of governmental and non-governmental organizations in the United States to the plight of Holocaust victims.
•explore the role of American soldiers in liberating victims from Nazi concentration camps and killing centers.          •examine the key role played by the U.S. in bringing Nazi perpetrators to trial at Nuremberg and in other war crimes trials. •understand the consequences of mass murder. Example: The attitude of the United States government to the anti-Semitism before 1939; the inaction's and actions of the United States government during the war; the immigration of survivors to the United States in the post war period.