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Possible Applications of a Unit on the Holocaust to "Social Studies: Ohio's Model Competency-Based Program. |
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| 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/> | |
Ohio's Model Competency-Based Program is process oriented. Course sequence is largely left to the local districts. A unit on the Holocaust could fit into American studies or world studies at most any level 9-12 depending on the local district's course sequence. The applications for Holocaust studies that are made herein are given for the six strands that apply to all grade levels. Specific instructional objectives will not be stated; however, the applications to Holocaust studies do apply to many of those stated instructional objects in the upper grade levels.
American Heritage
The American Heritage strand refers to those aspects of the
past that help to make the American people unique among the peoples of
the world while at the same time recognizing what we hold in common with
other people. What is it that makes us Americans? What common experiences,
traditions, and habits do we share? How have we been shaped by the geography
of the United States and by its political and economic systems? How have
we been influenced by other cultures?
The Holocaust in Europe during the 1939-1945 War has become an American story. Americans were among the bystanders from 1933 to 1945. Americans were among the liberators in 1945. Survivors and their decedents have become American citizens.
Studying the Holocaust can lead students to examine the dilemma of American foreign policy at that time. Should it have been narrowly defined in winning the war, or should it have had moral and human priorities. (e.g., the Evian Conference, the Wagner-Rogers bill, the voyage of the S.S.St.Louis, the decision not to bomb near Auschwitz. In the post war period, the actions of the United States government towards both victims and some former Nazi Party members.)
Studying the Holocaust can lead students to examine the failure and fall of a democratic government, thus leading them to examine what it will take to make the democracy in America to continue.
Social studies skills stated in the objective of this strand would definitely be utilized by a study of the Holocaust.
•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.
•The Holocaust is one of the major events of the modern period that has had its effects on the world and the United States. The event must be fully analyzed to comprehend that effect from what it did to the culture of the Jewish peoples, to the culture of Europe, to the impact on the United States.
•In the study of the Holocaust, multiple sources are available that the teacher can make available for the student. 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 the arts and literature, to historians interpretations.
•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. The Holocaust created unnatural environments. Students will become aware of how humans modified and responded to the horrors they faced: racial laws, ghettos, camps.
People in Societies
The People in Societies strand recognizes that the United States
and the world encompass many different racial, ethnic, and religious groups.
It also recognizes that factors such as gender and class provide people
with different perspectives on on issues. In the United States, all of
these groups live together in one society. How do we come to appreciate
the contributions of each other: How do we learn to work together for the
common good?
Applying a study of the Holocaust to this strand is easily done and yet can lead to complex situations. A look at the anti-Semitism within this nation and in Europe before 1939 is to be compared and studied. The actions of a government and society that carried out genocide is to be studied. The consequences of the mass murders in the post 1945 world is to be realized: from the founding of the United Nations, to the Declaration of Human Rights, to the center of Jewish culture no longer in East Europe, but now in Israel and the United States. In a study of the Holocaust the basic tenets of Christianity and Judaism should be understood. These both are part of the history of the Holocaust as a student studies the issue of anti-Semitism. Music and the arts of the perpetrators and victims can help students understand the cultures of the people of Europe at the time of the Holocaust. Analysis of Nazi racial doctrine and how it moved from racial laws to the "final solution" is to be made. The shift of the center of Jewish culture from eastern Europe to Israel and the United States as a result of the Holocaust is to be understood.
World Interactions
The United States has never been completely isolated from the rest
of the world, but its interactions with other nations have increased dramatically
in recent decades. Economic, cultural, and intellectual contacts as well
as political contacts are made daily through activities such as financing,
tourism, reporting, and diplomacy. Some contacts may be intentional, such
as cultural exchanges, and others may be unintended, such as the spread
of disease. The World Interactions strand explores the links people
make around the world as they attempt to address common problems. How do
activities here create or reflect contacts with the rest of the world?
How do we respond to the challenges of acting in an interdependent world?
Directly related to World Interactions would be a study of the international relations, economic situations, geographic realities of the nations of the world in the decades preceding the outbreak of World War II. The economic, cultural, and social realities of the Nazi occupied areas of Europe during the war are to be studied. (Some examples 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 transportations to death camps are to be faced. The economics of the ghettos and the death camps themselves serves as an example of what happens when civilized morals become warped.) In the post World War II world, the effects of the Holocaust are to be explored such as Human Rights.
Decision Making and Resources
The Decision Making and resources strand focuses on decisions
individuals and societies make in addressing wants. What are potential
resources and where are they to be found? How are resources utilized and
transformed to satisfy wants? What constraints or directions exist when
making decisions?
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 transportations to death camps are to be faced. The economics of the ghettos and the death camps themselves serves as an example of what happens when civilized morals become warped. The policies of governments in the post World War I, Versailles Treaty era can show students how the economy in Germany led to the rise of Hitler .
Democratic Processes
As Americans, we celebrate the fact that we live in a democratic society.
But what does that mean? The Democratic Process strand examines
the principle of democracy and explores the extent to which governments
reflect those principles. What are the purposes of government: How should
a democratic government strive to accomplish those ends? How well do the
practicalities of governing in the United States reflect the challenges
of democratic rule?
Citizenship Rights and Responsibilities
Finally, the strand of Citizenship Rights and Responsibilities provides
a context for examining and engaging in those activities that are part
of an adult's public life. How do we work together to accomplish common
ends? How can an individual be more effective in a public setting? Why
is one's involvement in public affairs important in a democratic society?
The study of the Holocaust is the antithesis of the stated strands of Democratic Processes and Citizenship Rights and Responsibilities.
The Holocaust can be incorporated into a study of government in order to demonstrate how the development of public policy can become directed to genocidal ends when dissent and debate are silenced. Inclusion of Holocaust studies in a government or a history 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 genocidal 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, and recognize that among the legacies of the Holocaust have been the creation of Human Rights organizations and declarations.
Inclusion of a study of the Holocaust into a U.S. history or a U.S. government 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 and actions of the United States government during the war; the immigration of survivors to the United States in the post war period..