Incorporating Literature

into the Study of the Holocaust

Pam GannonTeacher LibrarianSeptember 2007

The soul of man is a candle.

Proverbs 20:27

The “Whys”

“Our first task is comprehension, understanding what at first seems incomprehensible.”

Berenbaum, The World Must Know, p. 220.

Literature is a vehicle that can take us to that understanding.

The IncomprehensibleA Sample of Losses of Lives 2 our of 3 European Jews 9 out of 10 in

PolandLithuaniaLatviaCzechoslovakia

How to we comprehend that each number is a person without listening to their stories?

Considerations When Choosing Literature

• Goal or objective of lesson

• Age appropriate

• Readability

• Timing in the unit

• Choice of genre and form– Fiction vs. nonfiction selections

• Remember, a memoir is an individual’s memory of the events.

And…• Accuracy/authority

– Events true to location and time• Night Crossing by Karen Ackerman -- many inaccuracies ex. describes a nonexistent war between Austria and German, 1938

– Doesn’t romanticize events• Code Name Kris by Carol Matas

The Error of Omission– Doesn’t perpetuate stereotypes, misconceptions• Through simplistic writing, ex. The Children We Remember by Abells

“The Nazis hated the children because they were Jews.” (unpaginated)

Lacks sufficient information about antisemitism

Toten & Feinberg, Teaching and Understanding the Holocaust, p. 146.Watch for what isn’t

there

Lastly…• What gives you the “best bang for your buck”?

• Will the piece of writing encourage and lead students to examine their lives and world to see how the theme connects to themselves personally?

Starting Points

Key Concepts to understand

– Prejudice

– Stereotype

– Scapegoat

Activity

• Piece of scratch paper, fold “hot-dog” style, place fold on your right.

• Part 1 Number from 1-5• Turn paper• Label Part 2, and number 1-5

Scoring

Points Part 1 Part 2

0 Yes or no No

1 Yes or no Yes

2 Uncertain No

3 Uncertain Yes

Rankings• 15 - 19 Points Very open minded

honest, willing to study facts

• 10 - 14 Points Average

• 5 - 9 Points Likely to jump to conclusions

• 0 - 4 Points Very prone to prejudice;

easily influenced by others

Discussion of Prejudice

1. What does this very unscientific questionnaire teach us?

2. Can you really judge something if you have had little or no experience with it?

3. Can you think of a personal experience when judgments are made about others without knowing the individual?

4. How can we develop the habit of not being prejudice?

Other Kinds of Activities

• “The Hangman” (video or poem) by Maurice Ogden

• The Terrible Things by Eve

Bunting

• The Wave by Todd Strasser

Terrible Things Came for…

Came For Animal Excuse

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

DiscussAnswer the following questions:1. Since this is an allegory, what is a

lesson that it teaches?2. How does this story relate to the poems

“First They Came” or “The Hangman”?3. Put the lesson in today’s terms. What is

a dangerous “Terrible Thing” you see in teens’ lives today? How do you take the action described by Little Rabbit? In other words, how do you stand up to the “Terrible Thing”?

Teaching a Historic Topic in ELA

• Readers need historical knowledge

• Good Literature: a classic human experience woven together by an art of language

• Literature allows for a deeper understanding and respect

History = Faces with Facts

“The largest single difference between History and Fiction…is that each establishes quite different relationships between writer and subject, and writer and reader.”

Literature = Faces with Emotions

• Literature presents facts and people and events

• Can “pole-vault” one’s imagination into a world of increased understanding and self-reflection

• Enables readers to transfer empathy

Literature in Social Studies

• Framework – Introductory course– Time Constraints– Transmit information about broad periods of history

• Literature – Gives a face for the numbers/facts– Allows students to construct meaning of an event

Power of Literature• “Fiction and autobiography, if chosen judiciously, have the power to foster historical insight, knowledge, and understanding. By showing how the events of a previous age touched the lives of ordinary people, these forms of literature inject vitality into otherwise arid facts and thus help to excite and sustain historical interest.”

Short, Geoffrey, “Learning Through Literature: Historical Fiction, Autobiography, and the Holocaust.” Children’s Literature in Education. 1997.

Across Geographical Areasand Time Periods

• Events and stories in context of place and time– Ex. Hungary 1942 vs. 1945; invasion of Netherlands

• Balance of time periods, events– Ex. Concentration Camps only focus of Holocaust study

Across Time Periods• Pre-World War II -- 1920’s, early 1930’s– Often neglected study– Important for students to see normal lives of all citizens•Photo Activity: Pre-World War II European Jewish Life Photo Project–Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Exemplary Lessons initiative

1933-1939

Short Stories, Poem, Video

– Kristallnacht poem “Crystal Night” and survivor testimony on video•USHMM Survivor Testimonies

– Kurt Klein: America and the Holocaust: Deceit and Indifference

Compare the Experiences of Youth

– “The Ball” by Hans Peter Richter

from Frederich

– “Serving Mein Fuhrer” •Alfon Heck’s biography written by Eleanor Ayer

•Confessions of a Hitler Youth -- Emmy winning film in 1992

Kindertransport

Goodbye Marianne by Irene Kirstein Watts

Also authored Finding Sophie and Remember Me.

Kindertransport by Olga Levy Drucker

1939-1945

• Ghetto Island on Bird Street• Concentration Camps Night• Forced Marches All But My Life• Resistance Movements White Rose Society

The Man from the Other Side

• Hiding/Rescued Tak for Alt; Anne Frank

• Escape My Hundred Children by Lena Kuchler-Silberman

Post WW IIBoxes for Katje by Candace FlemingAnton the Dover Fancier by Bernard Gotfryd

“I don’t know how to teach literature.”

Always allow opportunity for – reflection– discussion– synthesis– comparison

…all higher thinking levels

Reflection• Night by Elie Wiesel

– Dialectic JournalQuestions

2 sentence summary

Response

Reading Strategies

• Most Important Word strategy

• Making Connections via sticky notes

• Four Corners activity

Synthesis

• What does it mean? So what?One way the character changed

Something that challenged you as a reader

Something you noticed

Something that was missing from the story

Comparison• Characterization of a main character– Elie Wiesel as a dynamic character in Night

• Orlev’s fictionalized autobiography of Island on Bird Street

•Compare novel to The Sandgame•Compare novel to the movie version

Good Literature…• Content and visuals in text appropriate, not overly graphic– One Yellow Daffodil

• Personalizes the statistics– Island on Bird Street

•Fosters empathy, compassion, and involvement

–The Devil in Vienna

In Addition…• Feature the Jewish experience, its diversity and the specifics ordinary life

Number the Stars by Joan Lowry Nixon

Friedrich by Hans Peter Richter

Good books• Brings students from the Holocaust era into the reassuring present, giving hope to the readers.– Gerda Weissmann Klein - All but My Life

• Challenges us to examine our lives– Elie Wiesel - Night

•Spoke to fight apathy and indifference

Resources• Not all resources are created equal

– USHMM: Annotated Bibliography Videography

USHMM: Teacher’s link

http://www.ushmm.org/education/foreducators/

Yad Vashem

http://www1.yadvashem.org/about_holocaust/bibliography/home_bibliography.html

•Bibliography

•Online sales

New Title: Rutka’s Notebook: January - April 1943

QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Holocaust Teacher Resource Center

•http://www.holocaust-trc.orgTak for Alt (Thanks for everything)

Judy Meisel’s story

QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Teacher Resource Center’s

Annotated Bibliography and guide to videos

Additional Book Lists

• What to Read and When to Read it: Part 1 and Part 2 (Dimensions: A Journal of Holocaust Studies by Karen Shawn)–An ADL publication, but not on their website

• Using Literature to Teach the Holocaust by Carol Danks, Regional Ed Corps

• Sydney Taylor Book Awards (Association of Jewish Libraries)

Can be found on my webpage http://lhs.lps.org/media

Caution!• Book Reviews, ex. Booklist

• Lists off websites -- libraries, educational resource pages

• Always apply what you know about teaching the Holocaust to your choices of materials. Your students depend on YOU.

Remember the Starfish

Become a reader and share your “finds” with other Holocaust Education Teachers.

Remember WHY we teach about the Holocaust…and the parable of the starfish.