Time

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Lesson One

Overview

The Holocaust was not a single event, with a single group of victims. Multiple events spanned across multiple theaters of atrocity in Eastern Europe. Whether or not your class is visiting the Oregon Holocaust Museum in person, it is paramount that your students envision a chronological framework of the Holocaust from which they can synthesize all of the concepts we have curated into a sensitive and informed perspective.

Objective

Students will:

  • Scaffold towards respectful and deliberate participation in class discussions.
  • Contextualize a chronological  snapshot of the significant events during the Holocaust through the lens of two specific categories: Hitler’s rise and fall and the targeting of groups.
  • Develop vocabulary.
  • Develop oral and written skills reflection skills.

Materials

  • Overhead Projector.
  • Distributed “snippets” of our Holocaust timeline events list.
  • Access to our Holocaust timeline.
  • Digital/ handwritten materials to record student reflections.

Directions

  1. Activate Prior Knowledge:
    Prompt students to raise their hands to provide certain events that might be significant through the lens of the Holocaust. Ask these students to categorize their event as falling under the category of “Hitler’s Rise and Fall”, or “Targeting of Groups.”
  2. Distribute Timeline Events:
    There are 36 events on our Holocaust timeline. Here, you will find a PDF of all of the timeline events. You can either copy/paster the text or print the PDF and cut by hand then randomly distribute to students.
  3. Flip through the Holocaust timeline:
    The instructor progresses through the timeline on an overhead projector. For each the event on the timeline, the student with the corresponding event in hand stand up and reads it to the class. The instructor prompts each student to hypothesize on which category this particular event be sorted. The instructor should fill in the gaps if there are not enough students for each event.
  4. Reflection : As an exit ticket, students reflect on how their event relates to the larger timeline as a whole.

Lesson Two

  • Students put into work groups.
  • They will be given supplies that consist of butcher paper and markers.
  • Each group will be given a series of events falling under specific categories:
    • Laws passed targeting specific groups.
    • Rise and fall of Hitler
    • Concentration and labor camps
  • They will create a timeline of these events on their paper and explain (in writing on their posters) why the event falls under their specific category or the connection to the previous event.
  • Students will present their posters to the class when they are finished (they can be presented in consecutive order).
  • These posters will be on display for the entirety of the unit.
  • After students complete and present their posters, they can individually complete this assessment on responsibility towards the Holocaust using this handout from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.