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Building Background for a Holocaust Inquiry an activity for middle and high school researchers
Courtesy of The FactCite Team Mary Boyd Ratzer, MLS, Consultant
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© 2017 by Lincoln Library Press, Inc. 812 Huron Road E. Ste. 401, Cleveland, OH 44115 (800) 516-2656 • (216) 781-9559 fax www.TheLincolnLibrary.com Curriculum area: Holocaust studies Assignment: Holocaust Inquiry Created by: The FactCite Team Description This activity was created to support research on the Holocaust using the FactCite American History module on The Holocaust. http://www.factcite.com/useh/Holocaust.html For this activity, students can work in groups or individually. Students begin by selecting one of the four following research topics: Topic 1: Nazi Germany Topic 2: Concentration Camps Topic 3: Ghettos and Civil Rights Topic 4: Resistance Reading closely and with a purpose, student researchers select Factcite articles related to these topics, building background knowledge of the Holocaust. Student researchers then collaborate and generate responses to supporting questions in their section, using FactCite texts. The students should use the graphic organizer to report their findings and indicate the sources used for their research. Once the researchers have finished the articles and graphic organizer, they will discuss their discoveries with the class or in small groups. The goal of the assignment is to have students focus on a specific topic to investigate fully. The final presentation or discussion is a way for the students, who have now become experts in their topic, to share with the class what they find most important for their peers to know. ff Holocaust Teacher Capsule for Inquiry
Compelling History of the Holocaust Content C3 Social Studies Time, Continuity, and Change Practices Power, Authority, and Governance Culture Instructional Focus Conceptual understanding and key ideas Questioning and question development Essential question Manipulation, application, and use of detail Student centered process including choices and voice Connections to real world and prior knowledge Engagement through meaning, empathy, primary texts Evidence based claims and arguments Sequence of changes leading to crisis Multiple perspectives Analysis of Facts, information, perceptions, opinions, emotions Main ideas and subordinate details analyzed Synthesis of multiple sources of information Original conclusions supported by carefully evaluated texts Collaborative process with peer review Authentic and performance based assessment Shared final products with meaningful audience Civic action beyond the school as a capstone Inquiry launches Causes and consequences of events, decisions, and actions Values and beliefs as context for institutions Individual or group resistance or opposition Individuals and groups that shaped historical change Role of power, control, and law in Holocaust Man’s inhumanity to man Concentration Camps Photographs, matrix events, compelling individuals Language influencing assumptions and institutions Political and governmental structure of power Data and the legacy of the Holocaust Dictatorship Racism and antisemitism Genocide as a pattern in history Memorial strategies Persecution and murder Liberation Post-War Trials Knowledge Role play of post-war trial Products Debate the inevitability of Holocausts and genocide Evidence based claims Arguments based on evidence Speeches Letters, blogs Visual, artistic creative works iMovies, video, Adobe Voice Portfolios Forums to share conclusions in a setting of critical engagement Civic action Assessment Formative assessment using graphic organizers and coaching to improve performance, conferencing, self-assessment Summative assessment using rubrics, criterion referenced and customized for a variety of product choices, emphasis on content, depth of knowledge, critical thinking, and communication Reflection Metacognitive strategies implemented for analysis of strengths and weaknesses Assignment
Enter the FactCite American History database. At the top of the database you’ll see the ‘Popular Topics’ section. From there click The Holocaust icon.
We have grouped articles from this module under four topics. Topic 1: Nazi Germany Topic 2: Concentration Camps Topic 3: Ghettos and Rights Topic 4: Resistance Pick a topic and read the articles listed. Next, use the graphic organizer to gather evidence from texts to support the conclusions you have reached. As you complete the assignment be prepared to discuss your findings with your classmates. Use your background knowledge of the Holocaust to choose a meaningful question for inquiry based research. Topic 1: Nazi Germany Articles to read: “Holocaust”, “Third Reich”, “Gestapo”, “Nazi Movement”, “Hitler Youth”, and “Adolf Hitler,” a biography. Questions 1. How did the SS and Gestapo control enemies of the German State? 2. Why was the Nazi Government called the Third Reich? 3. Why did the German Nazi Government adopt their “final solution” to exterminate Jews? 4. How did the Hitler Youth connect young Germans to the Nazi party? Topic 2: Concentration Camps Articles to read: “Nazi Concentration Camps”, “Auschwitz-Birkenau”, and “Euthanasia Centers”. (Additional articles: “Bergen-Belsen”, “Buchenwald”, and “Dachau”) Questions 1. Why were concentration camps created in Nazi Germany? 2. How did euthanasia centers contribute to a pure Aryan Race? 3. Why did the German belief in a “master race” ‘have consequences for those considered “inferiors” or subhumans in Nazi Germany? 4. How did concentration camps cause deprivation, suffering, and death for Jews?
Topic 3: Ghettos and Civil Rights Articles to read: “Warsaw Ghetto”, “Nuremberg Laws”, “Kristallnacht”, and the primary source documents titled “Order Restricting Civil Rights” and “Kristallnacht Bulletin.” Questions 1. How did anti-Semitism strip the Jews of their civil rights? 2. Why did the Nuremberg laws deny German Jews of their basic rights? 3. How did Jewish ghettos further the Nazi agenda? 4. How did Kristallnacht affect German Jews? Topic 4: Resistance Articles to read: “Warsaw Ghetto”, “Sonderkommando Revolt”, “Oskar Schindler,” and “Hans von Dohnanyi,” both biographies. Questions 1. How did Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto demonstrate desperation? 2. How did gentile heroes save Jews marked for death? 3. What do the revolts, such as the Sonderkommando Revolt, show about the individuals imprisoned within the concentration camps? 4. How did these resistances affect and undermine the Nazi agenda? Gathering Evidence for a Holocaust Inquiry Topic number:
Use this graphic organizer and the questions provided to you to lay out your discoveries. Question 1 Evidence Sources
Conclusions
Question 2 Evidence Sources
Conclusions Question 3 Evidence Sources
Conclusions
Question 4 Evidence Sources
Conclusions
Possible questions for an inquiry about the Holocaust? Holocaust and the Arc of Inquiry College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics, Economics, Geography, and History What does the past mean? Big questions lead to deep understanding: Historical Thinking Connections to my world Connection to the Holocaust
How can we draw conclusions from what is preserved from the past? What if the past is forgotten?
How can assumptions, language, and thinking trigger historical events or long term change? How do historical events and developments have causes and consequences? How are institutions like governments influenced by values and beliefs? How do institutions control and influence places and people?
How do organizations embody core social values?
How do individual groups shape historical change?
How do the powers of laws shape people’s lives?
How do structures of power develop in nations or communities? How do circumstances of time and place influence people’s lives? How do influences affect perspectives?
How do perspectives shape historical sources?
Why are connections among people, events, and circumstances important? How does language cause people to behave the way they do?
How can different perspectives occur in the same place and time? How do heroes emerge out of crisis?
Why do values and beliefs drive opposition and resistance to evil?
How do assumptions influence human actions and events?
How do the origin, purpose, and laws determine history?
Why do patterns of historical events recur over time?