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VIRGINIA HOLOCAUST MUSEUM TEACHER MANUAL 2000 East Cary Street Richmond, Virginia 23223 (804) 257-5400 FAX (804) 257-4314 e-mail: [email protected] website: www.va-holocaust.com 2 VIRGINIA HOLOCAUST MUSEUM TEACHER MANUAL Vol. II Revised 2008 Editors and Advisory Committee Jay Weinberg I.N. Sporn Randolph Bell Charles Becker Rena Berlin, Director of Education Timothy Hensley, Librarian Laura Murphy, Director of Guest Services Susie Levin, Lesson Plan Editor Suzanne C. Zaremba, Lesson Plan Editor The Original Virginia Holocaust Teacher’s Manual was made possible because of the many volunteer hours donated by Patty O’Connor, Dianna Gabay and Nancy Wright Beasley 3 Copyright © 2005 Virginia Holocaust Museum All Rights Reserved. Material in this manual may be reproduced for the purposes of research, environmental information, and educational activities. Any use of the materials for other purposes, including for all commercially related activities, requires permission in writing from authors and custodians. Any use of material from this manual must acknowledge the holder of copyright. 4 The Rationale for and the Meaning of The Virginia Holocaust Museum 2005 Though written in 2005 the Rationale for and Meaning of the Virginia Holocaust Museum continues to reflect the world situation today. In the shadow of the genocides of Rwanda and Darfur the Virginia Holocaust Museum continues to teach tolerance and acceptance to the students and teachers of the Commonwealth of Virginia. No one is born with prejudice. We learn it--from families, neighbors, friends, organizations, the media, our culture, society and even from our schools. Prejudice targets all sorts of distinctions--race, religion, nationality, age, gender, intelligence, socioeconomic level and affiliations, just to mention a few. Yet, such distinctions seldom have any real bearing on a person's worth. There are both good and bad individuals in all groups. We see prejudice in the form of terrorism that destroys lives. It is apparent in the strife of the Middle East, the unrest of Bosnia, the policies of China, the tribal wars of Africa, and we have witnessed it in the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. We even see it in the social unrest of the United States. Studies show that approximately “38 percent of adults and 53 percent of high school students”1 know little or nothing of the Holocaust and its victims. The Commonwealth of Virginia is the birthplace of Thomas Jefferson, who gave us the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. Yet, Virginia ranks eleventh among the 50 states in hate crimes. Seeing the true story of the Holocaust-- a hatred so fierce it destroyed more than 132 million men, women and children--helps us to learn a compelling lesson about the consequences that may result when prejudice festers and becomes maniacal and uncontrolled hatred. This atrocity annihilated at least 6 million Jews, which accounted for at least one third of all Jews in the world. What statistics cannot tell us is how many medical cures will not be discovered, how many books will not be written and how many families will not live for generations--because the Nazis killed so many scientists and authors as well as every member of untold numbers of families. The Virginia Holocaust Museum allows visitors to experience the terrible toll prejudice has taken on the human family. Those associated with the museum ask its visitors to make a conscious effort to avoid discrimination. If a person commits an unkind, unethical or unlawful act, consider carefully--as if it is an individual--and not a group--committing the act. If so, refer to the individual only as a person, not as a member of a particular race, religion, age, gender, intelligence, socioeconomic level or affiliation. Remember that the act reflects only the individual's values and worth. Losing one person pains us. Losing millions wounds the human race immeasurably. Because of that, the founders of the Virginia Holocaust Museum adopted “Tolerance through Education” as its mission statement. It is the hope of those associated with the museum that this education will defeat hatred and cultivate tolerance. 1 Golub, Jennifer and Renae Cohen. What Do Americans Know About the Holocaust? (New York: American Jewish Committee, 1993), 2. 2 Holocaust Chronicle. Publications International 2000.Illinois 5 The museum asks its visitors to fulfill Dr. Martin Luther King's dream of a world where each person is judged solely on the content of his or her character rather than by his or her ethnicity or affiliation. Remember that the human race's strength lies in its diversity, not its similarities. We must live, teach and practice tolerance. Our Contributors - The Names on the Walls During the 2007-2008 school year 34,000 school children visited the Virginia Holocaust Museum. The children fulfilled the Museum’s motto, “Teaching tolerance through education.” The museum teaches Holocaust education to students, teachers, and the public through the eyes of Jay Ipson and his family. By connecting the Holocaust to the lives of the Ipson’s we move the incomprehensible number of 6 million Jews, more than 133 million total people, down to the understandable number of one family; the mission of the museum is fulfilled by the people whose names are on our walls. From the opening of the museum in 1997 to the creation of the most recent exhibit, the Nuremberg Courtroom, there have been many, many people who have given their financial support, their time, their knowledge and their hearts to making this museum the center of Holocaust education in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The beneficiaries are the citizens of Virginia, who owe these people a great debt; without their contributions the history and personal testimony that teach us to remember would be forgotten. As you walk around the museum please take a few minutes to read the names on our walls and appreciate the commitment and dedication of these people to Holocaust education in Virginia. The Virginia Holocaust Museum continues to need support. Please consider becoming one of the names on our walls. 3 6 Narrative History of Holocaust In World War I, the Allies defeated the Central Powers. The Allied Forces consisted of Great Britain, France, Russia, Belgium, Italy, the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Serbia, South Africa, India, Rhodesia, Portugal, Romania, Montenegro, Greece and Poland. To end World War I, the Allies signed separate peace treaties with each of the Central Powers of Austria, Bulgaria, Germany and the Ottoman Empire (now Turkey). Among the Central Powers, Germany was the most prominent. The treaty with the Germans was the Treaty of Versailles. Its terms (considered by some historians to be especially harsh) required Germany to take sole responsibility for the war, return its conquered lands--thus reducing its size by an eighth and its farmlands by a sixth. Germany also had to reduce its merchant marine, abolish its navy, drastically reduce its army and pay tremendous reparations (compensation) to France and Belgium. The United States never signed the Treaty of Versailles. However, the European Allies did. After the First World War, the entire world endured the Great Depression. In Germany, as in the rest of the world, unemployment rates soared. To compound Germany's economic woes, it had to pay the heavy reparations demanded by the Treaty of Versailles. To pay its debts, the government printed large amounts of currency, leading to massive inflation. The National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP), or Nazis, began in 1919. It attracted the unemployed workers and militias largely composed of unemployed former enlisted men of the German army. Adolf Hitler, once a corporal, was one of its earliest members. A charismatic speaker, Hitler built a following quickly and assumed the leadership of the party. He led an unsuccessful attempt to seize the Bavarian government in what is known as the beer hall Putsch (pronounced Butch but with a P), or revolution, in Munich in 1923. For the attempted overthrow, Hitler and his assistant, Rudolf Hess, were imprisoned for a short time. During the incarceration, Hitler wrote Mein Kampf (pronounced Mine Cahmpf) (My Struggle or My Battle). While imprisoned, Hitler dictated the text to Hess. The book explained Hitler's ideas of strengthening Germany, dominating Europe, defeating Communism and seizing Soviet agricultural and industrial regions. It also promoted Hitler's anti-Semitic ideas and advocated extermination of the Jews. As the Depression worsened, unemployment rose and Germany's economy suffered greatly. There was widespread poverty, runaway inflation and unrest in the streets. Germans had a sense of societal decay. In making the Jews a scapegoat, Hitler gave the beaten German people easy targets for their frustration and anger over losing the war and having a failing economy. He urged Germans to boycott Jewish businesses. The boycotts, though short lived, worsened the German economy and forced Jewish merchants to lay off employees; many were gentiles, or non-Jews. Hitler used the layoffs as propaganda to say that the Jews were mistreating the Germans. 7 Hitler blamed Germany's loss of World War I on the Jews. He said Jews had hoarded money the army had needed to win the war. In 1932 the National Socialist German Workers Party (the Nazi party) won 37% of the vote. They had a plurality but not a majority in the Reichstag. (NOTE TO TEACHERS: This is a good point at which to emphasize the importance of getting an education and stressing the necessity of casting informed votes.) To cast informed ballots, voters need to examine a candidate and his/her platform carefully. Prejudice, such as Hitler's anti-Semitism, is groundless and cruel. An ageing and infirm President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Hitler, as head of the largest party, chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933.

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