Lesson 1 Introduction Introduction CONTENTS Lesson Overview ..............................................87 Document 1 “The Universe of Obligation” exercise ..................89 Document 2 Reading: “38 Witnesses” .............................90 Document 3 Quadrant Chart ....................................92 Homework Readings “The Ball” .................................................93 A Frost in the Night.........................................96 References....................................................99 The HHREC gratefully acknowledges the funders who supported our curriculum project: • Office of State Senator Vincent Leibell/New York State Department of Education • Fuji Photo Film USA 86 Introduction KEY VOCABULARY LESSON OVERVIEW anti-Semitism In this lesson students will be introduced to the concept of the bystander “Universe of Obligation.” They will examine their obligation to collaborator others and how their behavior is a reflection of their sense of discrimination responsibility to others. Holocaust ideology INSTRUCTIONAL PLAN AND ACTIVITIES Nazism perpetrator Activity 1: The Universe of Obligation prejudice Explain to the students that this lesson will ask them to consider rescuer the following questions: stereotype • What are your values? victim • Where do you see yourself in relation to others in your family, school, neighborhood, community, and world? OBJECTIVES • What kind of person are you? • Students will raise and recognize • What kind of person do you want to be? key questions regarding the Holocaust. Explain that this activity will help students understand the nature • Students will recognize that a of their relationships with others and the world in which they live. bystander makes an active choice. It will also help them understand the behavior of individuals, nations, and institutions in the past and during the Holocaust. ESSENTIAL QUESTION Distribute the graphic organizer “Your Universe of How is the concept of the “Universe Obligation.” of Obligation” related to the Ask students to examine the center circle and think about the Holocaust? concept of self in relation to those to whom they feel a sense of obligation. (You may wish to elicit definitions of the term “obliga- tion,” such as “feeling responsibility to or for others.”) Ask students to think of each concentric circle as an extension of their “universe of obligation.” Guide students to label the con- centric circles in the graphic organizer with the names of those to whom they feel a sense of obligation (individuals, institutions, organizations, etc.). If necessary, model the activity for students. NOTE: Some of the material written on the graphic organizer may be personal and private. It is important to respect a student’s need for privacy. Ask for volunteers when sharing information. Have students place this graphic organizer in their folders. You will refer to this assignment when you conclude the study of the Holocaust curriculum. Activity 2: “38 Witnesses” Distribute and read The New York Times article “38 Witnesses,” an account of the murder of Kitty Genovese in a quiet residential Introduction 87 RESOURCES neighborhood of New York City in 1964. Ask students to consider 1 “The Universe of Obligation” the following questions: 2 Reading: “38 Witnesses” • How did the citizens of Kew Gardens, Queens, react to the attack 3 Quadrant Chart on Kitty Genovese? 4 Reading: “The Ball” • Why did they react that way? 5 Reading: A Frost in the Night • Could the victim have been saved? If so, how? • Were the witnesses obligated to respond to the attack? Activity 3: Quadrant Chart In the study of the Holocaust, scholars have identified four key roles that defined human behavior at this time: victim, perpetra- tor, bystander, and rescuer. This activity asks students to reflect on how their own experiences or those of others may fall into one of the four categories. Distribute the Quadrant Chart. Ask students to fill out the quadrants based on their own life experience or based on the peo- ple in the article “38 Witnesses.” It may be helpful to model this activity before asking students to complete the worksheet. In the final discussion, be sure to connect the quadrant activity with “38 Witnesses.” Assessment Students may keep a journal that allows them to look back on their reflections, responses, and questions composed during the course of this study. On some occasions it may be helpful to share responses. Ask students to address the following question: How is the concept of a person’s obligation to others pivotal to the Holocaust? Have students make a list of three to five questions they would like answered during the Holocaust Unit. Homework Students will read the following literary selections and answer questions in preparation for the next lesson on stereotyping and prejudice. • “The Ball,” an excerpt from Friedrich by Hans Peter Richter • Chapter 9 of A Frost in the Night by Edith Baer Standards Connection English Language Arts: 1, 2, 3, 4 Social Studies: 1, 2, 3, 4 88 Introduction DOCUMENT 1 The Universe of Obligation SELF Introduction 89 DOCUMENT 2 Reading: “38 Witnesses” This account of a murder that took place in 1964, in a quiet residential neighborhood of New York City, appears to have no bearing on the Holocaust. As you work with the material in the Holocaust curriculum, compare the behavior of the thirty-eight witnesses to that of millions of ordinary citizens in Germany in the 1930s. They, too, were witnesses. The selection is from the New York Times, March 27, 1964 . 38 WITNESSES For more than half an hour slaying baffles him—not facing Mowbray Place. Like 38 respectable, law-abiding cit- because it is a murder, but many residents of the neigh- izens in Queens watched a because the “good people” borhood, she had parked there killer stalk and stab a woman failed to call the police. day after day since her arrival in three separate attacks in Kew “As we have reconstructed from Connecticut a year ago, Gardens. the crime,” he said, “the although the railroad frowned Twice the sound of their assailant had three chances to on the practice. voices and the sudden glow of kill this woman during the 35- She turned off the lights of their bedroom lights interrupt- minute period. He returned her car, locked the door, and ed him and frightened him off. twice to complete the job. If we started to walk the 100 feet to Each time he returned, sought had been called when he first the entrance of her apartment her out and stabbed her again. attacked, the woman might not at 82-70 Austin Street, which is Not one person telephoned the be dead now.” in a Tudor building with stores police during the assault; one This is what the police say on the first floor and apart- witness called after the woman happened beginning at 3:20 ments on the second. was dead. a.m. in the staid, middle-class, The entrance to the apart- That was two weeks ago tree-lined Austin Street area: ment is in the rear of the today. But Assistant Chief Twenty-eight-year-old building because the front is Inspector Frederick M. Lussen, Catherine Genovese, who was rented to retail stores. At night in charge of the borough’s called Kitty by almost everyone the quiet neighborhood is detective force and a veteran of in the neighborhood, was shrouded in the slumbering 25 years of homicide investiga- returning home from her job darkness that marks most resi- tions, is still shocked. as a manager of a bar in Hollis. dential areas. He can give a matter-of- She parked her red Fiat in a lot Miss Genovese noticed a fact recitation of many mur- adjacent to the Kew Gardens, man at the far end of the lot, ders. But the Kew Gardens Long Island, railroad station, near a seven-story apartment 90 Introduction house at 82-40 Austin Street. Lights went out. The killer door, 82-62 Austin Street, he She halted; then nervously, she returned to Miss Genovese, saw her slumped on the floor at headed up Austin Street toward now trying to make her way the foot of the stairs and Lefferts Boulevard, where there around the side of the building stabbed her a third time, fatally. is a call box to the 102nd Police by the parking lot to get to her It was 3:50 a.m. by the time Precinct in nearby Richmond apartment. The assailant the police received the first call Hill. She got as far as a street stabbed her again. from a man who was a neighbor light in front of a bookstore “I’m dying!” she shrieked. of Miss Genovese. In two min- before the man grabbed her. “I’m dying!” utes they were at the scene. The She screamed. Lights went on in Windows were opened neighbor, a 70-year-old woman, the 10-story apartment house at again and lights went on in and another woman were the 82-67 Austin Street, which faces many apartments. The only persons on the street. the bookstore. Windows slid assailant got into his car and Nobody else came forward. open and voices punctured the drove away. Miss Genovese The man explained that he early morning stillness. staggered to her feet. A city had called the police after Miss Genovese screamed: bus, Q-10, the Lefferts much deliberation. He had “Oh, my God, he stabbed me! Boulevard line to Kennedy phoned a friend in Nassau Please help me!” From one of International Airport, passed County for advice, and then the upper windows in the by. It was 3:35 a.m. had crossed the roof of the apartment house a man called The assailant returned. By building to the apartment of down: “Let that girl alone! then, Miss Genovese had the elderly woman to get her to The assailant looked at crawled to the back of the make the call.