Civics/Current Events Activity for Students in Grades 6-9
Objectives
Students will look at the connections between the Holocaust and a conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan sixty years later and explore some of the ways young people are working to raise awareness of the conflict in the Sudan.
Materials
Videotape: Nick News: Never Again? From Holocaust to the Sudan
Vocabulary
In this segment Linda Ellerbee mentions several terms that may be unfamiliar to some students. Depending on the background knowledge of students, you may want to review the terms below with students before they view the segment.
Holocaust: The systematic, planned, and state-supported murder of 6 million European Jews by the Nazis during World War II. Over 5 million non-Jews died in the Holocaust including many Sinti and Roma (Gypsies), Jehovah's Witnesses, and people with disabilities but only the Jews were marked for complete annihilation. The word Holocaust comes from a Greek term meaning "burnt whole."
genocide: the deliberate and systematic murder of an entire political, ethnic, or religious group. Other twentieth-century genocides occurred in Cambodia, Rwanda, and Bosnia. Armenians and Iraqi Kurds have also been victims of genocide.
ghetto: An area of a city in which all Jews from surrounding areas were kept until they were transported to concentration or death camps. Surrounded by barbed wire or high walls, ghettos were often sealed so people could not go in or out.
Auschwitz: Largest and best known of the concentration camps. It was both a slave labor camp and a death camp. In all there were six death camps, All of these camps were located in occupied Poland. The other death camps were Belzec, Chelmno, Maidanek, Sobibor, and Treblinka.
selection: the division of prisoners in death camps into two groups, those the captors believed to be able to work and those judged unable to work to be killed at once. At Auschwitz, selection often occurred when a train arrived. Those considered unable to work included children, old people, and women with small children. Often these groups went directly to the gas chambers. Pre-viewing Discussion
Write the term "Holocaust" on the chalkboard. Ask students what the term means. Review briefly with students what they already know about this event. Be sure students know when it took place, where it took place, and some of the historical, economic and political causes of this tragedy.
Use this pre-discussion as a chance to provide an historical context for the program students are about to see. Locate Poland and Auschwitz on a map of Europe.
Ask students what they know about the conflict currently taking place in the Darfur region of the Sudan. Have them describe what they have heard or read about this conflict. Locate the Darfur region of western Sudan on a map of Africa. In most classes few students will be familiar with this conflict.
Have students briefly speculate about how the events of the Holocaust in Eastern Europe in the late 1930s and 1940s and events in the Sudan in 2005 might be related.
After discussion, explain that the Nick News Special they are about to see will help them understand the connection between these two events that occurred on different continents over 60 years apart and explore some of the ways young people today are taking an active part in speaking out to help others in need. Post-Viewing Activities and Discussion Points
Begin discussion of this segment using some of the following questions:
In this segment students hear the story of the Holocaust mainly through the voices of survivors and their grandchildren. Emphasize that many other groups participated in the Holocaust. Help students identify and see the difference between the roles of these other participants: perpetrators, bystanders, and rescuers.
Ask students what group each of the following might belong to: leaders of the Nazi government, the engineers who designed and built the death camps, the train conductors who brought the trains to Auschwitz, the people who watched as Jewish neighbors were taken away, the people like Father Bruno who risked their own lives by hiding Jewish children.
In this segment, Linda Ellerbee says that the "Holocaust couldn't have happened if people didn't let it." Ask students if they agree with this statement. In what sense is a decision not to take action a form of action? Why were most people bystanders during the Holocaust? Students might note mentions such reasons as fear, indifference, support for Nazi party beliefs.
How do you think each of these actions affected the way German Jews felt about themselves? How might it have affected the way non-Jews in Germany perceived Jewish citizens?
Widespread use by Nazis of anti-Semitic propaganda
Passage of laws by Nazis stripping German Jews of rights of citizenship.
Requiring Jews to wear yellow stars
Introduce the term "dehumanize." Explain that it means to make a person seem inferior or "less than human." One of the Nazi names for Jews was "life unworthy of life." How did Nazi propaganda, laws stripping Jews of citizenship, and forced wearing of yellow stars contribute to the "dehumanization" of Jews? In what way did they make Jews seem "less than human" and more like "the other" or "not like me?"
How did the removal of Jews to ghettos contribute to dehumanization? Did it make it easier for others to become bystanders? In what ways did dehumanization make it easier for Nazi soldiers, concentration camp guards, and others to persecute and mistreat Jews?
The gates to Auschwitz had the following inscription on them, Arbeit Mach Frei, Work makes you free. Why might the Nazis have placed this inscription on the gates? What other forms of deception were used in the camps?
In Darfur, Sudanese government forces and government-backed Arab militias known as the Janjaweed have attacked African villagers in western Sudan. According to Human Rights Watch, the conflict between these groups tends to be based on ethnic or economic differences rather than religious differences. Many on both sides are Muslims. Who were the victims, rescuers, perpetrators, and bystanders in Darfur? What are some ways the United States government and others are trying to call attention to the conflict in Darfur?
Why do you think Katherine and Rachel felt it was important to take action by raising money for Darfur?
Explain what Linda Ellerbe meant when she said "What happened here [at Auschwitz] was not an accident anymore more than what has happened in the Sudan is an accident."
How can studying the Holocaust help those trying to stop the tragedy unfolding in the Sudan?
What did people mean when they said "Never Again" after the Holocaust? Why is this program called "Never Again?" Do you think we will ever say "Never Again!" to genocide? Why or why not? Activities
In the Nick News segment "Never Again? From Holocaust to the Sudan," we saw the tragic consequences of failing to take action to stop prejudice and discrimination against Jews in Nazi Germany. Genocide does not begin with mass killings; it begins with bullying, name-calling, and discrimination. If not checked, it can end with genocide. During World War II, this failure led to mass murder of millions of Jews in Auschwitz and other death camps. Today in the Darfur region of western Sudan tens of thousands of African Sudanese have seen their villages burned to the ground by the Janjaweed Arab militia. Many are living in refugee camps. Thousands have died from disease, hunger, or violence. We have also seen examples of the ways a few brave people have risked their lives to save children and more recently of the ways American teenagers are working to help the people of Darfur. Using the Web sites given, learn more about the conflict in Darfur. Working in groups students can use the information they have gathered as well the photographs available on many Web sites to educate others about Darfur.
Begin by writing a paragraph explaining why the events in Sudan have been called genocide and then do one of the following:
Create an exhibit of posters or photo gallery of pictures about Darfur. Many of the websites listed have photo galleries.
Write a letter to the local newspaper or to a local or state legislator expressing opinions about the situation in Darfur. Encourage others to write letters as well.
Plan a concert, party, bake sale, or other event to raise money for Darfur refugees
Make a short video about Darfur to air on the school TV or a local cable station
Raise awareness of the conflict by gathering signatures for a petition
Invite a guest speaker from a local university or a human rights organization to speak to a school group or civic club abut events in Darfur
[Language Arts] In this program two Holocaust survivors describe their experiences as hidden children. One survivor relates how she watched the rabbits and dogs from the window of the room where she was hidden and was jealous of their freedom. Another envied the birds she saw from her hiding place. Have students think about the freedoms they have as Americans and imagine how different their own lives would be if they lived in a country that was not a democracy where human and civil rights were curtailed. Have students write poems that describe what freedom means to them. Students can also use the phrase "Never Again?" as a writing prompt for a poem.
Some students might pick poems from the book I Never Saw Another Butterfly for dramatic readings or a sound collage. This poetry collection compiled by Hana Volakova is available in most public libraries and is found in many school libraries as well. It consists of poems and drawings by children in the Terezin concentration camp. Students can introduce their readings by explaining why they chose each piece. Others student may prefer to illustrate poems from this collection with original drawings.
Prepare a report on the genocide in Cambodia or Rwanda or the ethnic cleansing that occurred in Bosnia. The report should identify the target group, the causes of the conflict, the steps that led to the genocide and how it was ended. An excellent resource for advanced students is The Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide by Samantha Power. This book is also an excellent teacher resource for the study of genocide. Assessment
Points Outcome Measure
4-5: The student shows a great deal of interest in the subject and participates in the class discussions. The student conducts further research on the topics discussed and presents the information to the class. The student completes most of the extension activities.
2-3: The student shows a limited interest in the subject and participates minimally in the class discussions. The student conducts further research on the topics discussed. The student completes a few of the extension activities.
0-1: The student shows little or no interest in the subject and does not participate in the class discussions. The student does not conduct further research on the topics discussed. The student does not complete any of the extension activities.
Linda Scher
North Carolina Council on the Holocaust
Raleigh, North Carolina
