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SB664 LEARNING CONCEPTS �+ �Essential Questions

School districts must provide instruction about the Holocaust and genocide.

(a) Prepare students to confront the immorality of the Holocaust, genocide and other acts of mass violence and to reflect on the causes of related historical events;
(b) Develop students’ respect for cultural diversity and help students gain insight into the importance of the protection of international human rights for all people;
(c) Promote students’ understanding of how the Holocaust contributed to the need for the term “genocide” and led to international legislation that recognized genocide as a crime;
(d) Stimulate students’ reflection on the roles and responsibilities of citizens in democratic societies to combat misinformation, indifference, and discrimination through tools of resistance such as protest, reform and celebration;
(e) Provide students with opportunities to contextualize and analyze patterns of human behavior by individuals and groups who belong in one or more categories, including perpetrator, collaborator, bystander, victim and rescuer;
(f) Enable students to understand the ramifications of prejudice, racism and stereotyping;
(g)Preserve the memories of survivors of genocide and provide opportunities for students to discuss and honor survivors’ cultural legacies;
(h) Provide students with a foundation for examining the history of discrimination in this state; and
(i) Explore the various mechanisms of transitional and restorative justice that help humanity move forward in the aftermath of genocide.

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Lessons of the Holocaust

History and impact of antisemitism/racism

Examining the complexity of human behavior

How and why people respond to propaganda, misinformation and conspiracy theories

The fragility of a democracy

Characteristics and values of a good leader

Role the legal system plays in normalizing indifference, intolerance, hatred, and violence towards others

People’s relationship with rights over space

Changing terminology with the creation of terms such as genocide

Opportunities and obstacles to an individual or group’s ability to resist

Dangers of nationalism

Dangers of scapegoating and dehumanization

Justice and reconciliation

Importance of human rights and refugee rights

Historiography, memory and memorialization

Intergenerational legacy and trauma

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6-12 OUTLINE

6: genocide in Canada and Central/South America + colonization as a precondition of genocide

7: cultural diversity, Jewish identity, history, and culture, antisemitism

8: Indigenous genocide, enslavement as genocide, democracy vs dictatorship, civil vs human rights, memory and legacy

MWH: bearing witness to genocide, legacy of genocide (ICC, UDHR, Refugee Convention, term genocide)

USH: US knowledge and involvement in Holocaust, refugees + immigration policy, Jewish American history

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K-5 OUTLINE

K: identity, cultural diversity, rules, fairness, apologies

1: identity, exclusion, inclusion, cultural diversity

2: power, fairness, conflict resolution

3: power, exclusion and inclusion, cultural diversity, changemakers

4: Oregon Jewish history, Indigenous genocide

5: Early American Jewish history, push/pull factors of Jewish migration to the United States, identity-based discrimination and violence in early American history

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GUIDELINES FOR TEACHING GENOCIDE

Define the terms “Holocaust” and “genocide”

Explain why it is important to study genocide

Do not teach or imply that genocides are inevitable

Avoid simple answers to complex questions

Strive for precision of language

Strive for a balance in establishing whose perspective informs your study

Avoid comparisons of pain

Do not romanticize history

Contextualize the history

Translate statistics into people

Make responsible methodological choices

Do not attempt to explain away the perpetrators as “inhumane monsters”

Avoid legitimizing denial of the past

Be careful to distinguish between perpetrators of the past and present-day societies

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DEFINITIONS

GENOCIDE

Genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

Killing members of the group;
Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

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HOLOCAUST

The Holocaust was the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its allies and collaborators.

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STRUCTURE OF A UNIT

establish why it's important to learn about the history and pose essential questions

Rationale

learn about Jewish people before and beyond the Holocaust

Humanize

place the experience/event among history

Contextualize

study the warning signs the preceded mass violence

Escalation

listen and learn from testimony and other primary sources

Bear Witness

analyze how individuals and communities move forward after atrocity

Justice

discuss how we remember historical events and the long-term impacts on society

Memory + Legacy

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What led to the Holocaust?

Antisemitism

Eugenics

European Imperialism

World War I

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Who was targeted and why?

Jews

Roma and Sinti

Asocials

Gay men

Jehovah’s Witnesses

Black men

People with disabilities

Polish elites

Soviet POWs

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1933 – 1938: Planning and Propaganda

January 30, 1933: Hitler appointed Chancellor
February 27, 1933: Reichstag Fire
March 22, 1933: Establishment of Dachau
April 1, 1933: Anti-Jewish Boycott
May 10, 1933: Book Burnings
August 2, 1934: Paul von Hindenburg dies
August 19, 1934: Hitler Abolishes the Office of the President
September 15, 1935: Nuremberg Race Laws
August 1: 1936: Olympic Games in Berlin
November 8, 1937: Antisemitic Exhibition (The Eternal Jew) Opens in Munich
March 11, 1938: German annexation of Austria
July 6, 1938: Evian Conference
September 29, 1938: Munich Agreement
November 9, 1938: Kristallnacht

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HOW DID HITLER RISE TO POWER?

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF AN INDIVIDUAL IN MAKING/SHAPING HISTORY?

WHAT QUALITIES AND CHARACTERISTICS MAKE A GOOD LEADER?

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WHY DID SO MANY PEOPLE FOLLOW ALONG?

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October 1, 1939

Jews no longer receive ration cards for clothing.

April 25, 1933

All Jews are excluded from sports groups.

November 15, 1938

Jewish children expelled from public schools.

July 4, 1940

Jews are only allowed to buy food between 4 and 5pm.

September 1, 1941

All Jews over the age of 6 must wear a yellow start with the word “Jew” on it.

Excursions by Jewish youth group of more than 20 are forbidden.

July 10, 1935

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WHY DIDN’T PEOPLE LEAVE?

From July 6–15, 1938, delegates from 32 countries and representatives from refugee aid organizations attend the Evian Conference in Evian, France. They discussed options for settling Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany as immigrants elsewhere in Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Australia. The United States and most other countries, however, were unwilling to ease their immigration restrictions.

The American press criticized the 32 nations attending the Evian Conference, including the United States, for their inaction. Most of the participants expressed sympathy for the refugees but offered little assistance, claiming that increased immigration might hurt their own nations’ economies. Some spoke bluntly about not wanting to admit Jews.

In 1938 in US: Unemployed at 19%, Most Americans want to keep refugees out, more than 100 African Americans have been lynched since 1930, 2/3 of Americans believe that Jews in Germany are either “entirely” or “partly” to blame for their persecution, Germany expands territorial holding

Challenges to Escape

It was very difficult to immigrate to the United States. In 1924, the US Congress passed the Johnson-Reed Act in order to set limits on the maximum number of immigrant visas that could be issued per year to people born in each country.These quotas were designed to limit the immigration of people considered “racially undesirable,” including southern and eastern European Jews. After 1938, only 27,370 people born in Germany could immigrate to the United States each year.

Potential immigrants to the United States had to collect many types of documents, including proof of identity, police certificates, medical clearances, tax documents, a ship ticket, and exit permits prior to obtaining a visa. Most also had to find an American financial sponsor who had the resources to guarantee they would never become a burden on the United States.

The US government made no exceptions for refugees escaping persecution, and did not adjust the immigration laws in the 1930s or 1940s. The waiting lists for US immigrant visas grew as hundreds of thousands of Jews attempted to flee Europe.

https://exhibitions.ushmm.org/americans-and-the-holocaust (Immigration by the Numbers/How to Acquire a Visa & Refugee Ships at Sea video)

**raises questions about how countries and people view refugee crisis.

Between 1933-1939, some 300,000 Jews left Germany. Much of the exodus took place after Kristallnacht.

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There are two local survivors who were fortunate enough to escape with their parents.

On the the left, Ruth Bolliger. She was a baby when her family fled Czechoslovakia. Her Grandfather had won the Nobel Prize and was friendly with the Queen of Belgium. He was able to secure a time limited visa in Belgium for Ruth’s family. Their flight lasted 2.5 years and spanned 5 countries. This is a photo of the affidavit letter from a man in NY who was willing to sponsor her family.

On the right, Evie Banko. She was a toddler when her family fled Austria in 1938. They first went to Latvia and then were able to immigrate to the United States in 1941. You can see her father’s passport is marked with a red J for Jewish and he was forced to adopt the middle name Israel.

The following is a list of documents that people needed in order to secure a spot in the United States. Evie’s uncle, Max was imprisoned in the Gurs concentration camp and was unable to do so. He did not survive.

Register for the Waiting List
Gather documents

Visa application
Birth certificate
Medical clearance
Tax document
Police certificate
Military discharge
Inventory list

Find American Financial Sponsor

Recommendation letter
Tax returns
Bank Letter
Affidavit

Buy a Ship Ticket
Collect Transit Visas

Transit Visa
Entrance Visa
Landing Permit

Interview with the American Consulate
Acquire Visa and Journey – needed a final “stamp”

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September 1939- June 1941: Expansion, Violence, and Systemization

January 30, 1939: Reichstag Speech
Spring 1939: T4 “Euthanasia” program
May 13, 1939: St. Louis sets sail
September 1, 1939: German invasion of Poland
May 20, 1940: Auschwitz established
November 15, 1940: Warsaw Ghetto sealed
June 22, 1941: Operation Barbarossa
August 24, 1941: Cessation of T4 program “Euthanasia” Killings
September 1, 1941: Jewish Badge
September 29- 31, 1941: Babi Yar Massacre
October 15, 1941: Deportations of German, Austrian, and Czech Jews
December 7, 1941: Attack on Pearl Harbor
December 8, 1941: US declares war on Japan, Killing operations begin at Chelmno

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WHAT COUNTRIES DID THE NAZIS OCCUPY?

Photo: German soldiers parade through Warsaw to celebrate the conquest of Poland

Germany invaded Poland and attempted to disguise the act as a defense measure. Propaganda messages were disseminated during the summer to rouse anti-Polish sentiment. Warsaw, the capital, surrendered to the Germans within a month of the German attack. In the first phase of World War II in Europe, Germany sought to avoid a long war. Germany’s strategy was to defeat its opponents in a series of short campaigns. Germany quickly overran much of Europe and was victorious for more than two years by relying on a new military tactic called the “Blitzkrieg” (lightning war).

Soviet forces quickly annexed most of eastern Poland, while western Poland remained under German occupation until 1945.

Poland was seen as the gateway to the east, where Hitler intended to find Lebensraum, living space for his superior Aryan race.

1939: WW2 beings, More than 90% of Americans oppose going to war against Germany, the U.S. army ranks 17^th in the world in size and combat power, Roosevelt assures nation will stay neutral, German American Bund (whose membership never exceeded 25K held a rally at MSG supporting Hitler (there was a Bund training camp in Portland)

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WHAT AND WHERE WERE GHETTOS?

Photo left: Polish civilians walk by a section of the wall that separated the Warsaw ghetto from the rest of the city. Warsaw, Poland, 1940–41.

Photo right: Sign at the ghetto entrance in Radom, Poland warning against “Danger of Epidemics: Jewish Settlement Zone.” The text includes details of the penalties for entering or leaving the ghetto without permission.

With the conquest of Poland, also came their Jewish population – around 3 million or 10% of Poland’s population. Not sure what to do with the influx of Jews, Nazis tried to separate Polish Jews from the rest of the population. Ghettoization developed in late 1939 and early 1940. Some considered this a temporary holding pattern until subsequent steps could be taken. Some possible steps considered were a Jewish reservation east near Lublin, the Madagascar plan, and letting Jews die of starvation and disease in the ghettos.

Compared to the prisons and concentration camps, the German presence in the ghetto was limited. The Nazis used local police, who worked under Nazi supervision to guard the ghetto from the outside and sometimes created Jewish Councils and Police to enforce and maintain “order.”

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HOW DID SO MANY PEOPLE DIE?

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WHAT WAS AMERICA DOING DURING THIS TIME?

Photos

Left: Americans participate in an anti-Nazi protest in New York after learning of the Kristallnacht attacks on Jews in Germany, November 1938.

Right: Feb. 20, 1939 - Twenty-thousand attend a meeting @ MSG of the German American Bund, which included banners such as "Stop Jewish Domination of Christian Americans."

Taking a specific look at the American response, need to ask, “What were Americans thinking at the time?”

Ask student what type of information could we gather to answer that question

possible answers - gallop polls, letters, newspapers

We also need to consider what were the primary issues for everyday Americans? Did they know Hitler? Did they know his ideology? Did they know how he’s spreading it? Not every state reported it the same. You can find out how Oregon newspapers reported it at Unfolding History.

Review specific years of what was going on in American below to give context as to why it took so long for the US to become involved.

1933: Setting the Stage

25% of Americans were unemployed, US continues to limit immigration, Hitler appointed Chancelor

Antisemitism is high in the U.S.

Accepted rules of international diplomacy

1933 there was an anti-Nazi rally at MSG but the absence of any new significant measures against German Jews caused little to continue to protest

1938: Unemployed at 19%, Most americans want to keep refugees out, more than 100 African Americans have been lynched since 1930, 2/3 of Americans believe that Jews in Germany are either “entirely” or “partly” to blame for their persecution, Germany expands territorial holding

1939: WW2 beings, More than 90% of Americans oppose going to war against Germany, the U.S. army ranks 17^th in the world in size and combat power, Roosevelt assures nation will stay neutral, German American Bund (whose membership never exceeded 25K held a rally at MSG supporting Hitler (there was a Bund training camp in Portland)

1942: US military doubles in size as we go to war with Japan and Germany, 2 million women enter the workforce and fewer than 5% of Americans are unemployed, US army is segregated by race, Nearly half of Americans believe that Jews have too much power and influence in the U.S., Americans learn about the Final Solution to the Jewish Problem,

1945: US emerges as a world power, 16 million americans have served in the war, Roosevelt dies, 2 million Europeans including 250K Jews become displaced persons. Only 5% of Americans believe the US should admit more refugees than it did before the war?

What does this say about American values and ideals? Are we surprised at the way our country is responding to refugees and immigrants today?

Clarify --- The US did not get involved in WW2 to save Jews. They got involved to defeat Nazism and Communism.

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1942-1945: Dedication to Mass Murder

January 20, 1942: Wannsee Conference
March 1, 1942: Auschwitz-Birkenau established
July 15, 1942: Deportation of Dutch Jews
February 2, 1943: German defeat at Stalingrad
March 13, 1943: Liquidation of Krakow Ghetto
April - May 1943: Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
September 20, 1943: Danish Jews escape
May 15, 1944: Deportation of Hungarian Jews
June 6, 1944: D-Day
July 23, 1944: Liberation of Lublin-Majdanek
August 9, 1944: Destruction of the Lodz Ghetto
January 27, 1945: Soviet Forces liberate Auschwitz
February 4, 1945: Yalta Conference
April 29, 1945: Liberation of Dachau
April 30, 1945: Hitler dies by suicide
May 7, 1945: Germany surrenders/VE Day

1942: US military doubles in size as we go to war with Japan and Germany, 2 million women enter the workforce and fewer than 5% of Americans are unemployed, US army is segregated by race, Nearly half of Americans believe that Jews have too much power and influence in the U.S., Americans learn about the Final Solution to the Jewish Problem,

1945: US emerges as a world power, 16 million americans have served in the war, Roosevelt dies, 2 million Europeans including 250K Jews become displaced persons. Only 5% of Americans believe the US should admit more refugees than it did before the war?

Germany’s power had reached its height in 1942 and 1943. These were also the peak years of killing. Jews were perceived as a drain of food supplies, dangerous for the spread of disease, and constituted a security threat. Killing Jews by bullets was inefficient, physically and psychologically challenging, and in July 1941, Herman Goring had tasked Reinhard Heydrich with the “final solution to the Jewish problem.”

On January 20^th 1942, 15 men met at a villa in Wannsee. The Wannsee Conference, as it came to be called, is claimed to be the place where the Nazis decided on the “Final Solution,” the plan to murder all the Jews. But by 1942, mass murder was already long underway. Therefore, it was more for coordinating procedures. Hitler, Himmler, Goring, nor Goebbels attended.

“In Nazi logic, all Jews everywhere were the enemy. This way of thinking gave the program of annihilation a worldwide dimension. Hitler knew that in the past Jews had been persecuted and expelled in many places, but they had always come back. The Nazis’ final solution was to be just that: final and total. There were to be no Jews left to return.”

After the Battle of Stalingrad, Romanian and Hungarian leaders also became less willing to turn over the Jews among their populations to the Germans to be killed. It was not that those authorities suddenly became humanitarian, but that they recognized that they needed to negotiate with the Allies, Jews might be a useful bargaining chip.

Yalta Conference: Allied leaders meet to discuss military strategy in the final defeat of Nazi Germany, the postwar occupation of Germany, and the prosecution of German war criminals.

Tend not to focus so much on the dedication to mass murder because the ”plan” is already in action. How do you stop genocide once it begins?

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WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THE HOLOCAUST?

Nuremberg Trial Verdicts

Oct. 1, 1946

Displaced Persons Act

June 25, 1948

UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide

Jan. 12, 1951

Adolf Eichmann found guilty

Dec. 15, 1961

US ratifies Genocide Convention

Nov. 5, 1988

ICC established under the Rome Statute

July 17, 1998

DP Act: The United States Congress passes the Displaced Persons Act, under which approximately 400,000 displaced persons could immigrate to the United States over and above quota restrictions. US officials will issue around 80,000 of the DP visas to Jewish displaced persons.

Genocide Convention: On December 9, 1948, the final text was adopted unanimously. The United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide entered into force on January 12, 1951, after more than 20 countries from around the world ratified it.

US President Ronald Reagan signs the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.

The Convention had faced strong opponents, who feared it would infringe on US national sovereignty. One of the Convention's strongest advocates, Senator William Proxmire from Wisconsin, delivered over 3,000 speeches advocating the Convention in Congress from 1968–1987.

As of July 2019, 152 states have ratified.

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How did they hold people accountable?

Justice and Accountability video: https://www.ushmm.org/remember/days-of-remembrance/resources/commemoration-themes#justice

Ask students how do we reckon with atrocity? How do we move forward as a society?

What happened to Hitler’s supporters after the war?

Nuremburg trials - 22 major Nazi criminals

U.S. held additional 12 trials in Nuremburg

Evasion – Eichman (planned the deportations) escaped and captured – trial held in Israel – guilty and executed in 1962

French trials

Operation Paperclip - 1,600 german scientists brought to the U.S. – Kurt Debus (sitting between JFK and LBJ), former Nazi scientist turned NASA director

How long did it take to rebuild Europe and establish democracy again?

Question should be about how did they rebuild. There is no length of time to “get over” things like this, it’s more about how you recognize, acknowledge, apologize, and rectify

reconciliation and justice, what does it look like, who is it for?

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What is the legacy of the Holocaust?

Video: https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/video/conventional-revolution-raphael-lemkin-and-crime-without-name

Obligation not to commit genocide (Article I as interpreted by the ICJ)

Obligation to prevent genocide (Article I) which, according to the ICJ, has an extraterritorial scope;

Obligation to punish genocide (Article I);

Obligation to enact the necessary legislation to give effect to the provisions of the Convention (Article V);

Obligation to ensure that effective penalties are provided for persons found guilty of criminal conduct according to the Convention (Article V);

Obligation to try persons charged with genocide in a competent tribunal of the State in the territory of which the act was committed, or by an international penal tribunal with accepted jurisdiction (Article VI);

Obligation to grant extradition when genocide charges are involved, in accordance with laws and treaties in force (Article VII), particularly related to protection granted by international human rights law prohibiting refoulment where there is a real risk of flagrant human rights violations in the receiving State.

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Frameworks of (De)Escalation

ADL’s Pyramid of Hate

Classification

Symbolization

Discrimination

Dehumanization

Organization

Polarization

Preparation

Persecution

Extermination

Denial*

10 Stages of Genocide

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Human Rights

What are rights?

Identify 3 – 5 rights that mean the most to you. Why did you pick these?
What rights confused you? Are there any rights you feel are missing?
How do these rights connect to the genocide you studied?
Who are examples of human rights advocates/defenders in those countries today?
How do the values and principles expressed in the UDHR relate to your everyday life and the way you treat others?

Read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

What are similarities and differences between the UDHR and civil rights in the United States?

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What Is a Jewish Identity?

Judaism is a world religion. Jews are a global community living all over the world and representing a variety of ethnic and racial backgrounds. Over millennia, the Jewish faith has modernized and expanded to include a diversity of ways Jews can express their beliefs. Essentially, what it means to be Jewish is different to every Jewish person.

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Jewish as a culture

Shared languages such as Hebrew, Yiddish, and Ladino

Common values, rituals, and customs

Special food such as latkes and matzah ball soup

Celebrate holidays and lifecycle events

Judaism as a religion

World oldest monotheistic religion, dating back nearly 4,000 years

Belief in one God and Ten Commandments

Sacred text is called the Torah

Attend services at synagogue

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Antisemitism is:

“Imagine that someone has done something you find objectionable. You may legitimately resent the person because of their actions or attitudes. But if you resent them even an iota more because this person is Jewish, that is antisemitism.” Deborah Lipstadt
A certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish and non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities. – International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance
A persisting latent structure of hostile beliefs towards Jews as a collectivity manifested in individuals as attitudes, and in culture, as myth, ideology, folklore, and imagery, and in action—social or legal discrimination, political mobilization against Jews, and collective state violence—which results in and/or is designed to distance, displace, or destroy Jews as Jews. – Helen Fein, historical sociologist

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Jesus and Christianity

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Medieval Europe

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Reformation and Enlightenment

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20^th Century

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UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM�EUROPEAN ANTISEMITISM FROM ITS ORIGINS TO THE HOLOCAUST

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Antisemitic myths and tropes

Power

Disloyalty

Greed

Deicide

Blood Libel

Denial

Anti-Zionism

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A Year In The Life: A 1904 Jewish Immigrant Experience In Oregon

Nessim Menashe (Meh-NAH-she), a Jewish immigrant from Europe, stands in front of his shoe store in Portland in 1916

These children celebrate Purim in Portland in 1898

Month	Theme
October	Immigration (Coming to America)
November	Peddling (Employment)
December	Holidays
January	Foods
February	Religious traditions
March	Discrimination
April	Education/Coming of Age
May	Neighborhood communities
June	Weddings
July	Summer activities
August	Travel
September	Assimilation and building community

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Oregon Jewish Stories Digital Experience

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What obligation and responsibility Do people have to protect others?

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Universe of Obligation

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What are some reasons people become bullies, bystanders, or allies? What might cause someone to change from a bully or a bystander to an ally?

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How can rules be fair or unfair? How do unfair rules impact people’s lives and our community?

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Fairness Fair

In your groups, first share who taught you about fairness.

Groups 1 - 4, create a short story about a fair situation.

Groups 5 - 8, create a short story about an unfair situation.

What important message about fairness does your story express to your audience?

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Fair/Unfair

How can you connect fairness to math standards?

Problem solve - how would you suggest making the unfair situations fair?

What other examples might you want to use with students?

Critical Thinking: Why do you think people make unfair rules?

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How can people move forward after hurt has happened?

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Big Questions

1. If someone is genuinely sorry for having done something to you, should you forgive them?

2. While the destruction of some things can be “righted,” does the idea of “righting your wrong” work for every case where you need to apologize or say, “I’m sorry?” Explain.

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Repairing Relationships