Professional Documents
Culture Documents
HOLOCAUST
Perfection Learning
V oices of the H olocaust
Pe r f e c t i o n L e a r n i n g
E ditorial D irector Julie A. Schumacher
S enior E ditor Terry Ofner
E ditors Michael McGhee
Cecelia Munzenmaier
P ermissions Laura Pieper
R eviewers Jacqueline Frerichs
Claudia A. Katz
Sue Ann Kuby
Ann L. Tharnish
A cknowledgments
“An Anti-Semitic Demonstration” by Gail Newman. Reprinted from
Ghosts of the Holocaust: An Anthology of Poetry by the Second Generation,
edited by Stewart J. Florsheim, by permission of the Wayne State University
Press. First appeared in Eva Poole-Gilson et al., eds., Thread Winding in
the Loom of Eternity: California Poets in the Schools State-wide Anthology,
1987 (California Poets in the Schools, 1987).
“The Ball” from Friedrich by Hans Peter Richter, translated by Edite Kroll.
Copyright © Leonore Richter-Stiehl. Reprinted with permission of Leonore
Richter-Stiehl. continued on page 151
14 15 16 17 18 19 PP 13 12 11 10 09 08
Notice that the final cluster asks you to think independently about your
answer to the essential question—Could a holocaust happen here?
p r e fa c e 3
Voices of the
4
Holocaust
memoir 5
Table of Contents
Creating Context 9
Anti-Semitism • Map • Faces of the Holocaust
Timeline • Concept Vocabulary
The Ball
H ans P e t e r R i c h t e r short story 17
Family Album
A mos N e ufeld poem 28
An Anti-Semitic Demonstration
G ail N e wman poem 30
Crystal Night
L yn L if s hin poem 38
Address Unknown
K re s s m a n T ay l o r fictional correspondence 40
6
Cluster Two How Were Victims Oppressed? 55
Thinking Skill comparing / contrasting
A Spring Morning
I da F in k short story 56
Shipment to Maidanek
E phim F o gel poem 65
A Survivor Remembers
B e rek L atar u s oral history 66
Rescue in Denmark
H a ro l d F le n d e r historical account 75
7
Cluster Four Why Should We Remember? 91
Thinking Skill synthesizing
Reunions
B e rnard G ot f ry d short story 99
Return to Auschwitz
K i t t y H ar t autobiography 109
The Survivor
J oh n C. P in e poem 116
Hitler’s Heirs
G re g S t e i n metz article 136
Genocide in Bosnia
M ary A nn L ick tei g article 138
Race
K are n G e rshon poem 141
8
C r e ati n g C o n t e x t
Anti-Semitism:
A History of Hate
anti-semitism 9
C r e ati n g C o n t e x t
N o r w ay Sweden
Estonia
U. S. S. R .
denmark
latvia
Lithuania
Netherlands East
Prussia
Bergen-Belsen
Stutthof
Ravensbrück Treblinka
Mittelbau Chelmno
Sobibor
Sachsenhausen Poland
Belgium
Buchenwald
Lux. Auschwitz- Maidanek
Gross-
Germany Rosen Birkenau
Theresienstadt
Natz- Flossenbürg Belzec
weiler Czechoslovakia
France Dachau
switzerland Austria
Hungary
Romania
I t a ly
Yugoslavia
10 anti-semitism
C r e ati n g C o n t e x t
Allied leaders meet at Yalta, in Russia. (From left) Winston Churchill (1875-1965)
British Prime Minister; Franklin Roosevelt (1882-1945) U.S. President;
Josef Stalin (1879-1953) Dictator of Soviet Russia
Oskar Schindler
(1908-1974) Adolf Hitler (1889-1945)
German businessman Führer und
who first profited Reichskanzler.
from the war but He promised glory for
later became a hero the Germans and
by saving 1300 destruction
Jewish workers from for the Jews.
the gas chambers.
1941
June
Germany invades the 1945
Soviet Union April
July
Hitler commits suicide
Hitler appoints Reinhard May
Heydrich to implement V-E (Victory in
the “Final Solution of Europe) Day:
the Jewish Question” Germany
September
surrenders;
1939 34,000 Jews massacred end of Third Reich
September at Babi Yar outside
1943 August
Germany invades Poland; Kiev, Russia April First atomic bomb
World War II begins Warsaw Ghetto dropped on
December
revolt begins Hiroshima, Japan
November Japanese attack
Jews in German-occupied Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; August September
Poland forced to wear an United States declares war Revolt at death camp Japan surrenders;
arm band or yellow star on Japan and Germany in Treblinka, Poland end of World War II
timeline 13
C r e ati n g C o n t e x t
Concept Vocabulary
You will find the following terms and definitions useful as you read and discuss
the selections in this book.
Aryan race “Aryan” was originally applied to people who spoke any Indo-European
language (in India, western Asia, and Europe). The Nazis, however, primarily
used the term to refer to people of Northern European racial ancestry—especially
those with blue eyes and blonde hair.
concentration camp Upon their ascent to power on January 30, l933, the Nazis
established concentration camps for the imprisonment of all “enemies” of their
regime: political opponents, Jehovah’s Witnesses, gypsies, homosexuals, and
other “asocials.” Beginning in 1938, Jews were targeted for internment solely
because they were Jews.
Final solution The cover name for the plan to destroy the Jews of Europe—
the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question.” It began in December, l941.
Jews were rounded up and sent to extermination camps in the East. The program
was deceptively disguised as “resettlement.”
genocide The deliberate and systematic destruction of a religious, racial, national,
or cultural group of people.
ghetto The Nazis revived the concept of medieval ghetto in creating their
compulsory “Jewish Quarter.” The ghetto was a section of a city where all Jews
from the surrounding areas were forced to reside, surrounded by barbed
wire or walls.
Nazi From the German words for Na(tional-so)zi(alist). A nazi was a member
or supporter of the National Socialist Party in Germany led by Adolf Hitler.
propaganda ideas or claims spread deliberately to further one’s cause or to damage
an opponent’s cause.
scapegoat a person or group that bears the blame for others. Scapegoating is the
process of blaming others for one’s problems.
Third Reich the German state during the Nazi period.
14 c o n c e p t vo c a bu l a ry
Cluster One
memoir 15
Boy in front of a synagogue. Mukachevo (Ukraine), 1937.
The Ball
s h o rt s to ry 17
Voices of the Holocaust
department stores, then you rob us on top of it! Just you wait, Hitler will
show you yet!” And she shook Friedrich violently.
“But he didn’t do it!” I yelled. “I threw the ball, I broke your window.
We didn’t want to steal!”
The woman looked at me, eyes large and stupid. Her mouth dropped
open.
Her husband had swept the broken glass into the gutter. He collected
the rolls of thread, the stars of black and white yarn, the balls of colorful
embroidery yarn from the display case and carried them into the shop.
The woman’s eyes grew very small. “How dare you interfere? What
are you doing here anyway? Away with you! You don’t think you have to
protect this rotten Jewboy because you’re living in the same house, do
you? Go on, beat it!”
“But I threw the ball!” I said again.
The woman lunged at me, without letting go of Friedrich. Friedrich
cried. He wiped his tears on his sleeve, smearing his whole face.
Someone had called the police.
Out of breath and sweating, a policeman arrived on a bicycle. He
asked the woman to tell him what had happened.
Again she told the story of the attempted burglary.
I tugged at his sleeve. “Officer,” I said, “he didn’t do it. I broke the
pane with my ball.”
The woman looked at me threateningly. “Don’t you believe him,
Officer!” she said. “He only wants to protect the Jewboy here. Don’t you
believe him. He thinks the Jew’s his friend just because they live in the
same house.”
The policeman bent down to me. “You don’t understand this yet,
you’re too young still,” he explained. “You may think you’re doing him a
favor by standing up for him. But you know he’s a Jew. Believe me, we
grownups have had plenty of experiences with Jews. You can’t trust
them; they’re sneaky and they cheat. This woman was the only one who
saw what happened, so . . .”
“But she didn’t see it!” I interrupted him. “Only I was there, and I did it!”
The policeman frowned. “You wouldn’t try to call this woman a liar.”
I wanted to explain, but he didn’t let me.
He took Friedrich’s wrist from the woman and led him toward our
house, followed by the woman and a long line of curious onlookers.
I joined the line.
Halfway there we ran into Herr Schneider.
18 s h o rt s to ry
T he B all
s h o rt s to ry 19
Responding to Cluster One
How Could the Holocaust Happen?
Thinking Skill Analyzing
rom the selections in this cluster and what you already know, analyze the roots
1. F
of the holocaust. (Analyze means to break something into parts and study each
part.) You might use a chart such as the one below to record your analysis.
The Ball F riedrich didn’t break the shop window, but the owner blamed
him because he was a Jew. Many Germans hated Jews, so it
was easy for Hitler to blame them for the bad economy and
other major problems.
2. W
hy do you think so many young Germans were attracted to the Hitler Youth
movement? Use examples from the selection(s) to support your answer.
3. In the poems “Family Album” and “Anti-Semitic Demonstration” which lines
did you find most powerful? Explain.
4. C
ompare the poem “Crystal Night” with the autobiographical essay “Broken Glass,
Broken Lives.” What did you learn about Kristallnacht (Crystal Night) from the
poem that you did not learn from the essay?
5. In “Address Unknown” explain how Max Eisenstein gets revenge for the death
of his sister.
A Strong Analysis
◆ states the purpose for the analysis
◆ demonstrates careful examination of each part of the topic
◆ supports each point with evidence
◆ organizes information clearly
◆ ends with a summary of the ideas presented
54 r e s p o n d i n g to c l u s t e r o n e
VOICE S OF TH E HOL OCAU S T
T e a c h e r G u i d e
78511
ISBN-13: 978-0-7891-5053-0
ISBN-10: 0-7891-5053-0
0 0 0 0 0 0 PP 0 0 0 0 0 0
Table of Contents
Features of the Student Book: Voices of the Holocaust 4
Features of This Teacher Guide 5
Three Teaching Options for Voices of the Holocaust 6
Introducing the Theme
T he P r e fa c e • T h e P r ol ogue • W hat D o Y ou K no w ? ( an tici pation gui d e ) • C reat i n g C on t ext 8
Prologue The Prologue combines a strong visual image with a thematically relevant poem or quota-
tion. The Prologue is designed to stimulate discussion and to set the tone for study of the anthology.
Creating Context The Creating Context section contains several features such as an essay, map,
and timeline, as well as a concept vocabulary page. These features will create a framework for learn-
ing and provide an opportunity to access prior knowledge.
The Selections
Clusters The anthology is divided into four or five clusters of selections. The selections offer a mix-
ture of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama.
Cluster Questions and Thinking Skills The selections in all but the last cluster are grouped around
a cluster question and thinking skill, which are stated on the cluster opening page. Reading the
selections in the cluster will help students answer the cluster question as well as exercise the think-
ing skill.
Responding to the Cluster Rather than interrupting the flow of reading with questions after every
selection, Literature & Thought anthologies present discussion questions at the end of the cluster.
Many of these discussion questions address more than one selection, giving students the opportunity
to consider a group of literary selections as a whole rather than as unconnected parts. These ques-
tions can also be used as prewriting prompts for the writing activity that follows the cluster questions.
Writing Activity All but the last cluster end with a writing activity that integrates the cluster ques-
tion with the thinking skill.
Planning and Scheduling Options Strategies for planning a 4- to 6-week unit, a 1- to 2-week unit, or
using the student book in conjunction with a novel.
What Do You Know? (anticipation guide) To assess your students’ prior knowledge of the Holocaust,
administer the anticipation guide on page 67.
Teaching Strategies for Introducing the Theme To set the purpose for reading, use the resources for
teaching the Preface; use the Prologue for setting the tone of the theme study; and use the Creating
Context section for setting the framework, or context, of the unit.
Teaching the Critical Thinking Skill Each cluster in the teacher guide begins with a lesson plan and
handout/overhead for modeling the cluster thinking skill.
Cluster Vocabulary Handouts and Tests Students can use the reproducible vocabulary sheet to
reference challenging words in each selection and to prepare for the Cluster Vocabulary Tests.
Selection Resources Every selection in the student book has the following teacher supports: selection
summaries, reading hints, thinking skills, extension activities, discussion questions with suggested
answers, and special focus sections that provide historical, literary, or bibliographical background on
the selections.
Responding to the Cluster This resource page provides sample answers to the cluster questions.
Writing Activity Reproducible Sheet This graphic organizer integrates the writing activity and the
cluster critical thinking skill.
Suggestions for Teaching the Final Cluster The final cluster provides an opportunity for students to
demonstrate their mastery of the content knowledge and thinking skills. Look for the following fea-
tures: a final cluster planning guide, cluster vocabluary, selection teacher support, and handouts to help
with research, writing, and project ideas.
The Essay Prompt This open-book essay prompt is based on the essential question of the anthology.
Use it as a culminating essay test. You may want to give extra credit to students who correctly use
Concept Vocabulary words and words from the Cluster Vocabulary Sheets.
Rubric Use or adapt the sample rubric prior to assigning, and while assessing, student writing.
Assessments
Discussing the Selection Use the discussion questions to assess student understanding of the
selections.
Responding to the Cluster The questions on the Responding to the Cluster pages can be used
as informal assessments of the cluster content as well as the thinking skill.
Cluster Vocabulary Tests These 10-point vocabulary tests assess student understanding of
key vocabulary words.
Writing Activities Writing activities are ideal for assessing student understanding of the con-
tent and thinking skills of each cluster.
Essay Prompt Use the final essay prompt to assess student understanding of the essential
question of the theme study.
4- to 6-Week Unit
Page Numbers In
Student Book Teacher Guide
Introducing the theme (1 to 2 days)
Read and discuss the following sections
• What Do You Know?—Anticipation Guide.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9, 67
• Preface.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
• Prologue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–5.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
• Creating Context.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9–14.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Teaching the first four clusters (3 to 5 days per cluster)
• Introduce and model the cluster thinking skill
using overhead/handout.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11, 24, 34, 44
• Pass out cluster vocabulary sheet.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12, 25, 35, 45
• Set schedule for reading selections in first four clusters
• For each selection, use appropriate discussion
questions and extension activities
Cluster One.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15–53.. . . . . . . . . . 13–19
Cluster Two. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55–69.. . . . . . . . . . 26–29
Cluster Three. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71–89.. . . . . . . . . . 36–39
Cluster Four.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91–123.. . . . . . . . . . 46–50
• As a class or in small groups discuss the Responding
to the Cluster questions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54, 70, 90, 124.. . . . . 20, 30, 40, 51
• Introduce Writing Activity with handout.. . . . . . . . . 54, 70, 90, 124.. . . . . . 21, 31, 41, 52
• Administer Vocabulary Test.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22, 32, 42, 53
Teaching the last cluster (5 to 10 days)
The final section can be structured as a teacher-directed cluster or as independent learning.
Choose from the two models described below.
Teacher-Directed
• Pass out cluster vocabulary sheet.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
• Set schedule for reading selections
• For each selection, use appropriate discussion
questions and extension activities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56–60
• Administer Vocabulary Test.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
• Assign research projects.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62–63
• Administer final essay test. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Independent Learning
Have students
• respond to one or more of the questions or activities
on the Responding to Cluster Five page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
• plan and present a lesson over one or more of the
selections in the last cluster.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125–141
• conduct additional research on a related topic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62–63
1- to 2-Week Unit
Shorten the 4- to 6-week schedule by using one or more of the following strategies.
• Assign complete clusters to literary circles. Have each group share what they learn and/or teach
the cluster to their classmates.
• Assign individual selections to groups. Have each group share what they learn and/or teach the
selection to the entire class.
• Choose 8–10 significant selections for study by the entire class. The following list would provide
a shortened exploration of the themes in Voices of the Holocaust.
Notice that the final cluster asks students to think independently about their answer to the essential
question—Could a holocaust happen here?
Discussing the Preface Review the Preface with students. Point out the essential question as well as
the cluster questions addressed in each cluster. You may want to revisit the essential question after stu-
dents complete each cluster. The last cluster addresses the essential question directly.
About the Image This photo documents the forcible removal of Jews from the Warsaw ghetto in 1940.
The German army had earlier confined more than 400,000 Jews in the crowded ghetto. Many Jews
died from starvation and disease, and about 300,000 more were sent to concentration camps.
The boy with his arms raised is Tsvi Nussbaum. He was sent to Bergen-Belsen camp, where he
watched four generations of his family die. Tsvi survived the Holocaust and later emigrated to New
York and became a physician.
Discussing the Image
• What do you know about the Holocaust?
• There are two groups in the photo: people and soldiers. Describe the makeup of each group.
• Who do you think took this photograph?
• Why do the people have their arms raised?
• Where do you think the boy with his hands up is going?
About the Text Martin Niemöller, the author of the famous speech “First they came for the Jews . . . ,”
had originally welcomed the Nazi rise to power. But by 1934, he was disillusioned by Hitler and
became the main figure in the Evangelical Church’s opposition to the Nazis. Arrested for “malicious
attacks against the state,” he spent many years in the Dachau and Sachsenhausen camps. After the
war Niemöller became a pacifist and advocated a neutral, disarmed, and reunited Germany.
Discuss the following true false statements with your students to assess their knowledge of the
Holocaust. The same questions are provided in reproducible form on page 67 of this teacher guide.
Suggested answers are provided on page 68.
True or False
��� Only Jews were victims of the Holocaust.
��� The persecution of Jews was the cause of World War II.
��� Adolf Hitler believed that people of northern European descent were
superior to other ethnic groups.
��� Nobody helped the Jews of Europe escape from the Nazis.
��� The Holocaust was the first time that the Jews were victims of oppression.
��� The Holocaust could never happen again.
Use these Creating Context features to access students’ prior knowledge and build background about
the Holocaust.
Anti-Semitism: A History of Hate (pages 9–10) This essay briefly explains the history of anti-Semi-
tism in Europe. The essay culminates with a description of Hitler’s “Final Solution.” Use the
following discussion questions to introduce the topic of anti-Semitism.
• Define prejudice.
• What other forms of prejudice do you know about?
• What do you know about anti-Semitism today?
Map of Concentration Camps and Killing Centers (page 10) Have students study the map of the con-
centration camps and the killing centers. Use the following question to open discussion on the map.
• Why do you think the Germans placed the “killing centers” outside of Germany, mainly in occu-
pied Poland?
Faces of the Holocaust (page 11) Have students study the images and captions on the “Faces of the
Holocaust” page. Use the question below to open discussion on the individuals shown.
• Have you seen or heard of any of these people before? Tell what you know about them.
Timeline (pages 12–13) Students can use the timeline to get an encapsulated view of the Holocaust as
well as to gain perspective to the selections in Voices of the Holocaust. Use the following activities to
engage students in the content of the timeline.
• Prepare a classroom timeline to record the approximate time and place of the selections in
Voices of the Holocaust.
• Assign each student 1 or 2 months of a year and have them read what happened. Have students
record historical details in their journals throughout the unit study.
Concept Vocabulary (page 14) The terms on this page are important to understanding the Holocaust.
• Discuss terms that may be new to students.
• Have students record new concept words in a journal as they read the anthology.
Cluster One
Analyzing
I. Present this definition to students.
In analyzing you break down a topic or subject into parts so that it is easier to understand.
II. Discuss with students how they already use analysis by sharing the situations below.
You use analysis when
• you study the good moves of an outstanding athlete.
• you pick out a new hair style or go shopping for new clothes.
• you learn the rules for a new game or learn how to use new software.
You might invite students to suggest other situations where analysis would be used.
III. Explain to students that they will analyze the selections in Cluster One to determine the roots
of the Holocaust. Use the following steps to show how to analyze a selection.
A. Use the reproducible “Analyzing the Roots of the Holocaust” on page 11 as an overhead
transparency or blackline master.
B. Show how a reader analyzed Model A to determine attitudes that were prevalent in
German society and that helped fuel the Holocaust.
C. Ask students to analyze Model B. Help students find the following passages, and share
how these passages reveal attitudes at the root of the Holocaust.
Analysis: With analysis you break down a topic or subject into parts so that it is easier to understand.
Directions: Notice how a reader analyzed Model A and highlighted attitudes that helped fuel the
Holocaust. Notice also the way the reader explained the highlighted text. Analyze Model B for similar
attitudes and roots.
Model B
“This good-for-nothing Jewboy here broke my shop window,” she
told everyone who cared to listen. “He wants to rob me.” She turned
to Friedrich. “But you didn’t quite make it this time, did you. Because
I’m always watching. I know you, you won’t get away from me. You
pack of Jews, they should get rid of you. First you ruin our business
with your department stores, then you rob us on top of it! Just you
wait, Hitler will show you yet!” And she shook Friedrich violently.
______________________________________ ______________________________________
______________________________________ ______________________________________
Summary
Friedrich, a Jewish boy, and the narrator, a non-Jewish boy, are playing ball in the street. The nar-
rator throws the ball to Friedrich, who isn’t watching, and the ball breaks a storefront window.
Despite the narrator’s objections that he threw the ball, the woman owner of the store creates a
scene, accusing the “Jewboy” of planning to rob the store. While a policeman escorts Friedrich
away, Friedrich’s father happens along. After listening to the woman, Friedrich’s father offers to
pay for the broken window immediately.
Some students may have difficulty What does the author want Speaking and Listening: Have stu-
with German names. Tell them not you to learn from this piece? dents take the roles of the characters in
to worry about pronouncing the this story and create a short improvisa-
names correctly. tional play of the story.