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Teacher Guide to the Documentary
AFTER
VIEWING THE DOCUMENTARY
Discuss with your
students the impact of prejudice during the Holocaust. The
relevance of racism, prejudice, and bigotry today should be
explored.
Suggested activities:
l. Discuss specific
issues of prejudice today in the world, in the United States,
and in our neighborhood.
2. Study David
Wisnia's journey and compare with the students' own experiences
or those of their family members.
3. Write a letter
to David Wisnia.
4. Listen to Klezmer
music as David Wisnia did in the 1930's.
5. Create writing
or art projects dedicated to David Wisnia.
6. Make an identity
chart for David Wisnia. Include words that he uses to describe
himself as well as the labels society has given him. Create
an identity chart for yourself.
7. Research those
who resisted and the individuals who rescued during the Holocaust.
Additional research paper topics: anti-Semitism, the rise
of the Third Reich, the role of bystanders, who were the perpetrators,
and identify the victims.
8. Reflect on the
following quotation by Pastor Martin Niemoeller, who from
1937 - 1945, was held in prison and concentration camps:
First they came
for the Communists and I did not speak out - because I was
not a Communist. Then they came for the socialists and I did
not speak out - because I was not a socialist. Then they came
for the trade unionist and I did not speak out - because I
was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews and
I did not speak out - because I was not a Jew. Then they came
for me - and there was no one left to speak out for me.
Questions:
1. How did this
journey make history seem significant?
2. How do you think
it's humanly possibly for individuals and groups to be involved
in the construction of death camps and the implementation
of the Final Solution?
3. What is the
relevance of the Holocaust today?
4. What lessons
have we learned or should we learn?
5. Answer these
questions with examples. During the Holocaust (1933 - 1945):
Who were the victims? What is the importance of being a witness
as is David Wisnia? What was the role of the bystanders? Who
were some of the perpetrators? Were there rescuers? Name some
of them. Were there acts of resistance? Name some of the events.
6. Why do you think
the documentary includes Israel?
Selected books
and web sites:
NJ Curriculum Guides
Bacharach, Susan
D. Tell Them We Remember: The Story of the Holocaust Boston,
Mass. Little, Brown and Company, 1996
Berenbaum, Michael.
The World Must Know. Boston, Mass. Little, Brown and Company,
1993
Strom, Margot S.
Resource Book: Facing History and Ourselves. Brookline, Mass.
Facing History and Ourselves, 1994
www.facing.org
www.ushmm.org
www.wiesenthal.com
www.state.nj.us/njded/holocaust/
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