Masada Year 10 program

Course developed by Marion Seftel, Senior History Teacher and Sandy Hollis, Studies of Religion and Jewish Studies Teacher, Masada College.

Masada College is a coeducational Orthodox Jewish Day School in Sydney’s northern suburbs catering for children from preschool to Year 12. The School has developed a compulsory course in Jewish Studies for students in Years 7-10. A component of the course is a program teaching the Holocaust for students in Year 10. A key feature is the ‘Living Historians’ Project whereby students interview and take oral history from a survivor of the Holocaust. The program makes use of a variety of primary and secondary source materials including website sources. Students are able to investigate primary evidence at the Sydney Jewish Museum.

The program is easily adapted to the “Investigating History” topic in Mandatory History Stages 4 and 5 and “Constructing History” in History Elective Stages 4 and 5.

Outcomes

Students:

JSH1 identify the forces and key events that set the scene for Hitler’s rise to power.
JSH2 describe life in Germany for Jews 1933 to 1938
JSH3 explain the events that led to the outbreak of the war
JSH4 describe the Nazi regime’s treatment of Jews 1939-1941; 1942-1945
JSH5 identify resistors and key events of resistance
JSH6 describe Liberation and evaluate key events in seeking justice
JSH7 evaluate the universal and contemporary lessons of the Holocaust
JSH8 identify a variety of source materials and evaluate their usefulness for specific information related to the history and experience of the Holocaust
JSH9 identify different perspectives and interpretations of the past

Time Allocation: 60 hours. Three hours over a ten-day cycle in Terms I and II.

Skills Development

• the skills to undertake the process of historical inquiry
• the skills to communicate their understanding of history

Historical skills integrated into this topic:

• sequence events within a specific period of time
• use historical terms and concepts in appropriate contexts
• identify primary and secondary sources
• distinguish between fact and opinion
• examine the actions, motives, values and attitudes of people from the past
• draw conclusions about the usefulness of sources for a historian, including a website
• identify perspectives of different individuals and groups
• locate, select and organise information from a variety of sources including ICT
• communicate effectively using oral, written, computer based or other forms appropriate to an historical investigation.

Site Study: The Sydney Jewish Museum.

Unit Outcomes: JSH3; JSH4; JSH5; JSH6; JSH7; JSH8; JSH9
Subject Matter

• Overview: annexation of Austria; Kristallnacht, annexation of Czechoslovakia, the outbreak of the war; invasion of Poland
• Life in the ghettos
• The Judenrat, forced labour
• Comparative study between Lodz and Warsaw
• The Einsatzgruppen
• Jewish responses

Teaching and Learning Activities

Continue Timeline, maintain glossary.

Teacher outlines the key events from the Anschluss 1938 to the outbreak of war in 1939 (demands on the Sudetenland, Munich Agreement, annexation of Czechoslovakia, demands on Poland) – note making

Discussion: invasion of Poland; research statistics on Jewish population in Poland

Class discussion: Hitler’s strategy of Ghettos. What was life like in the ghetto? Pair research using a variety of sources: document study, newspapers, cartoons, photographs, antisemitic literature, and personal accounts. Class discussion to evaluate usefulness of particular sources.

Examine maps of ghettos. Empathy exercise: individually students keep a record of their meals and their living space for a 24-hour period. Compare with ghetto food, and living space.

Discuss Judenrat (Jewish Councils), forced labour.
Students prepare responses to ethical dilemmas; Chaim Rumkowski “a murderer?” Adam Czerniakov “courageous or cowardly”, Janusz Korczak “selflessness”. Movies “Korczak” and “Ambulance”; how effective are they in conveying the dilemmas faced by these men?

Excursion to Sydney Jewish Museum: examination of primary evidence and secondary source material, both textual and visual. Which was more effective in evoking an empathetic response? In which of the exhibits did you experience a sense of dislocation and/or discomfort? Why so?

Students provide individual responses to poem Maurice Ogden’s “The Hangman”. Why is this poem pertinent to individual rights and freedoms? How can the poem be related to the events in Nazi Germany?

Class discussion the operations of the Einsatzgruppen. Analyse source material; personal accounts; examine photographs for evidence. Evaluate source material.
Discuss ‘shortcomings of the Einsatzgruppen and the need for an alternative strategy.
What happened at Babi Yar? Individual and group responses to poem “Babi Yar”.

Assessment

Analyse the literary devices and discuss the poem Babi Yar. Evaluate its effectiveness as a statement against the horror of the Nazi regime.

Extension

Research and discuss the Judenrat and their functioning –did they serve the ghetto communities or the Nazis?
Write your own poem describing the work of the Einsatzgruppen

Outcomes: JSH4, JSH5, JSH6, JSH7, JSH8, JSH9
Subject Matter

• Liberation
• The Nuremberg Trials
• The Eichmann Trial
• Remembering the Holocaust: Living Historians Project
  Concept of Genocide

Teaching and Learning Activities

Complete Glossary of Terms.

Liberation: What did the allies find? Students use a variety of source materials and evaluate their effectiveness.

Plight of Survivors: students use a variety of source materials and evaluate their effectiveness. Student reflection: Why do you think it important for Survivors to tell their stories?

The Nuremberg Trials: Internet research.

Trial of Adolf Eichmann- website research. Students reflect on the question of responsibility.

Living Historian Project: Collaborate with Sydney Jewish Museum; students in groups interview Survivor/ ‘Living Historian’. Compile a Report using a form appropriate to a historical investigation and create an oral presentation appropriate to your audience.

Discuss the concept of Genocide. Discuss the issue of intervention in the affairs of a sovereign state. List Genocides of the twentieth century. Debate the topic: “It is our obligation to act globally.”

Discussion, “Why do you think it is important for future generations to know about the Holocaust?”

Assessment

“Living Historian Project”
Extension
Students read a book set in the time of the Holocaust and present a book review

(i) orally to class
(ii) as a written report.