History and the Holocaust

A secondary education lesson plan from the WVU History Department provided in conjunction with the 58th James Morton Callahan lecture of Dr. Anika Walke and sponsored by the WV Humanities Council. This lesson plan was developed by WVU History PhD candidate Celia Faux.

These lesson plans are intended to supplement instruction of content on World War II and the Holocaust to meet the West Virginia State Content Standard 2520.4, and were designed as a starting point for high school teachers to encourage their students to study the experiences of Jewish people during the Holocaust.

Providing the necessary context is critical for students to understand the sources highlighted in these lesson plans, and we encourage teachers to draw upon their resources to teach students about the political, social, and economic contexts that provided the backdrop for the human rights violations that occurred during the Holocaust, how and why individuals navigated, supported, and fought against those violations, and more fully understand the complexity of our shared past.

These sources, which are made available for public use by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, can be used to provide insight into the lives of individuals affected by the Holocaust across Europe. The sources aim to reflect the diversity of experience among different (Jewish) populations across the European continent, highlighting the role of age, gender and nationality of individuals, and the location and time of their exposure to Nazi violence. Teachers can use the included questions to start student discussions, and the other resources of the museum to support teacher-developed lectures (including information on emigration, the types and development of ghettos. living conditions and resistance in ghettos, and more). Through asking and discussing the questions provided in the lesson plans, students will gain the experience of engaging with primary sources in the manner of professional historians, and instructors can tailor the themes of the activity according to their preference. More information about all of these primary sources is available on the Experiencing History webpage of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and links to this website are provided in both lesson options.