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High School Holocaust Studies

Suggested Prerequisites

N/A

Description

Examine the Holocaust, defined as the deliberate and systematic persecution and murder of approximately 6 million Jewish people by the Nazi German state and its collaborators between 1933 and 1945. Through the course, you will study the experiences of the Holocaust victims and survivors as you consider why it is important for current and future generations to learn from the Holocaust.Disclaimer:The study of the Holocaust requires students to engage with potentially distressing content, including topics of racism, dehumanization, suicide, and mass murder. Students should take appropriate measures to care for their mental health while engaging with the course material, including seeking the support of parents, school counselors, teachers, or other trusted adults as needed.

Module One: Antisemitism and the Rise of the Nazi Party

-analyzing the origins and forms of antisemitism

-explaining the challenges of Weimar Germany and politics of the Nazi Party’s rise

-analyzing how emergency powers were used to end the Weimar Republic

-examining Nazi ideology, propaganda, and education


Module Two: Legal and Social Dehumanization

-understanding the Nazi state’s process of dehumanizing Jews with the Nuremberg Laws

-describing Kristallnacht and the German path to World War II

-identifying other victims of Nazi terror

-analyzing the process of forced removal to ghettos and life within them

-analyzing the path from mobile killing squads to the Wannsee Conference


Module Three: From Concentration Camps to Liberation

-studying the concentration camp system and life in the camps

-considering questions of perpetrators, collaborators, bystanders, and corporate complicity

-describing partisans and resistance movements

-describing the death marches at the end of the war

-comparing the liberation of different camps and early survivor experiences


Module Four: Never Again

-analyzing the Nuremberg and Eichmann Trials

-analyzing the formation of Israel and its subsequent history

-studying Holocaust denial and forms of modern antisemitism

-considering the responsibilities of “Never Again”

This is a one-segment course.