Jewish Life Pre-WWII

In order to better understand what Jewish cultural and communal life was like in Europe prior to WWII, you will be finding photographs from that time period and analyzing them, as well as researching the town(s) where the photos were taken. Follow the assigments below in order, working at your own pace.

Sidenote: Spend a few minutes looking around the Holocaust Museum website. That link is here.

Assignment #1 Photo Collection
Think of two words that symbolize "everyday life". Ex: shopping, school, family time, sports, etc. Go to the USHMM Photo archives collection and type your word into the search engine. Don't pick the very first picture you find. Instead, browse the pictures. Spend some time looking at what is available and thinking about them. Your photo cannot be dated AFTER Nazi occupation, which varied by country. Below is a list of Nazi occupation dates:
Austria March 1938
Poland Sept 1939
Czech March 1939
Denmark 1944 but not really
Norway April 1940
Holland May 1940
Belgium, Luxembourg, France June 1940
Transylvania 1940
Greece April 1941
Yugoslavia April 1941
Russia June 1941
Hungary 1944
Slovakia, Romania 1940
Italy-->Albania April 1939
Sov Union -->Poland 1939
Sov U --> Finland 1940
Sov U --> Romania June 1940

Make certain that the photo you choose includes a location where it was taken.

The link to the archives is here.

Once you have found a photo for each key word that you really like, right click on it, copy it, and paste it into a word doc. Also copy and paste ONLY the date and location (city and country) (no other info like captions). Print it.

Photo requirements are that it must have people in it, cannot be what is classified as a portrait, and must be prior to German occupation.

Week of February 5

Monday, 2/5
OFF

Tuesday, 2/6
Judaism Discussion
Memorial Planning

Wednesday, 2/7
Pre-WWII Jewish Life
Research Photos

Thursday, 2/8
Research towns, etc

Friday, 2/9
"Image Before My Eyes"
Share
Memorial Planning

Week of January 29

This is a week in the curriculum that I love! Can't wait to explore Judaism with you!

Monday, 1/29
Fiddler

Tuesday, 1/30
Fiddler

Wednesday, 1/31
Speaker

Thursday, 2/1
Judaism Discussion
Memorial Planning

Friday, 2/2
Judaism Activity
Memorial Planning

Genocide Info

This link will take you to the information I mentioned about the steps to genocide.  Important link for the test 

Week of January 22

Even though it feels like school just started, Unit 1 will end this week! That was fast! I have been really pleased with our discussions in this first unit and have high hopes for the remainder of the school year.

Monday, 1/22
GATACCA

Tuesday, 1/23
GATTACA

Wednesday, 1/24
Holocaust/Shoah
Genocides

Thursday, 1/25
Unit 1 Test

Friday, 1/26
"Fiddler on the Roof"

Never Again?

Aleppo Links:

Twitter 

My Blog

The Last Pediatrician in Syria

Hunger Camp at Jaslo
by Wislawa Szymborska
Write it. Write. In ordinary ink
on ordinary paper: they were given no food,
they all died of hunger. "All. How many?
It's a big meadow. How much grass
for each one?" Write: I don't know.
History counts its skeletons in round numbers.
A thousand and one remains a thousand,
as though the one had never existed:
an imaginary embryo, an empty cradle,
an ABC never read, 
air that laughs, cries, grows,
emptiness running down steps toward the garden,
nobody's place in the line.

We stand in the meadow where it became flesh,
and the meadow is silent as a false witness.
Sunny. Green. Nearby, a forest
with wood for chewing and water under the bark-
every day a full ration of the view
until you go blind. Overhead, a bird-
the shadow of its life-giving wings
brushed their lips. Their jaws opened.
Teeth clacked against teeth.
At night, the sickle moon shone in the sky
and reaped wheat for their bread.
Hands came floating from blackened icons,
empty cups in their fingers.
On a spit of barbed wire,
a man was turning.
They sang with their mouths full of earth.
"A lovely song of how war strikes straight
at the heart." Write: how silent.
"Yes." 

Breaking News

Today

"All the people like us are we, and everyone else is they." ~Rudyard Kipling

"When you think of the long and gloomy history of man, you will find more hideous crimes have been committed in the name of obedience than in the name of rebellion." ~C.P. Snow

"The world is too dangerous to live in-- not because of the people who do evil, but because of the people who sit and let it happen." ~Albert Einstein

"Genocide, after all, is an exercise in community building." ~Philip Gourevitch

"I graduated from a special school. Four years I spent there... all my days were nights. Everything that was near and dear to me they took. There is only one thing worse than Auschwitz itself, and that is if the world forgets there was such a place." ~Henry Appel, survivor

"Goodness, like evil, often begins in small steps. Heroes evolve; they aren't born." ~Ervin Staub

Preemptive Love

Week of December 12

We are close to the end now....

Monday, 12/12
Connections

Tuesday, 12/13
NO CLASS

Wednesday, 12/14
Other Genocides

Thursday, 12/15
Now What?

Friday, 12/16
Timeline Activity