Hana's Suitcase

School Programs

Program Packages

Standing UP instead of Standing BY

This lesson focuses on the positive impact of standing up for others and for what is right. Pairing the study of Lois Lowry's Number the Stars, a story of the Danish rescue of Jews during WWII, with the study of Eve Bunting's allegory, The Terrible Things, students will participate in various teacher-led exercises to aid in understanding the devastating effects of not standing up for others and the positive impact when we do.

Materials:

  • Number the Stars, Lois Lowry
  • The Terrible Things, Eve Bunting
  • "Which role will you choose?" triangle – Holocaust Museum Houston, Susan Llanes Myers
  • Formula for genocide grid: P + B – R = V

Hidden Children:

Anne Frank, One of Many Voices

This lesson focuses on Anne Frank’s experiences as well as on those of other young writers and teenagers who lived during the Holocaust. By reading excerpts from other diaries and memoirs, students will broaden their awareness of the vastly different perspectives of the diarists, of the various ways in which writers attempted to keep some semblance of normalcy in their lives, and of their struggles to survive the Nazi onslaught.

Materials:

  • The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank
  • We Are Witnesses: Five Diaries of Teenagers Who Died in the Holocaust, Jacob Boas
  • Salvaged Pages: Young Writers' Diaries of the Holocaust, Alexandra Zapruder
  • Small Miracles of the Holocaust, Yitta Halberstam & Judith Leventhal
  • The Album, Mary Munson Murphy, ed.

Survive or die: Life in the Camps

Night, One Powerful Memoir

This lesson focuses on Elie Wiesel's powerful memoir, Night, that details his journey from his village in Hungary in 1944 to his liberation from Buchenwald concentration camp in 1945. By pairing the reading of Night with excerpts from Ruth Sender's The Cage and Primo Levi's Moments of Reprieve: A Memoir of Auschwitz, students will have a better understanding of the range of experiences endured by Jews in the camps during the Holocaust. As powerful as Night is, it is the story of one person and it recounts only his experience from 1944 – 1945. Seen in that light, it is a small part of the whole of Holocaust experience. The other readings are designed to broaden the understanding of that whole.

Materials:

  • Night, Elie Wiesel
  • The Cage, Ruth Minsky Sender
  • Moments of Reprieve: A Memoir of Auschwitz, Primo Levi

Confronting Genocide Today

Nazi Germany…Bosnia…Cambodia…Rwanda…Darfur… How does extreme hatred lead to genocide? Investigate what if anything can be done to halt the slaughter of millions. Study ideologies that lead to genocide. Learn about past genocides as a way to begin to understand the causes of genocide and to consider what might be done to stop genocide from occurring.

Materials:

  • The Genocide Reader: The Politics of Ethnicity and Extermination, Marnie J. McCuen
  • War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust, Doris Bergen
  • Nazi Ideology and the Holocaust, USHMM
  • Confronting Genocide: Never Again?, The CHOICES Program

Context of the Holocaust

This program provides the historical background necessary to understanding the context of the Holocaust. By examining life before the Third Reich, the conditions that led to Hitler's ascendency to power, and the gradual erosion of all rights for Jews, students will better understand whatever materials they study. The program is effective as an introduction to studying the Holocaust.

 

What America Knew

This program explores what was known in America about conditions for Jews in Nazi Germany. State department documents and newspaper articles provide valuable insights into not only what the government was aware of but what ordinary Americans knew as well. An examination of the politics of the day shed light on the rewasons why America failed to respond to the plight of European Jews.

 

The History of Anti-Semitism

This program explores What has been called "the oldest hatred". Beginning in biblical times, attitudes about Jews will be examined over the last two thousand years. A Jewish Philosopher, Emil Fackenheim, explains, first they said, you cannot live among us as Jews. Then they said, you cannot live among us. Finally, the Nazis said, you cannot live. How and why did anti-Semitism begin and more importantly how did it continue and flourish over the centuries? These questions will be addressed.

 

Nazi Propaganda

This program examines all aspects of Nazi propaganda, focusing on its impact on ordinary citizens and on children. "If you tell a lie big enought and keep repeating it, eventually people will come to believe it," Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Propaganda Minister. What lies did they tell and how did they tell them?

 

* If these programs do not meet your needs, contact our educator who can create a program specific to your classroom.

 

For more information on scheduling any of these programs call Joan @ (414)963-2714 or email joanc@milwaukeejewish.org.

Anne Frank