Governor Phil Murphy • Lt. Governor Tahesha Way

NJ Holocaust Grades 9-12 Curriculum: Unit 1

Unit Topic: An Introduction to the Holocaust and Genocide
Grade(s): 9-12

Unit Goal: Students will be introduced to the Holocaust and Genocide in this unit.

Objectives: 

  1. Students will examine and identify the main areas of study for the Holocaust/Genocide Unit.
  2. Students will also identify any other areas in this unit that they would like to cover.
  3. Students will examine and identify any comparisons of what happened in Nazi Germany and any contemporary similar events today around the world.

  1. What is the definition of the Holocaust and Genocide?
  2. How did the Holocaust take place in Germany and other countries in Europe?
  3. Why were the Jews and other groups targeted by the Nazis?
  4. How were the Nazis able to get people to commit these terrible atrocities? 
  5. Why is it so important to study the Holocaust and Genocide?
  6. Why didn’t more Jews fight back against the Nazis?
  7. Why didn’t the Allied countries do more to stop the Holocaust?
  8. What lessons can be learned by studying the Holocaust and Genocide?

  1. The Holocaust was a continent-wide genocide that targeted not only individuals but entire communities and cultures.
  2. The Holocaust was an evolutionary process; extermination plans evolved in stages.
  3. There were numerous groups that were targeted for Nazi persecution and mass murder.
  4. Nazi policy toward Jews changed throughout the Holocaust, from pressure to leave to forced isolation, and lastly to extermination.
  5. Targeted groups sought ways to maintain their dignity and previous ways of life.
  6. It is not possible to fully understand the experiences of those who the Nazis victimized.

Non-fiction

  1. Chocolate, A Taste of Freedom. Maud Peper Dahme 2015
  2. A Life That Matters: From Nazi Nightmare to American Dream. Ben Lesser 2012
  3. One Voice, Two Lives Cantor David S. Wisnia 2015
  4. Once My Name Was Sara. I. Betty Grebenschikoff 1992
  5. Once The Acacias Bloomed. Fred Spiegel 2004
  6. The Daughter of Auschwitz. Tova Friedman and Malcolm Brabant 2022
  7. Survivors Club. Michael Bornstein and Debbie Bornstein Holinstat 2017
  8. The Holocaust by Bullets: A Priest’s Journey to Uncover the Truth Behind the Murder of 1.5 Million Jews. Father Patrick Desbois 2009

Fiction

  1. 94 Maidens: A Novel Inspired by True Events. Rhonda Fink-Whitman 2012.
  2. The Tattooist of Auschwitz. Heather Morris 2018
  3. We Were the Lucky Ones. Georgia Hunter, 2017

  1. Students will be asked what they want to learn in the Holocaust Genocide Unit.  
  2. What do you know and what do you want to know?
  3. Students will take a 25-question pre-quiz for the Holocaust/Genocide Unit.
  4. Students will view a PowerPoint on why to study the Holocaust and Genocide.
  5. Class discussion will follow focusing on the results of the pre-quiz. 
  6. Students will write down what they learned in class today on an index card.

Assessments:

Students will write down what they would like to learn in this unit.

Students will take a twenty-five-question pre-quiz on the Holocaust/Genocide Unit

Students will come to class tomorrow with any additional questions that they would like covered in this unit.

Twenty-five-question pre-quiz will be provided.

PowerPoint “Why study the Holocaust and Genocide will be provided.

Film: Engineering Evil: Inside the Holocaust YouTube stop at 1:24:56 

PowerPoint “Engineering Evil” will be provided 

Witness To History. Ruth Lichtenstein, Editor-In-Chief, 2009

To Kill A People: Genocide in the Twentieth Century. John Cox, 2016

Governments around the world support universal human rights to varying degrees. 

6.2.12.CivicsHR.4.a: Analyze the motivations, causes, and consequences of the genocides of Armenians, Ukrainians, and Jews in the Holocaust and assess the responses by individuals, groups, and governments and analyze large-scale atrocities including 20th-century massacres in China. 

6.2.12.CivicsPI.4.b: Assess government responses to incidents of ethnic cleansing and genocide

Historical events and developments were shaped by the unique circumstances of time and place as well as broader historical contexts. 

6.2.12.HistoryCC.4.g: Use a variety of resources from different perspectives to analyze the role of racial bias, nationalism, and propaganda in mobilizing civilian populations in support of “total war.” 

6.2.12.HistoryCC.4.h: Compare and contrast World Wars I and II in terms of technological innovations (i.e., industrial production, scientific research, war tactics) and social impact (i.e., national mobilization, loss of life, and destruction of property).

Complex interacting factors influence people’s perspective 

6.2.12.HistoryUP.4.b: Report on the influence of war, economic depression, and genocide on the arts, cultural values, and social ideas. 

6.2.12.HistoryUP.4.c: Compare and contrast the actions of individuals as perpetrators, bystanders, and rescuers during events of persecution or genocide, and describe the long-term consequences of genocide for all involved.