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NJ Holocaust Grades 9-12 Curriculum: Unit 2
Unit Topic: The Nature of Genocide and the Path to Genocide
Grade(s): 9-12
Unit Goal: This unit will have the students examine the nature of prejudice and the implications of the path to genocide.
Objectives:
- Students will be able to identify the origin of the word genocide.
- Students will understand that genocide is a possible consequence of prejudice and discrimination that is left unchecked.
- Students will define and explain the nature of prejudice as a universal phenomenon.
- What is the nature and definition of prejudice?
- Students will examine what are the sources of prejudice.
- Examples of contemporary examples of prejudice, stereotyping, bigotry, discrimination, and genocide.
- Students will investigate current extremist groups and examine whether advanced education and culture can reduce the potential for genocide.
- How do individuals develop values and beliefs?
- What factors shape our values and beliefs?
- How do values and beliefs change over time
- What happens when the belief systems of societies and individuals come into conflict?
- To what extent do belief systems shape and/or reflect culture and society?
- How are belief systems represented throughout history?
- How do beliefs influence different people’s behavior?
- How does what we know about the world shape the way we view ourselves?
- How do our personal experiences shape our view of others?
- What is the relevance of studying multicultural texts?
- Who defines “truth”?
- How does perspective shape or alter the truth?
- Human rights are a birthright of every human being regardless of race, sex, or nationality. Ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status.
- Human rights include the right to life, liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more and they are inherent to every person.
- Social and political systems have protected and denied human rights (to a varying degrees) throughout time.
- Individuals have the right to be safe and not to be bullied or discriminated against.
- Chronological sequencing helps us understand the interrelationship of historical events.
- Political, economic, social, and cultural factors both change and stay the same over time.
- Historical events may have single, multiple, and direct and indirect causes and effects.
- Historical events and developments are shaped by social, political, cultural, technological, and economic factors.
Non-Fiction
- Chocolate, A Taste of Freedom. Maud Peper Dahme 2015
- A Life That Matters: From Nazi Nightmare to American Dream. Ben Lesser 2012
- One Voice, Two Lives Cantor David S. Wisnia 2015
- Once My Name Was Sara. I. Betty Grebenschikoff 1992
- Once The Acacias Bloomed. Fred Spiegel 2004
- The Daughter of Auschwitz. Tova Friedman and Malcolm Brabant 2022
- Survivors Club. Michael Bornstein and Debbie Bornstein Holinstat 2017
- 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
- 94 Maidens: A Novel Inspired by True Events. Rhonda Fink-Whitman, 2012
- The Tattooist of Auschwitz. Heather Morris, 2018
- We Were the Lucky Ones. Georgia Hunter, 2017.
- Students will be asked to examine and discuss both handouts as to how prejudice is learned and the sources of prejudice that can lead to genocide.
- Students will also view the video and discuss the implications of prejudice.
- Students will write down their responses to the video shown at the beginning of class.
Assessments: Students will hand in their index cards at the end of the class period.
Another option would be to have the students take a written unit test on the seven-day unit which would include writing a sentence or two on terms in the unit and several essay questions on the unit.
Seeds of Hate: An Examination of Prejudice Curriculum guide page 187
United Nations Definition of Genocide
Southern Poverty Law Center Hate Map
To Kill A People: Genocide in the Twentieth. John Coz, 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.