Holocaust Memorial Day 2022

Yet again Covid has necessitated providing this year's Holocaust education sessions as teacher resources. 

We have developed four teacher led sessions, each 45 minutes duration, that give a good overall introduction to the Holocaust. These sessions build one upon the other and thus need to be given in order 1 to 4. If you are unable to give all of them do not skip a lesson.

Lesson 1 

This is a general introduction to the Holocaust. If you only have 1 lesson available, use this one. It gives an overview of the topic, an interview with a survivor together with a question and answer session and an opportunity for the students to reflect on what they have learnt. It includes the poem 'One Day', which is the theme for 2022, with a space for each student to add their own line.

Lesson 2 

This is about the life of Irena Sendler, a Christian rescuer and hero, who is an exemplar of what it means to stand up for personal values at difficult times.

It includes a PowerPoint presentation plus the script for the Life in a Jar workshop. 

NB Students will need advance notice if you are planning to use this lesson, as each one will need an empty jar eg jam jar, washed and with its label removed.

Lesson 3

This uses our Candles of Hope templates and is about rescuers and what it means to be one, both during the Holocaust and in our times and situation. We hope students will further develop their understanding of what it means to be a person of principle.

Lesson 4

This is a workshop about Assumptions to make students aware of the importance of not making assumptions about another person at first sight. It’s hard to know who is being a bystander, rescuer or victim, without knowing more about them. Sometimes a person can be one thing in one situation and another in different circumstances. 

It includes photo resources and also a short Unicef film ' The shared story of Ahmed and Harry' plus the poem by Brian Bilston entitled Refugees, which read one way shows a very prejudiced point of view, but read the other way, the opposite