Lead a class discussion, asking students what they think of when they think of the word “home.” What does home mean to them?

Read the resource, Displaced Persons by Echoes & Reflections with the class, taking time to answer questions and clarify if necessary.

Take time to look at the statistics of Jewish DP’s in camps by 1946, pointing out that these were the majority of the survivors remaining in continental Europe from the population of about 10 million in 1933. Point out that many were forced to live in Displaced Person (DP) camps, often built within Nazi camp structures scattered across Europe.

Have students take 10-15 minutes to fill in their answers at the bottom of the resource they read  by Echoes & Reflections. Once they finish, return as a class to go over their answers.

Lastly, return to the question of home. Has their idea of what home means changed from the start of the lesson?

Ask students what the words “liberation” and “freedom” mean to them. Usually people give positive answers to these concepts. Briefly explain that even though personal freedom and liberty is, objectively, good, in cases where you gain liberty and freedom after a period of trauma, fear, and violence, it can be a very difficult thing to adjust to and everyone reacts differently to it.

Give a brief presentation of images of life after liberation taken from the Yad Vashem archives. Point out the faces and body language of image subjects. Explain that people’s experiences of liberation were very different, as allied forces reclaimed territory at different times. Because there were so many people with nowhere to go and no possessions to speak of, often they would live in DP camps which were created from the remnants of the concentration camps that some were liberated from.

Divide the class into groups of 4 – 6 students.

Give each group a selection of survivor testimony provided by Yad Vashem to read and discuss. If possible, allow students to have access to, or have the presentation of images remain projected as they go through the testimonies. In these groups, the students will create a list of questions, concerns, and feelings that survivors bring up in the testimonies to present to the class.

As the groups present, collect their answers to be used in continued discussion. Were there common themes in survivor feelings, concerns, and questions of the future?

Ask students how they define resistance. What does resistance look like and what form does it take? Ask them if they would expect there to be much resistance in extermination camps. Why or why not?

Show the video of Anna Heilman from Facing History and Ourselves. Preview the video by telling students that Anna’s story describes how the plot to blow up the crematoria at Auschwitz became a reality.
After the video concludes, ask students how they feel about this act of defiance? Was it successful?

Then, show the video of Helen K. from 19:52 to 25:50
Before beginning the video, ask students to record instances of resistance, however they define it.

After the video, ask students to share their responses, both written and felt, in small groups. What forms of resistance did they notice? What did they feel as they watched this testimony?

Finally, ask students to take a moment to write short responses to the question of whether these acts of defiance were successful or not. Given that most individuals died who tried to revolt, were their efforts in vain or meaningful? Why or why not?

Time permitting, open up for a broad class discussion.

Ask students how they define resistance. What does resistance look like and what form does it take? Ask them also if they would expect there to be much resistance in concentration camps. Why or why not?

Printable background and lyrics here.
Listen to the Dachau Song via the US Holocaust Memorial Museum website. Ask them to pay attention to the tone and tenor of the song while they read along with the lyrics that pop up on the screen (full screen is best for this).

When the song is finished, prompt students to provide their initial thoughts about the song. What did they notice? Does it remind them of anything? What is the overall feeling that the song generated for them?

Then, distribute the PDF of the lyrics and the background information.
Read through the background information about the song and clarify any of the details or language that the students might have trouble with.
Then, split the class into 5 groups and assign each one to a verse or the chorus.
In groups, ask each team to analyze the lyrics that they have been given, offering that they can reference a dictionary to look up words that are more difficult.
Prompt their analysis with some questions that will help better understand what life was like in Dachau:

1. What does the author indicate about life in the camp?
2. What imagery is used and why do you think it was chosen?
3. What are the inmates supposed to be cautious of?
4. What does this song say about resistance to oppression?

Ask each group to offer their analysis of the song and, while they do, add unique answers to your ‘chalk’ board. Once each group has presented their section, ask the whole group for other observations about the song in its entirety. What else can they glean from their collective observations about life in Dachau?

Time permitting, return to the recorded version of the song once again. Ask students to pay close attention to the lyrics that they have on their page in addition to the overall feel of the tune. What else comes up in their minds as they take in the whole piece once more?

Ask students how they define resistance. What does resistance look like and what form does it take?
Ask them also if they would expect there to be much resistance in killing centers. Why or why not?
Finally, set the stage for their learning: is revolt meaningful even when it is crushed by the oppressor?

Read together the page on Resistance from the BBC which gives a brief overview of acts of rebellion against the Nazis that occurred within killing centers.
Attempt to clarify any questions that emerge from the reading before splitting the class into groups. Know that group work will also fill in many details.
Each group will be assigned one of the pop-out links which gives more context and introduces primary sources about specific stories of resistance.
Assign the following pop-out links first, reserving the other links for exceptionally large classes:

‘secret meetings’
‘resistance outside’
‘saved others’
‘defiance’
‘uprising’
‘saved others’
‘terrible consequences’

Once divided into groups, give each group the task of examining their particular word. It will be their job to report to the group what is meant by the term and summarize the example that is provided. Ask that students not only prepare to speak for 2-3 minutes on their term, but also identify points they would like to investigate more deeply.
The goal for the class is to understand the particularities or nuances to this brief summary.

Read the summary again, prompting the group assigned to the word to fill in details about what they learned from their own investigation.

At the end, ask each group to identify what more they would like to know, given the research they did for today’s exercise.

Ask your students what words come to mind when they think of the Holocaust. If you choose to, write them on the board as you go. Does the term “resistance” come up?

Tell students that it is a common myth that Jews went like “sheep to the slaughter” during the Holocaust. Let students know that the people they will hear from in the video were part of the resistance, a group of Jewish partisans that fought against Nazi forces and saved the lives of thousands.

Define a partisan for the class, explaining that a partisan is, “a member of an organized body of fighters who attack or harass an enemy, especially behind enemy lines; a guerrilla.” A group using guerrilla tactics use irregular forms of fighting such as sabotage and hit-and-run attacks.

Play the video, Introduction to the Jewish Partisans, by Facing History and Ourselves. Open up to a class discussion about partisans with the questions below.

1. What tactics did the partisans use in order to fight?
2. How did they stay hidden?
3. Did it surprise you that there were female fighters in the resistance? Why do you think this was more common than women fighting in an official military?

Continue the class discussion with the following thoughts. Read through the two statements below to direct the conversation.

• In the video, a woman named Sonia Orbuch states that, “People did not go like sheep to their deaths. People were fighting every which way they can.”
• Ellie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor and author of Night, suggests an alternative to the question, “Why didn’t the Jews resist?” Instead, Wiesel explains, “The question is not why all the Jews did not fight, but how so many of them did. Tormented, beaten, starved, where did they find the strength -spiritual and physical- to resist?”

What are ways in which we as individuals can help change the narrative?

Start by asking your students, “What is resistance?”
Have students call out ways in which they think Jews resisted during the Holocaust and write those answers down on the board.

Define a partisan for the class, explaining that a partisan is, “a member of an armed group formed to fight against an occupying force.” Further this explanation by telling your students that these groups would typically use irregular, or guerrilla, forms of fighting such as sabotage and hit-and-run attacks.

More will be added to this list after reading through the resource, so make sure there is space available. Another aspect of this activity is to debunk the myth that there was little or no resistance. Filling the board with the different types of resistance will help students visualize how much there was.

Read through the resource, Jewish Partisans by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum as a class. When you are finished, ask students to give more examples of how Jews resisted and add these to the list you have started on the board.

Is this more or less than they expected? Let students know that this is one category of resistance, and that in later lessons they can look into resistance that took place in ghettos and in the camps.

Instruct students to take 5-10 minutes for a quick-write answering the following prompt:

“Resistance does not have to be with a gun or a bullet.” What do you think of when you read this quote? What comes to mind? (Prompt from lesson by Echoes & Reflections)

Reconvene as a class and ask people to share their thoughts.

Begin by asking students, what is an anthem? What anthems do you know? Do they all encourage resistance?

Before you begin the lesson, provide some historical context about the author of the poem by reading the passage below to the class. This context, as well as other points from this lesson plan have been taken by elirab.me/study. The full version of this lesson plan can be found here.

Hirsch Glik was born in Wilno (now Vilnius) in 1922. He began to write poetry in Yiddish in his teens and was a co-founder of Yungwald (Young Forest), a group of young Jewish poets. Glik entered the Vilna ghetto after the Nazi attack on the Soviet Union. He was a participant in both the ghetto’s artistic community and the underground movement and took part in the 1942 ghetto uprising. Glik wrote the poem you will be reading right after this in early 1943. He was able to flee when the ghetto was being liquidated in October 1943 but was recaptured. He escaped once more in July 1944 and was never heard from again. It is presumed that he was captured once again and executed by the Nazis in August 1944.

Divide the class into groups of three or four. Give each member of the group a copy of the Partisan Poem. When giving them the poem, provide them the instructions below. Allow approximately 15 minutes for this initial discussion.

1. Have one member of the group read the poem aloud while the others read along.
2. Look closely at the language of the poem. What themes can you identify from it?
   *Hint* Notice the use of the present tense: “will grow” and “will come”.
3. What do you think was the author’s goal in writing this poem?

Take a few minutes for groups to share their responses.

After the students have had some time to go over the poem, tell them that the poem (albeit not the exact wording) was also used as a song, or anthem amongst the resistance. The song, Zog Nit Keynmol, translating as “Never Say” and, to this day considered the anthem of Holocaust survivors.

Listen to the song as a class. Watch the video from beginning till 2:38 (when the English ends) unless you would also like to have the class listen in its original form, Yiddish.

Have the groups discuss the questions below after listening. Allow an additional 5-10 minutes for this section.

1. What do you consider when you compare the poem to the song?
2. Can you think of any reason why the poem was translated into a song?

Come back together as a class. Open up a class discussion with the questions below:

1. This song has been adopted by others as a protest song. How relevant is this poem to the world today? Is it effective as a protest song?
2. When and how does a poem or song become an anthem? Is it considered as such at the time? What impact can an anthem have on a movement?

Begin by asking students what they know about ghettos. Ensure students know the basics, that ghettos were typically closed off parts of a city where Jews were forced to live.

Ask if they can list off any health or emotional challenges that could be faced by living in one.

Read through the resource, Life in the Ghettos by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum as a class. Scroll through the images and videos in the left hand corner to show the class. Find the video titled, “Gerda Weissmann Klein describes her birthday celebration in the Bielsko ghetto” and watch that as a class.

Ask the students how their initial list matches up to the reality of what they learned from life in the ghettos.

Have the students list some examples of how people tried to maintain “normal” life in the ghettos.

Tell the students they will now have the chance to go back into the reading and write down a few notes using the 3Ps method- writing down something they find a) Powerful b) Puzzling and c) Propelling.

In order to familiarize yourself, and your class with this model, please look over this guide: 3Ps: A Critical Reading Guide.

Allow the students to pair up in groups of two or three to go over what they wrote down for their 3Ps. As they do so, provide them with the following instructions:

Go over your notes from the reading, try to answer one another’s puzzling sections.

Then discuss the following questions:

1. What were the Nazis’ intentions in closing Jews in the ghettos?
2. The Germans wanted to concentrate Jews into the larger cities and establish ghettos near railroad junctions. What do you think was the purpose of gathering the Jews in certain central locations? Why did the Germans want to establish ghettos near railway transports?

If time permits, come back together as a class to share what was discussed. Make sure to let students know that if they are unable to find clarity for something in the ‘puzzling’ notes to bring it up to you to be discussed.

Write the word “ghetto” on the board. Have students share what they know about the word and record their responses. Follow this discussion by sharing the history of the word.

US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Holocaust Encyclopedia states that the term “ghetto” originated from the name of the Jewish quarter in Venice, Italy. In 1516, Venetian authorities compelled the city’s Jews to live in this quarter. Following Italy’s example, local authorities and even the Austrian emperor ordered the creation of Jewish ghettos in Frankfurt, Rome, Prague, and other cities.

This lesson is adapted from The Ghettos by Echoes & Reflections, the full unit can be found here.

Play the video testimonies for Joseph Morton and Ellis Lewin. While they watch, encourage your students to listen for specific examples of how ghettos during the Holocaust differ from their understanding of what is referred to as a “ghetto” today. It could be beneficial to take students to the resource, Life in the Ghettos by USHMM and scroll through the photos and watch a few of the brief videos.

Open up into a class discussion with the questions below:

1. In their testimonies, Ellis Lewin and Joseph Morton share some of their early feelings and experiences in the ghetto. How does Ellis say his life changed after being forced into the ghetto? What does Joseph share about his observations of life in the ghetto?
2. Based on the testimonies you just watched, how were ghettos during the Holocaust different from your understanding of what a ghetto is today?
3. How do you think Ellis, Joseph and other ghetto survivors would feel about the use of the term today?
4. What images have begun to emerge for you about ghetto life after listening to these two testimonies?
5. How do you think Ellis and Joseph felt sharing these memories? How did you feel listening to them?

Lastly, divide the class into groups of three to five to discuss the following questions:

1. Reinhard Heydrich, Nazi head of the SIPO (security police) writes, “For the time being, the first step toward the final solution is the concentration of the Jews…” What do you think Heydrich meant by “for the time being”?
2. Discuss the difference between physical and economic segregation.
3. When people describe a neighborhood today as a “ghetto,” how is it different from the Nazi ghettos? Are there any similarities?

If time permits, open into a class discussion.