The lesson focuses on Eugenics in America, since the primary source materials are all in English already. However, it is important to set the stage for a tie back to Germany as well.
Begin the lesson by reading these two quotes and asking your students to summarize their meaning and how they are affected by them. In short, what is being said and how do they feel about the statements?
Note at the end that these are quotes from Adolf Hitler.

Divide the class into four and distribute one image to each group:

Fair Exhibit
Eugenics Tree
Promotion for Native Sterilization
Popular Science

Use the See, Think, Wonder strategy for analyzing these images in each group (see below)

1. Ask the group to elect a recorder who will write notes from the group’s discussion.
2. Then, ask the group to collectively note what they SEE in the image. What details stand out? What are the most predominant features in the image. Have the recorder write down these comments so they can be shared.
3. Next, ask the group to THINK about what the image means. What do they believe the image is about and why do they think that? What is most important about this image that everyone should note? Again, the recorder should be taking notes.
4. Then, ask the group to WONDER about the image. What is left unknown about this image? What kind of ideas are provoked but unaddressed? What broader questions are left unanswered for the group. Once more, the recorder should be sure to take notes.

Bring all the groups together and ask each to present their image to the larger group. As they share what they see, think and wonder, encourage broader discussion from the whole group. Also, fill in context as you feel comfortable so as to keep stretching the conversation toward greater clarification.

Finally, ask the group to Wonder again about what remains unknown about the Eugenics movement in America or the relationship between this and Hitler’s Germany. These could prompt additional opportunities for exploration with some of the resources below or through the video or reading in this topic.

Begin by asking students if they have ever heard of Auschwitz. Then ask if they have heard about Dachau. Do they know what they were? What was the difference between the two? You may find it helpful to pull up these maps of Dachau and Auschwitz by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Read through the resource, The Nazi Camp System: Terminology by USHMM with the class. Start at the top of the page with the overview and the three Key Facts before moving on.

After you go through the reading, ask students what is the importance is of using the correct terminology when talking about the Nazi camp system?

Then divide the class into groups of three or five and direct them to the resource, Killing Centers: In Depth by USHMM. Have groups read through it amongst themselves. They can all read silently or they can switch off reading out loud to their group. Once they finish reading, have the groups discuss and record their answers to the Critical Thinking Questions located at the bottom of the page.

Go over the Critical Thinking Questions with the class, giving students an opportunity to ask questions and clear up any confusion.

Finally, ask students why they feel it is important to differentiate and use the appropriate terminology when discussing the Nazi camp system. It may be worth pointing out that the term ‘concentration camp’ is used by some people in the U.S. to describe the Japanese American camps established during World War II, although the term used by the U.S. government was ‘Internment Camps’.

Start by defining resistance for the class: “The refusal to accept or comply with something; the attempt to prevent something by action or argument.”

Next, ask students to work in groups of three to create a working definition for resistance. A working definition is one that builds in meaning as they receive information and gain clarity on the topic.

In these same groups, have students read through the poem “Resistance Is…” from Facing History and Ourselves. Ask the class if they would want to alter or add to their definitions of resistance after reading it. Give them a few minutes (no more than 5) to add to their working definitions.

Divide the class into groups of three to read through the Pronouncement by Abba Kovner from Echoes & Reflections. Let students know that Abba Kovner wrote this manifesto while at the Vilna ghetto in an attempt to stage an uprising.

Have one student from each group read through the text out loud as the others follow in silence. Then have each group discuss the questions below. Have one student in each group take notes that include the significant points of their discussion.

1. What was the objective of the manifesto? How do you think Kovner wanted people to respond?
2. What is he asking the ghetto’s inhabitants to believe, and what is he asking them not to believe?

Ask the groups to read through the passage once more. This time, having them focus on the language and answer the following questions:

1. What metaphors, words, or phrases does Kovner use to convince people that Ponary is not a labor camp?
2. Which words or phrases have the most impact?

Have each group review the first definition of resistance that they wrote at the beginning of the lesson. Still in their groups, encourage them to discuss whether or not they think they need to make more changes after analyzing Abba Kovner’s call to resistance. Give them a few minutes to do so.

Ask each group to share their definition of resistance and explain what revisions they made and why.

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?