Explain to students that the Nazis established numerous ghettos and camps throughout Europe, all with their unique attributes. The camp that will be discussed in this lesson, Terezin, or Theresienstadt, was incredibly unique and served many purposes.

Prominent Jews, especially artists, musicians, and cultural figures were among the people sent to Terezin because their disappearance in society may otherwise raise suspicions.

Use the resource, Terezin: A Site for Deception, by Facing History & Ourselves to give students an overview of the ghetto. Read through this resource as a class and analyze the picture by Bedrich Fritta together. Students will be given other pictures from Terezin to analyze later, so do this one as a class.

Divide students into small groups and provide them with these images (without captions) and have them look through the images and discuss the questions on the last page. Give students about 5-10 minutes for this.

After students have had a chance to look through the images without the captions, provide them this document that includes the captions and context. Give students some time with the pictures and allow them to discuss the questions on the last page. Give students an additional 5-10 minutes for this.

Call the class together to share what they discussed. Have a representative from each group share an overview.

Lastly, return to the essential questions and open into a class discussion about the use of art in the camp system.

Explain to students that as persecution for Jewish people in Nazi occupied territories worsened, more and more people were seeking refuge in other countries. Many countries, including the United States, had a long waiting list to obtain visas.

Pull up this checklist from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Americans and the Holocaust virtual exhibition. Examine one or two of the steps in greater detail.
Up until August 1939, no visas were required to enter Shanghai.

Read the following excerpt from a diary entry about entrance to Shanghai:

“We have to go to Shanghai. Terrible letters come from there. One runs again to see if our names are on the list to leave. Before, when one saw his name on the list, one was happy. Today…one cries.”
-Rose Shoshana Kahan diary entry, 1941

Ask students why they think people continued to seek refuge in Shanghai despite hearing such terrible things from there? What does that say about the desperation people had to leave Europe?

In partners or individually, have students read through this article by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum about Polish Jewish Refugees in the Shanghai Ghetto and answers the questions below.

1. What were conditions like for the refugees that ended up in Shanghai?
2. How did things change after the attack on Pearl Harbor?
3. How did the Jewish refugees maintain a sense or ordinary life?

Come together as a class to go over their answers.

Begin by providing your students with background information on concentration camps. Concentration camps were created for a variety of reasons, including forced labor, detention of individuals viewed as enemies of the state, and eventually, mass murder.

Pull up the resource, Polish Victims, by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. As a class, read the first two paragraphs of this article, ending where it begins to talk about “Germanizing Poland.”

Open into a brief class discussion with the following critical thinking question:

Why did German forces eliminate or arrest not just leaders of political groups, but of religious organizations as well?

Explain to your students that they will be examining documents from a Polish victim of Nazi persecution, Rev. Stanley Dabrowski.

In groups of 2-3, have students look through and analyze the primary documents from series 1 and 2 of the Rev. Stanley Dabrowski papers from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.

In groups, provide students with the following instructions below. Provide 10-15 minutes for this activity.

1. Look through the documents from series 1 and series 2.
2. What can you gather from these documents about Rev. Stanley Dabrowski’s life?
3. What was happening around this time in the greater context of the Holocaust leading up to Stanley’s arrest?

Once students have had an opportunity to research for themselves, provide this overview of Rev. Stanley Dabrowski’s life, compiled from research by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.

How does Rev. Dabrowski’s story contribute to your overall understanding of the Holocaust?

Bring up the painting The Refugee by Felix Nussbaum from the Echoes & Reflections website. Ask your students the following questions: Who is the man? What does the globe represent?

Explain that the painting was created by an artist who was killed at Auschwitz. How does the artist express the plight of the refugee in this painting?

Direct students to the resource, Evian Conference by Echoes & Reflections. Read it through as a class or have students read it to themselves.
· What were some reasons countries gave for not wanting to take in refugees?

Break students out into groups of 3-5 to discuss the questions below.

1. Why do you think Franklin D. Roosevelt made it clear that no country would be forced to change its immigration quotas?
2. What do you think could have happened if at least one of the bigger powers (such as the United States or France) were to volunteer to help in a greater capacity?
3. The Evian Conference is seen as an utter failure by the international community to address the refugee problem in Europe. Considering what happened to the Jews, do you think the international community has a moral obligation to help refugees?
4. Should there be an international agency that requires countries to assist refugees?

If time permits, reconvene as a class and go over what the groups discussed.

Write down the word, “Deportation” on the board. Ask students what comes to mind when they think of it.
You might expect students to say things such as: separation, returning to their home country, people being sent away unwillingly.
Re-introduce the term scapegoat, noting that deportations are often the result of scapegoating.
→ scapegoat: a person who is blamed for the wrongdoings, mistakes, or faults of others, especially for reasons of expediency.

Ask students if they have ever thought about why someone might get deported and what this might do to them and their family.

Show the class Part 1 (the first 3:34 minutes) of the Yad Vashem video, The Development of the ‘Final Solution’.
Then, ask the class whether they lean toward the perspective of the Intentionalists or the Functionalists and why.

Then, watch Bert Flemming’s testimony from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. The testimony is quite long, the part that will be used in this lesson is starting at 5:45 and ending at 9:33. Before playing the testimony, read through the overview featured at the top of the page to introduce Bert Flemming and provide some background information.

It may be beneficial for students to read the testimony as the video goes along. The transcript for this video can be found here and the portion of video you will watch begins on page 2 right after 1:06:01.

After you watch the video, take a few minutes to ask the students what they thought of Bert Flemming’s testimony. Allow the students to ask some questions, to provide comments about what they heard. If you are having some trouble getting the conversation started, try asking the following questions:

1. What do you think was going through Bert Flemming’s mind when he saw the men with bayonets on both sides?
2. Did it seem like either side, Germany or Poland, had a plan as for what to do with the Jews?
3. How did Bert Flemming help organize once they arrived in Zbasyn?

Finally, return to the question of the scapegoat.
Ask students why they thought Nazi Germany was trying to push the Jews into Poland. Then, dig a little deeper: what is the end game for the Nazis? Would mass expulsion ever really work to meet the interests of the Nazi party?

Finally, prompt them to consider in writing the following question:
Does scapegoating naturally lead to the worst possible outcomes for the targeted group in a given situation?

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.

Ask the students if any of them have ever read Diary of Anne Frank or Diary of a Wimpy Kid. What sort of things do people write in diaries?

Watch the 16 minute video, The Ghettos by Yad Vashem. Take about 5 minutes having students go around and give examples of what sort of challenges people faced. Then ask, how did people try to maintain a sense of dignity or humanity?

Ask students to reflect on what they just watched and discussed. How did hearing the testimonies and diary entries help paint a picture of what life was like in the ghettos? Provide 10 minutes for students to write and reflect.

If time permits, have students share their reflections.

Provide students with a blank A5 piece of paper (postcard sized) and a pencil. Give students just 2-3 minutes to sketch what they think a Nazi concentration camp looked like. Assure them that their artistic skills are not the main focus, rather this exercise seeks to visualize their prior knowledge and understanding of concentration camps.

In groups of four, ask students to create a gallery with the images they created. Ask them to talk about the similarities and differences between the sketches.

Direct students to the resource, Concentration Camps, 1939-42 by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Read through the first two sections, “Expansion of the Camp System” and “Establishment of New Camps” as a class.

Direct student attention to the list of camps: Gusen, Neuengamme, Gross-Rosen, Auschwitz, Natzweiler, Stuffhof, and Majdanek. Click on one of the camps on the list to show students what type of information can be found for each one. Scroll to the bottom of the page to show where the discussion questions will be.

In the same groups that they are already working with, assign each group one of the camps from the list. Have students prepare a brief presentation about their assigned camp answering the questions below.

Provide students with the following instructions:

1. When was the camp established?
2. How many prisoners were held there?
3. What type of people did they imprison there?
4. What work were the prisoners doing there?
5. Name one thing you found that surprised you about this particular camp.
6. Answer one of the discussion questions found at the bottom of the page.
7. Compare the sketches you made at the beginning of the lesson to what you now know about the camps.

Reconvene as a class. Ask students some new things they learned about concentration camps. Compared to their sketches and what they know now, what would they have changed in their drawing?

Tell students that (as they may now realize) that all camps were different. There is no such thing as a “typical” concentration camp. Different camps had different functions and they changed over time.

Ask students what they know about concentration camps. Do they know when they started? What kind of people were imprisoned in them?

Read through the resource, Early Camps by the BBC with the class. Then go back and demonstrate how to get to the primary sources by clicking on the red lettering in the text and then clicking on “Read Document” that comes up.

Dissect the first resource, “mass arrests” as a class. Use the following guidelines to help go through it:

1. First, identify where the source is coming from.
2. Summarize the resource.
3. What assumptions can be drawn from it?
4. Lastly, come up with a question that comes out of your reflections. The question should attempt to generate conversation between you and your classmates.

Divide the class into groups of three or five and assign each group one of the eight other primary sources. Some sources are longer than others, so you may decide you want to have larger groups analyze those. The longer resources are the ones labeled: ‘no mercy’, ‘murders’, ‘left-wing prisoners’, and ‘German Jews’.

Have them repeat what you did as a class in their groups with their assigned resource. Ask each group to present their resource to the class verbally. If possible, project each resource for the class as the group goes over it.