Explore the stories from women rescuers during the Holocaust. Students will have the opportunity to learn the stories of courageous female upstanders and what they risked in order to save the lives of Jews.
This lesson is generously sponsored by Godfrey & Kahn.
During the Holocaust we can see numerous accounts of people going out of their way to rescue Jews from being harmed or deported.
Start by asking students, “What is an upstander?”
After students have had a chance to answer, you can provide them with the official definition. An Upstander is “a person who speaks or acts in support of an individual or cause, particularly someone who intervenes on behalf of a person being attacked or bullied.”
Next, discuss the following quote by Samantha Power- “If I look at the mass, I will never act. If I look at the one, I will.”
Direct students to the “Women of Valor” section from Yad Vashem. Show them where to find the women’s stories; take some time to click on one or two of the women’s stories to demonstrate how to find the information they will need.
Divide students into groups of three to five. Assign each group one of the heroines’ stories to look into. Ask students to prepare a presentation telling this person’s story. Presentations can be made with Prezi or PowerPoint, if your class does not have access to computers, presentations may be done with poster boards or large pieces of paper.
Once students have been assigned their group and heroine, provide them with the following questions to help structure their presentation.
This lessons meets the following Academic Standards required by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
Before you teach, use our teacher primer to freshen up on your content knowledge.