Ask students to discuss the term “refugee” and share what they think it means. Have students identify the distinction between a refugee (one who is compelled to emigrate from their home country due to an existential threat) and an immigrant (one who immigrates to a foreign country voluntarily, with the intention of settling there permanently). Also, ask your students what perceptions of refugees seem to be held by our world today.

Distribute this handout from Echoes & Reflections to each student and ask them to consider the following questions individually by writing down answers on a piece of paper.

1. Given when the ship left Germany, did these refugees have a reason to be scared for their lives?
2. What were the reasons that the passengers were not allowed to depart in Cuba? How do you feel about these reasons for refusal?
3. How are the men and women in the photograph dressed? Do you notice anything in particular about the photo that strikes you as distinct?
4. What more would you like to know about this story?

Share individual responses in a group discussion. Then distribute this reading from Facing History and Ourselves. Have students read this and look for additional insight about the story of the St. Louis.

Have students pair with one another after they finish reading to reflect on their understanding. Each group should prepare to report to the class what they think is the most important lesson we can learn from the story of the St. Louis. Prompt them with the question, if the St. Louis came to our shores today, would we be more accepting of refugees? Would we have learned from the tragedy? What gives you confidence in your answer?

Review the timeline from Echoes & Reflections between 1933 and 1938 to get a better picture of the context in which the Evian Conference occurred. What was the Evian Conference? Where was it? Who attended?

Highlight some of the major moments of persecution that Jews already witnessed at the hands of Nazis, like the boycott of Jewish businesses, the Nuremberg Laws or the expulsion of Jews from professional services.

If need be, review the basic concept of the Evian conference. If time permits, students can read this short summary from Facing History and Ourselves. Then, divide the class into five groups, assigning each group to one of the countries represented in the reading here.

Ask the groups to read their quotes very carefully. It will seem to be accomplished easily, they should read these quotes with great acuity and attention to detail.

Ask all the groups to consider the following set of questions and record their group answers:

1. What do you know about the country you are assigned and the role that country ultimately played in WWII?
2. What is the message that your country is telling the refugees?
3. What kind of language (specific words and phrases) is being used by the country’s leaders to talk about their decision?
4. Did your country own up to the decision or did they hide behind a sense of disempowerment or ‘policy’?
5. Why do you think the leaders of your country made the decision that they did?

Each group should then present what they found in closely reading the quotations from their country. Take note of the themes that emerge–words like ‘impossible’ or ‘incapable’ will continue to come up. Ask how it is that countries like the USA are ‘incapable’ of something?

Then prompt the final question:

1. Do you think the decision of your country’s leaders is justified or defensible? Why or why not?

This could be answered immediately, or, if time permits, groups could reconvene and come up with specific arguments about why the decision was defensible or justifiable. Possibly leave the class with a question about what motivated these countries to act to participate in WWII? If it wasn’t the plight of Jews, what was the reason these countries entered the war?

Prompt students to do a bit of pre-writing about the subject. Ask them to reflect briefly on the motivations of the Allied forces of World War II. Specifically, prompt them to see if the likes of Great Britain, the USA and France were focused on stopping the Holocaust. After a few minutes, ask students to voice their answers and orient them to the predominantly political nature of the conflict.

Before showing the video, anticipate some of its content by asking students to pay close attention to the following questions:

1. When was the information about the Holocaust revealed?
2. Who received this information?
3. What did the recipients of this information do with it?
4. Did nations change their approach to war, in light of evidence about the Holocaust?
5. What groups were responsible for initiating action?

Then, show the first 8:20 of the video, Did the world remain silent? produced by Tel Aviv University.

After the video, see if your students can answer the five questions listed above.

After establishing the facts around these international responses, split the class into three groups, each of whom will respond to a different troubling fact discussed in the video. Ask each group to tackle these questions in depth, thinking about the context of the situation as much as they can.

Group 1: At 1:42, the speaker suggests that the Russians saw evidence of the Holocaust in early 1942, but concealed the fact that murders were taking place specifically against Jews. Why?

Group 2: At 5:08 the speaker mentions that even at the end of 1942, ‘no concrete action’ to stop the Holocaust was mentioned by the Allies, despite mounting evidence of the murders. Why would the Allies not develop a plan to stop the atrocities?

Group 3: At 5:28, the speaker mentions that the War Refugee Board, which helped save the lives of thousands of Jews, was created as a result of public pressure. What does this say about your role as a citizen?