Ask the class to think of different ways someone could resist a dictatorship. Write all of the answers people come up with on the board or a shared work space.

Provide a brief overview of the Rosenstrasse Protest with the students. Use the resource, Rosenstrasse Protest by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum as a resource for this. Please have the students read through it individually and have them take notes. Take time to answer any questions students have as best you can.

Divide the class into groups to discuss the following questions:

1. What do you think could have happened if Germans had protested the mistreatment of German Jews during and right after Kristallnacht?
2. How do you think the German public would have responded had the protesters been met with violence?

Explain to students that the War Refugee Board was one of the initiatives that the United States worked on to provide aid during the Holocaust. Explain that they will be learning about one of the individuals that worked through these efforts to save Jews in Hungary.

Talking points provided by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum Holocaust Encyclopedia.

• In January 1944, the War Refugee Board (WRB) was established. Bu this time, the United States government was aware of the mass murder of European Jews and established the WRB to provide aid.
• President Franklin D. Roosevelt tasked this organization with conducting an official American policy of rescue and relief.
• Staff from the WRB worked with Jewish organizations, diplomats from neutral countries, and resistance groups in Europe to rescue Jews from occupied territories and provide relief to Jews in hiding and in concentration camps.
• The War Rescue Board was vital in the rescue of tens of thousands of Jews.

Play the Yad Vashem video (6 minutes) for the class. If necessary, play the video again.

While they watch, ask students to write down answers to the following questions:

1. Who was Raoul Wallenberg?
2. How did Wallenberg provide aid to Jews?
3. What happened to Wallenberg?
4. How have his rescue efforts been honored?

As a class, discuss the responses to the video.

Lastly, show students a clip from Holocaust survivor, Tom Lantos through USC Shoah Foundation iWitness. Please note, that this link may take you to a search result. Click on the video for Tom.

After watching the clip, open into a class discussion on the impact that Raoul Wallenberg had on Tom Lantos. Remind them that Tom is just one of tens of thousands of Jews whose rescue is credited to Wallenberg.

Begin by asking your students, how far would you go to stand up for what you believe in?

Read through this resource on Mildred Fish Harnack as a class.

Explain that neither Mildred nor Arvid were Jewish or deemed “undesirable” by Hitler’s standards. To the contrary, Arvid was employed by the government and was considered to fit the mold of the ideal Aryan. Despite not being affected by discriminatory policies imposed by the Third Reich, Mildred and Arvid went to great lengths to oppose Nazi ideology.

In pairs or small groups, have the class answer the following questions:

1. Why do you think Mildred wasn’t swayed by Nazi propaganda
2. Why do you think Mildred risked her life to denounce Hitler and Nazi ideology?
3. How can education help combat hateful propaganda?
4. What is your biggest takeaway from learning about Mildred Harnack?

Discuss the following quote by Suzy Kassem: “Stand up for what is right against the wrong.”
Ask the students what they think this means. Do they know what it means to be an upstander?

You may want to provide students with the definition of an upstander: 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, introduce Oskar Schindler. Tell your students that Oskar Schindler was one of the most famous rescuers during the Holocaust. His status as a factory owner allowed him to hire Jews and protect them from deportations. He had been arrested several times for his apparent favoritism towards Jews but this did not deter him. Schindler and his wife are responsible for the rescue of 1,200 persecuted Jews.

Direct students to the Testimony of Yitzhak Stern from Yad Vashem. Explain that they will be reading the testimony of someone saved by Oskar Schindler. Ask students to read the testimony to themselves. Open up a discussion with the class asking the following questions:

1. Why do you think Yitzhak’s colleagues were hesitant about trusting Schindler?
2. What made Yitzhak trust him anyway?

Divide the class into groups of three or five. After reviewing the quote and Yitzhak’s testimony, create a brief presentation on what it means to be an upstander. Presentations can be made with Prezi, PowerPoint, or done verbally depending on what time permits. Students may want to use this additional resource by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum to help them with their presentations.
Here are some questions to help focus the presentation:

1. 1. What is an upstander? What motivates a person to be an upstander?
   2. What did it mean during the Holocaust and what does it mean today?
   3. Come up with examples of upstanders from the Holocaust and from your life today.
   4. How can societies, communities, and individuals reinforce and strengthen the willingness to stand up for others?

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.”

• Ask your students what this quote means to them. How does it help to explain the actions of upstanders and bystanders?

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.

1. Who was this person? Briefly describe her role as an upstander.
2. What made this person risk her life to save the Jewish people?
3. Did these women face any consequences for their brave actions?
4. Do you think their role as women made them more or less likely to act as upstanders?

Write the word “upstander” on the board. Ask the students what they think it means and if they can come up with any examples of being an upstander.

Watch the video, produced by CBS 60 Minutes, Sir Nicholas Winton “Saving the Children.” While students are watching the video have them take notes answering the following questions:

1. How did Winton hear about the trouble the Jews were facing?
2. What was Winton’s strategy?
3. What risks did Winton take in order to get the children out of Germany?
4. Who did he ask for help in looking for places for the children to go? What happened?
5. What event put an end to Winton’s transport operation?

After the video ends allow students to pair up and discuss the answers they put down. Allow approximately 10 minutes for this sharing.

After the video, discuss the following questions as a class:

1. Why do you think Winton stayed silent for so long about what he had done?
2. What made him do it in the first place?
3. How can we be upstanders in our own lives?
4. Consider the quote by Winton, “If something isn’t blatantly impossible, then there must be a way of doing it.” What does this mean to you?

Collect answers about being an upstander, specifically any answers about what makes people risk their own safety/well-being for the benefit of others. Bring these out in future discussions about bystanders.