Share the definition of antisemitism with your students. You may choose to print out this page from Echoes & Reflections for students to have with them during the lesson.

Read through the definition together, breaking it down sentence by sentence if necessary. If you printed out the sheet for students, you could have them write notes or underline as you go through the definition.

Ask students if they have ever heard or seen antisemitism in their lives, whether it be online or in person. Ask if there are any volunteers willing to share their experiences.

Play this video (4-minutes) from CBS Morning News, taken from a lesson from Echoes & Reflections about Jewish teens talking about antisemitism.

Next, open up the class into a discussion with the following questions:

1. Did anything surprise you about what the teens said in the video?
2. Have any of you seen or heard anything similar to what is described in the video? What happened? How did you respond?
3. At the end of the video, the students talk about why other people should care about antisemitism. What did you think about what they said?

How might you respond if you see antisemitism or someone you know is being harassed? As a group, come up with some ideas of how to respond safely. Some examples could include:

• Say “that wasn’t funny” if someone makes a joke at their expense.
• Tell a trusted adult.
• Care for those that were targeted.

How might you encourage others to stand up to antisemitism? Draft a letter, a poster, or a slogan to encourage people to stand up to antisemitism and hate.

At the opening of the video, Samatha Power says, “it would be a grave mistake to view antisemitism as something that merely affects the Jewish people.” Provide this short quote to your students before viewing the video and prompt them to pre-write about it. What do they think it means? How can this be so? Give them 5 minutes to compose some thoughts and then ask them to share.

Watch Antisemitism Today by the USHMM. The video is complex and might be broken down for clarity by pausing between the following sections.

At the conclusion of each section, ask students to reflect on what they understood, what confused them, and what questions they have about the subject. Give space to address these insights.

Beginning to 1:35: What is antisemitism and why it is a problem for democracy
1:35 – 3:00: Two non-governmental manifestations, Islamic & Right Wing extremism
3:00 – 4:35: Antisemitism and its relationship to anti-Zionism and Holocaust denial
4:35 – End: The threat to society created by antisemitism

After the discussion of the video is over and students are feeling comfortable with the information, return to the quote highlighted by Samatha Powers:

“It would be a grave mistake to view antisemitism as something that merely affects the Jewish people.”

Ask your students to expand on their initial writing by answering the following questions:

1. What do they take from this statement now?
2. What can be done to respond to this truth?
3. How might they participate in resisting antisemitism?

Give students 10 minutes to reflect on these questions.
If time permits, have students share their reflections in small groups or full class discussion.

Ask students to reflect on what they think contributes to their opinion on something? Who are the influencers in their world? Do all influences carry equal weight? How do they balance the difference of opinions that they hear and that they may agree with?

Cycle through the opinion polls that run the length of the Holocaust, presented via the US Holocaust Memorial Museum exhibit on Americans and the Holocaust.

As you cycle through, prompt students to quickly jot down answers to the following questions that pair with each slide:

1. What do you make of the disparity between disapproval of persecution and willingness to allow more refugees into the country in 1938?
2. Why do you think Americans were uncomfortable entering a war with Germany in 1940?
3. Americans were widely opposed to information they heard about Nazi concentration camps, what do you suppose puts them in favor of Japanese Internment?
4. The United States and our allies won the war – in both Europe and the Far East. Why do you suppose we weren’t more welcoming to immigrants at that time? Who did we welcome?

Students will explore the writings and primary sources about various influential people from the 1930s and 40s. Groups should be created, each assigned to a different person of influence. Begin at the bottom of this page from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum with the public voices and extend into the political voices if need be.

Groups should prepare a brief presentation about the person to which they are assigned. Each group should answer at least the following questions:

1. What was this person’s role in US society? How influential were they, based on examples?
   Did they influence policy, public opinion or both? In what ways?
2. What were the main actions they took during this time?
3. How were they able to influence public opinion – especially the publics’ opinion on war, immigration, concentration camps, Internment camps? Why do you think their perspectives were so pertinent to this subject?
4. How do you judge them in light of our current situation? What lessons can they teach us?