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The author is Echoes and Reflections Project Director, International School for Holocaust Studies, Yad vashem.
Why Do We Need Good Holocaust Education?
“An 11-year-old Tennessee girl who told her classmates to stop making the Nazi salute was sent to the principal’s office.” This was the headline of an article that appeared on the internet yesterday. The principal and the teachers at the school thought this fifth-grade girl was being “disrespectful,” since children at the McFadden School of Excellence in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, had been giving Nazi salutes in the hallways and at recess for weeks as part of a “Living History”... Continue reading
Kritická analýza fotografií jako historického pramene
Říká se, že obraz vydá za tisíc slov. Jeden jediný obraz postačí k tomu, aby prezentoval myšlenku tak komplikovanou, že bychom potřebovali stovky slov k jejímu vysvětlení. Jestli je tomu tak doopravdy, potom by fotografie, které jsou odrazem přímé a bezelstné reality viděné skrze fotoaparát, měly být nepřekonatelným a bezkonkurenčním médiem zobrazujícím pravdu – včetně pravdy o holocaustu. Síla fotografií jakožto vyjádření pravdy vychází z jejich... Continue reading
Liberation and Survival
Grades: 7 - 9 Duration: 1 - 2 hours Didactic Objectives Examine primary resources including testimonies and photographs relating to liberation and survival. Think about the meaning of “liberation” after the Holocaust: the saga of liberation was not a happy ending to a sad story, but a tragedy in and of itself. Gain insight into how Jews who had survived tried to put the pieces of their broken lives back together, and some of the difficulties they encountered in doing... Continue reading
Critical Analysis of Photographs as Historical Sources
It has been said that “a picture is worth a thousand words.” The notion here is that a single image is enough to present an idea so complicated that hundreds of words are required to do it justice. If this is so, then photographs, which are direct and unadulterated expressions of the reality seen by the camera, should be the unsurpassed and unequaled medium for expressing truth – including the truths of the Holocaust. The strength of photographs as expressions of the truth come from their... Continue reading
Interview With Melvin Jules Bukiet, Author and Professor, Sarah Lawrence College
“If I could shape the way people think,” Melvin Bukiet hypothesizes to me over a hot mug of tea on a raw March day in New York City, “I would prefer that people approach the topic of the Holocaust through history rather than fiction. But the truth is that more people know about history because of novels they've read than because of history books.” It’s an interesting observation that he backs up with examples. “More people know about Napoleon’s invasion of Moscow because of Leo... Continue reading
"The Last Days" - Director: James Moll
"The Last Days"Director: James MollUSA, 1998/ English, German and Hungarian87 minutes Producers: Ken Lipper and June BeallorExecutive Producer: Steven Spielberg for the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History FoundationWinner, Best Documentary Feature - 1998 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences "There is one thing that has puzzled me and has puzzled the world: that the Germans dedicated manpower and trains and trucks and energy towards the destruction of the Jews to the last day. Had they... Continue reading
Interview with Shulamit Imber, Pedagogical Director of the International School for Holocaust Studies, Yad Vashem
How would you say that our understanding of what constitutes resistance has changed over time? I would say that in the past there was a debate about what we call resistance. There were many years when the Israeli society focused on armed resistance; it was something with which the society could more easily identify. The gap between the Diaspora and Israeli society led to a kind of thinking that the fighters were the group that Israelis could identify themselves with. When I was young we talked... Continue reading
Interview with Peter Rosenfeld Span, Holocaust Survivor
Peter Rosenfeld Span was born on May 19, 1938 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now Serbia). Mr. Span currently lives in Los Angeles. He is a survivor of the Holocaust who spent most of World War II in Hungary and was then ghettoized and sent to transit and labor camps for the duration of the war, where he managed to survive. He has been giving lectures to junior high school students in Mexico and Los Angeles for the past nine years. This article is based on an oral interview conducted with Mr. Span in... Continue reading
Hana’s Suitcase - Karen Levine
Hana’s SuitcaseKaren LevineAlbert Whitman & Company, Illinois, 2002111 pages Hana’s Suitcase seems, at first glance, to be a book written for children. On the cover is a beautiful sepia-toned portrait of a little girl with a faraway look in her eyes and a slight smile. She is wearing a pressed dress with a ruffled white collar and a broach; her shiny hair is twisted and pinned up, and reflects the light. This lovely little girl in the photographic portrait ordered, no doubt, by her... Continue reading