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Welcome to the sixth issue of Teaching the Legacy, the e-newsletter of the International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem. This issue focuses on Holocaust poetry, and should be of particular interest to English language and literature teachers. The main article covers the subject of Holocaust poetry and its value in the classroom. Accompanying the article is a lesson plan on a specific poem – “Refugee Blues” by W.H. Auden. The e-newsletter also includes a section of book reviews, as well as updates on recent events and new services in the “What’s New” sections. We hope you will find this newsletter of interest and we look forward to your feedback.
The Value of Holocaust Poetry in Education
IntroductionThis article will explore how poetry can be used by educators to teach and commemorate the Holocaust. The famous German sociologist, Theodor Adorno, who fled the Nazi regime for England in 1934, proclaimed shortly after the war that writing poetry after Auschwitz seemed barbaric. In his view, words in any artistic configuration were doomed to distort the harsh experiences of victims and...
Continue reading...The Human Spirit in the Shadow of Death
During WWII, European Jewry was faced with a constant fight for its very survival. At a time when murder became the norm, and power endorsed unprecedented atrocities, many were swept away, unable to endure the perpetual struggle or adhere to the moral code of human society. Yet even under such dire conditions there were those who risked their lives — deliberately and intentionally — for...
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Teaching the Holocaust Through Poetry
The Holocaust occurred over 70 years ago and reams have been written about it. Various disciplines have applied their approaches to try and understand the transgressive nature of this period in human history. We have written a lesson-plan focusing on a poem written by W.H. Auden, one of England’s leading poets at the time of World War II. The poem was written about half a year before the outbreak...
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Remembering Liberation: Holocaust memorial ceremony
Grades: 10 - 12
Duration: 20 minutes
This ceremony focuses on the complexities of liberation, the shock of the Allied troops at what they saw, and the intermingled joy and deep grief of the rescued survivors.
Towards the end of World War II, advancing Allied forces from east and west began discovering first-hand the horrendous scope of Nazi atrocities – hundreds...
Continue reading...Duration: 20 minutes
This ceremony focuses on the complexities of liberation, the shock of the Allied troops at what they saw, and the intermingled joy and deep grief of the rescued survivors.
Towards the end of World War II, advancing Allied forces from east and west began discovering first-hand the horrendous scope of Nazi atrocities – hundreds...
Dear Diary, I Don't Want to Die: Holocaust memorial ceremony
Grades: 8 - 12
Duration: 20 minutes
One-and-a-half million Jewish children were murdered in the Holocaust, the majority of them with no one to perpetuate their memory or even their names. This ceremony highlights excerpts from the diaries of three Jewish children, as well as poems and memoirs.
Continue reading...Duration: 20 minutes
One-and-a-half million Jewish children were murdered in the Holocaust, the majority of them with no one to perpetuate their memory or even their names. This ceremony highlights excerpts from the diaries of three Jewish children, as well as poems and memoirs.
