33 The Holocaust: Memory and Legacy by Raka Chatterjee
Analysing historical artifacts to find out about historical events
Auschwitz Muzeum Shoes by Bibi595, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
| Curriculum Context | VCE Unit 1 Modern History, Area of Study 2 (VCAA 2020) |
| Historical Context | The exclusion, marginalization, and organized mass killings of six million European Jews by the Nazi German regime and its allies and collaborators in the 20th century through a case study of the Holocaust. |
| Historical Thinking Concepts | Analysis and use of sources as evidence
Continuity and change. |
| Learning Intentions | To use sources as evidence and answer questions to develop knowledge and understanding of the Holocaust.
To construct arguments for a debate using sources as evidence |
Activity
Step 1: Look closely at this image of a shoe and fill in the table individually.
| SEE | THINK | WONDER (make list of questions) |
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Step 2: Discuss with your table group and write your common understandings and questions.
Step 3: Now watch the video (around 8 mins) Footprints (UN) on YouTube, a film by Cornelia Reetz (The Holocaust Centre, 2009)
Step 4: Reflection
- Refer to your See, Think, Wonder notes. What did you learn? Can you now answer any of the questions in the wonder column?
- Write one or two sentences describing what might have happened to the child that wore this shoe.
- Describe how this artifact has helped to tell the story of historical events.
- Now make a list of inquiry questions that you have about the Holocaust more broadly.
Step 5: Research
Part 1: Look at some some of the artifacts and their stories on these Holocaust museum sites:
Artifacts Unpacked: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Part 2: With the help of the sources answer the following questions:
Source 1: Introduction to the Holocaust: What was the Holocaust? | Holocaust Encyclopedia (ushmm.org)
- Why did the Nazis target the Jews? Did antisemitism originate under the Nazi regime?
- Who were the Nazis allies and collaborators in the Holocaust? What role did they play in the persecution of the Jews?
- What was the final solution?
- Why did the Nazis establish ghettos?
Source 2: Timeline of the Holocuast
- Why is Kristallnacht significant in the history of the holocaust?
- What was the significance of the Nuremberg Laws? What was its impact on the persecution of the Jews in the pre-war years till 1938?
- What forces of continuity and change are visible in the persecution of the Jews after the outbreak of the Second World War between 1939-1945 with respect to pre-war years? Did the War impact the Final Solution to the “Jewish question?”
3-2-1 Reflection:
- 3 key learnings about the Holocaust that have deeply impacted you
- 2 questions you still have
- 1 thing you are wondering about as a person learning about the Holocaust in 21st century
References
Reetz, R. (2009) Footprints, Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme. https://vimeo.com/4852447
Timeline TOTH. (n.d.). Timeline of the Holocaust. https://timelineoftheholocaust.org/
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. (2021). Introduction to the Holocaust. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/introduction-to-the-holocaust
VCAA. (2020). VCE Study Design: History 2022-2026. Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/curriculum/vce/vce-study-designs/history/Pages/index.aspx
Yad Vashem (2023). Artifacts on Display in the Holocaust History Museum. https://www.yadvashem.org/artifacts/museum.html
