Recent events reveal that issues relating to the Holocaust are as relevant as ever. Great Britain's first Nazi war crimes case opened in late February 1996, and a second case is just being brought as we go to press. Swiss banks are embroiled in controversy over secret bank accounts held by Jews who perished in the Holocaust. Norway is finally compensating Jews for property confiscated by its World War II Nazi puppet regime. Argentina is being attacked for failing to pursue one of Adolf Eichmann's assistants.
The legacy of the Holocaust is apparent.
However, these issues can seem distant to youth who do not feel personally affected by the Holocaust. Thus, the challenge is to allow them to confront the current issues and consequently internalize their importance. The following activities allow high school aged students to explore their own level of awareness and feelings about how the Holocaust affects Jewish society today, how other countries involved in the Holocaust are dealing with these current issues, and how we should cope with current realities dealing with the Holocaust.
This activity is intended for a class of around twenty students, ages 16 and up.
The goal is to sensitize the students to current issues involving the Holocaust.
In addition, by exploring a number of cases they will learn that the Holocaust is not just a distant historical event but one whose repercussions are still being felt. They will also examine their own attitudes both before and after the main activity.
The students will deal with the following issues:
- role of various governments during W.W.II towards their Jewish inhabitants, focusing on Switzerland, Norway, and Poland (representing a neutral, a Western, and an Eastern European country, respectively).
- examine the options of the survivors after W.W. II
- evaluate responsibilities of current governments towards survivors, descendants of Holocaust victims, and communities devastated by the Holocaust.