1. Incorporating Literature into the Study of the Holocaust Hastings College September 2008 The soul of man is a candle. Proverbs 20:27

2. The “Whys” “Our first task is comprehension, understanding what at first seems incomprehensible.” Berenbaum, The World Must Know, p. 220. Literature is a vehicle that can take us to that understanding.

3. The Incomprehensible 2 out of 3 European Jews murdered 9 out of 10 in murdered Poland Lithuania Latvia Czechoslovakia How to we comprehend that each number is a person without listening to their stories?

4. Considerations When Choosing Literature Goal or objective of lesson Age appropriate Readability Timing in the unit Choice of genre and form –Fiction vs. nonfiction selections Example: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

5. Evaluate for… Accuracy Authority –Events true to location and time Not romanticized Error of Omission –Simplistic writing perpetuates misconceptions

6. Questions to ask What gives you the “best bang for your buck”? Will the piece of writing encourage and lead students to examine their lives and world to see how the theme connects to themselves personally?

7. Literature in Social Studies Framework –Introductory course –Time Constraints –Transmit information about broad periods of history Literature –Gives a face for the numbers/facts –Allows students to construct meaning of an event

8. Good Literature for Middle School Readers Surviving Hitler Anne Frank Remembered Children in the Holocaust and World War II: Their Secret Diaries

9. More Titles Until We Meet Again: A True Story of Love and Survival in the Holocaust Island on Bird Street Milkweed Picture Books

10. In Addition… Feature the Jewish experience, its diversity and the specifics ordinary life Number the Stars by Lois Lowry Friedrich by Hans Peter Richter

11. Good books Brings students from the Holocaust era into the reassuring present, giving hope to the readers. –Gerda Weissmann Klein - All but My Life Challenges us to examine our lives –Elie Wiesel - Night Spoke to fight apathy and indifference

12. Beware! Not All Resources are Created Equal USHMM: Annotated Bibliography Videography USHMM: Teacher’s link http://www.ushmm.org/education/foreducators/

13. Yad Vashem http://www1.yadvashem.org/about_holocaust/bibliography/home_bi bliography.html Bibliography Online sales New Title: Rutka’s Notebook: January April 1943

14. Holocaust Teacher Resource Center http://www.holocaust-trc.org

15. Additional Book Lists Listed at Pam Gannon’s website What to Read and When to Read it: Part 1 and Part 2 (Dimensions: A Journal of Holocaust Studies by Karen Shawn) An ADL publication, but not on their website Using Literature to Teach the Holocaust by Carol Danks, Regional Ed Corps Sydney Taylor Book Awards at Association of Jewish Libraries Lincoln High Media CenterLincoln High Media Center http://media.lps.org/lhs

16. Caution! Book Reviews, ex. Booklist Lists off websites -- libraries, educational resource pages Always apply what you know about teaching the Holocaust to your choices of materials. Your students depend on YOU.

17. Remember the Starfish Become a reader and share your “finds” with other Holocaust Education Teachers. Remember WHY we teach about the Holocaust…and the parable of the starfish.