Week 3, Lesson 3. A Holocaust Survivor and Prejudice.
Previous Knowledge:
Students should have an idea of the holocaust based on their past years instruction on WWII.
They should be familiar with the name Hitler and know that thousands of people were killed.
GLCE:
7 – H1.2.2 Read and comprehend a historical passage to identify basic factual knowledge and the
literal meaning by indicating who was involved, what happened, where it happened, what events led
to the development, and what consequences or outcomes followed.
Objectives: Students will be able to…
identify different forms of prejudice.
briefly describe a Jewish ghetto during WWII.
realize the conditions in a cattle car taken to a concentration camp.
organize a full survivor story out of small portions.
construct a summary and timeline of events.
dramatize a series of traumatic events in a person’s life by performing a skit.
Main Points:
Prejudice can take many forms like racial, ace, religious, class, sexual, poverty, disability.
Ghettos were dirty with little room. Many people were crammed into a small space. There was
very little food and many people died of starvation. They lived in constant fear.
The cattle cars were very damp, dark, and cramped places. People stood upright for days
without food or water or toilets. Many people got sick.
The survivor story will be cut up and students are to put the story in order (this will depend on
how they are cut up:) Eva’s early life, her families deportation, jumping from the train,
hiding in different houses, running to the train station, being caught as a gentile,
working on farms, meeting her friend.
Students will summarize Eva’s story and create a timeline by outlining “who was involved, what
happened, where it happened, what events led to the development, and what
consequences or outcomes followed.”
Students will produce a skit that depicts Eva’s life. They will use realistic props and will see for
themselves the conditions she lived in.
Anticipatory set:
Read the book ‘Terrible Things” by Eve Bunting. The book is about racial prejudice in a
forest of animals. Discuss what was happening in the story. What is prejudice? Ask students to
think of a time when they were prejudiced or discriminated against. Ask any volunteers if
they’d like to share. How might some people justify their prejudice actions? Explain that what
happened in the book actually happened in Germany, but not to animals, to people.
Activity 1: Writing a letter from the ghettos
1. Ask if students have any siblings. Give the short story “You did something you
weren’t supposed to and when your mom or dad asked, you blamed it on your
brother or sister.” Almost everyone has done something similar to that when they
were much younger. Say that was exactly what Hitler did. He was a leader in
Germany and blamed many of Germany’s mistakes on Jewish people simply because
he did not like them.
2. Play the podcast posted on holocaust.umd.umich.edu/curriculum.html starting at
the definition of the word Holocaust. While the podcast is playing, have students jot
down notes or things they think are interesting or moving. End the podcast during
the description of sneaking out of the ghetto before it talks about murdering the
two children.
3. Ask students what they thought about this podcast, the survivor talking about what
had happened. Discuss what a Jewish ghetto may have been like. Have them
pretend they are a Jewish child during the holocaust and are writing their best friend
a letter from the ghetto. What is it like? Who is with you?
Activity 2: Creating Eva’s story and dramatizing it
1. Use the survivor story of Eva Galler. Cut the lines up into strips of paper, about two –
three paragraphs on every strip. Omit certain sections as necessary to keep it
appropriate and not lengthy.
2. Divide students into four groups, giving each group a full story cut into strips. Have
students work together to put their story together, rereading parts as necessary.
3. When students are done, do a round robin reading to assist students who may need
help reading. Look at any unfamiliar words and use the clues as well as the internet
to define them.
4. Have student summarize the story in their own words in writing. Have students
share their summaries and together, construct a timeline of Eva’s life using the
summaries and referring back to the story when necessary.
5. Finally, act the story out. Have students tell the story themselves in their own words.
Section off a small space in the classroom with tape for the “train.” Have students
stand up straight and all stand in this box. While they are standing, explain that
many times the trip took days to complete, yet they could not sit or lie down. How
would they go to the bathroom? Sickness was another common problem. What
about hungry? Water? Crying babies? After five minutes or so, they should get tired.
Continue acting out the story, using real props like bread to portion out among the
students as Eva had done in the ghetto.
6. Discuss how acting out the story made the students feel. Discuss the constant fear
the survivors were in. Ask them to imagine what it would be like if they had to leave
school and their family and run from city to city in hiding. Discus what the root of
the holocaust really was. Was it easily preventable? How can we prevent prejudice
from spreading today?
Closing Activity:
Have students reflect on what they have learned from these survivors’ stories. Ask
students if they would like to see a picture of Eva. Show them her pictures and explain that
there are not many holocaust survivors left because it was such a long time ago. Have students
come up with at least two questions about the ghetto or concentration camps. Using these
questions, have students write a letter to a holocaust survivor. Send them to 28123 Orchard
Lake Road, Farmington Hills, MI 48334, a local holocaust museum.
Materials:
Picture of Eva Galler
E.G. surviver story (http://www.holocaustsurvivors.org/data.show.php?di=record&da=
survivors&ke=6)
Picture of E.G. Documentation (http://www.holocaustsurvivors.org/data.show.php?di=
record&da=photos&ke=46)
Picture of E.G. (http://www.holocaustsurvivors.org/photos/galler_portrait+large.jpg)
Picture of E.G. (http://www.holocaustsurvivors.org/photos/galler_age_14+large.jpg)
Scissors
Masking Tape
Bread and other props
Large paper to construct timeline as the students share their summaries
Assessment of Objectives:
Objective
identify different forms of prejudice.
briefly describe a Jewish ghetto during WWII.
realize the conditions in a cattle car taken to a
concentration camp.
organize a full survivor story out of small
portions.
construct a summary and timeline of events.
dramatize a series of traumatic events in a
person’s life by performing a skit.
Assessment
After reading Terrible Things, students are asked
to define prejudice as well as talk about a time
they have been discriminated or prejudiced
against. Students come up with different forms.
During activity 1, students listen to a podcast
describing the conditions as well as the feeling of a
Jewish ghetto. Students then write a mock letter
to a friend describing the ghetto.
Students read an article about it and then
summarize this pivotal event in their own words.
They later act out this scene in the cattle car and
stand cramped and close together.
In groups, students take bits and pieces and
predict what order the pieces go into. Students will
then summarize the story they have put together
and dramatize it. They then base questions to ask
a survivor after what they know about the story.
Based on the reading, students will work together
with the teacher to construct a timeline of events
that happened in Eva’s life. Students will
individually create a summary of the events on
paper.
Based on their summaries, students create their
own skit or series of skits based on Eva’s life during
the war.