Rescuers and Non-Jewish Resistance during the Holocaust

Echoes & Reflections

GRADE LEVEL: Middle School, High School

COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening

This unit provides students with an opportunity to learn about the types of rescue that occurred in Nazi-occupied Europe and to consider the moral and ethical choices that non-Jews made in order to help Jews survive. The unit also outlines the obstacles and dangers that hidden children faced during the Holocaust. Throughout the unit, students have an opportunity to consider the price of apathy and indifference in the face of injustice.

Learning Objectives:

• Name the various forms of assistance provided to Jews by non- Jews during the Holocaust.
• Analyze the motivations of non-Jewish rescuers in their efforts to help Jews survive during the Holocaust.
• Evaluate the moral and ethical choices individuals and groups made when deciding whether or not to help Jews.
• Identify the risks involved when non-Jews helped Jews hide or escape.
• Describe the obstacles and dangers that hidden children had to overcome in order to have a chance to survive.
• Discuss both the content and the messages in a clip of visual history testimony.
• Examine the price of apathy and indifference in the face of injustice.