Teaching about The Righteous Among the Nations - Some Suggested Activities

1. Look up and define the terms: ethics, values, atheist, anti-semitism, collaborator, historical perspective, commemorate, "Righteous Among the Nations", Holocaust, historical perspective, SS, persecute, moral dilemma, criteria, rescuers, perpetrators, Yad Vashem, and heroism.
2. Discuss the meaning of the terms "rescuer" and "rescued".
3. Assign selected students to research the lives of rescuers such as Senpo Sugihara, Paul Grüninger, Oskar Schindler, Aristedes de Sousa Mendes and Raoul Wallenberg. They could use the Net (See http://holocaust.about.com/msub10.htm?pid=2765%cob=home ) or other sources. Have them present their findings in class.
4. Have students go to the library to find information about the rescue of the Jews of Denmark during World War II. Discuss the findings in class.
5. Ask students to find out what role churches played in rescuing Jews during the Holocaust.
6. Conduct research into the controversy over whether the Vatican, under the leadership of the Pope, could have done more to help rescue Jews during the Holocaust. Report the findings in class.
7. For an oral history, interview someone who has a story to tell about how he or she was rescued by a non-Jew during the Holocaust.
8. Compare and contrast the activities of a rescuer and perpetrator who operated in the same community. Discuss their motives, activities and the implications of their decisions.
9. Lead the class through the process of evaluating whether or not someone should be chosen as one of the "Righteous Among the Nations".
10. Conduct a mock TV coverage of a Yad Vashem committee discussing the case of an individual for possible recognition of a rescuer as one of the "Righteous". Use actual case studies as examples. See The Righteous Among the Nations for an explanation of Yad Yashem.
11. In a class discussion, pose the question of whether our values and ethics gives us no choice but to help prevent the loss of innocent lives regardless of the consequences to ourselves and our families.
12. Organise a classroom debate on the subject of "Would I Have Been a Rescuer During the Holocaust?".

(For methodological guidelines about teaching about The Righteous Among the Nations, visit http://www.ushmm.org/education/guidelines.html Holocaust Teaching Guidelines from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.)