Remembering the Holocaust

Even after 60 years, the Holocaust remains real and ever-present to survivors. But, for many others, sixty years makes the Holocaust seem part of ancient history. Some influential people and world leaders even challenge that it really happened. Will the lessons of the Holocaust be forgotten and allow these types of atrocities to occur again in the future? As the historian George Santayana reminds us, "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

After the horrors of the Holocaust, Jews wanted a day to memorialize this tragedy. But, what day was appropriate? For two years, the date was debated. Finally, in 1950, compromises and bargaining began. On April 12, 1951, the Knesset (Israel's parliament) proclaimed Yom Hashoah U'Mered HaGetaot (Holocaust and Ghetto Revolt Remembrance Day) to be the 27th day of the month of Nissan (Jewish calendar). The name later became better known as Yom Hashoah Ve Hagevurah (Devastation and Heroism Day), and even later simplified to Yom Hashoah. That day was chosen because it falls beyond Passover but within the time span of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.

Because the Jewish and Gregorian calendars (used in most of the countries of the world) differ, the date varies each year. In 2009, Yom Hashoah falls on April 21.

Jews in the U.S. and other countries will initiate a variety of activities to ensure that the lessons of the Holocaust are presented to the younger generation each year, and especially in schools. In general, Yom Hashoah has been observed with candle lighting, speakers, poems, prayers, and singing. Often, six candles are lit to represent the six million who died. Holocaust survivors speak about their experiences or share in the readings. Some ceremonies have people read from the Book of Names for certain lengths of time in an effort to remember those who died and to give an understanding of the huge number of victims.

ProQuest has created a BookCart learning activity to help your students remember the Holocaust—"Elie Wiesel's 'Night' Book and the Holocaust" (HS) and "Holocaust--History and People." Each Cart is a complete and one-stop learning activity for your students. This saves time for more teaching and learning instead of searching multiple library resources.

Each has examples of essential questions that help students to develop critical thinking skills that are so necessary with the glut of dubious information posted on the Internet. Each also includes student directions, related print resource call numbers, an optional quiz, and an information literacy standard. Contrast this to separate instructions and resources that typify traditional searching assignments.

You can copy, edit, and adapt these models to differentiate instruction for your students.

• Open your eLibrary CE Teacher Edition
• Click BookCart Admin link at the top right.
• Click the ProQuest Carts tab (800 ProQuest models)
• Type "Holocaust" in the Search box
• Click the Copy icon in the Actions column to the right of the Cart for either HS or MS
• Click the My Local Carts tab to return to your local collection

The BookCart should be edited to differentiate it for your students:

• Click the BookCart Title (it has "Copy of" as its prefix)
• Delete "Copy of" in the Title
• Type your name in the Author boxes
• Type your email address in the email box
• Edit the essential questions and any other text in the Directions box
• Scroll down and click Save button at bottom
• Click Return to My Local Carts

Assign students to write a report of at least 150 words that cites at least three resources and addresses the following essential questions for critical thinking (you can add to or substitute others):

• What rationale did the Nazis use to justify the Holocaust?
• Why weren't the German people more outraged by these abuses against the Jews?
• Why didn't the Jews react more aggressively to the ways in which they were treated?
• What are the strategies that can help to prevent other genocides?

Click the Topics tab > History > World History by Country or Chronology >
Global Timeline > Modern Europe > World War II > Holocaust

Use our custom ProQuest models for written and PowerPoint-style reports.

April is National Poetry Month. There are a variety of poetic forms and language techniques that make the best poetry entertaining and inspiring, and that connect with human situations, emotions, and aspirations. Students can learn more about types of poems and the language techniques that give poetry its power as a unique form of human expression.

Students should select (or you assign) at least five of the following terms, define the term, and then provide a brief bio of a famous poet who uses the technique, and also include a brief excerpt from one of the poems.

metaphor; simile; rhyme; meter; lyric; sonnet; ode; elegy; ballad; epic; narrative verse; free verse; alliteration; and heroic verse.

Click the "Study Pages" option > Genre Pages > Poetry