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Senator Lyons announces resolution designating Jan 23-27 'Vermont Holocaust Education Week'

Submitted by tim on

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Agency of Education (AOE), in coordination with Vermont Holocaust Memorial (VTHM), and Echoes and Reflections, are offering Vermont teachers in grades 7-12 the state’s first “Holocaust Education Week” from January 23 to 27.

In commemoration of the United Nations-designated International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust on January 27th, Chittenden-Southeast District Senator Virginia “Ginny” Lyons has filed a Resolution designating January 23 through January 27, 2023 as the first “Vermont Holocaust Education Week.” The resolution is backed by a bipartisan group of legislators.

Senator Lyons, Senator Ram Hinsdale and President Pro Tempore Philip Baruth shared brief remarks in support of the resolution.

“At a time of continuing increasing antisemitism, hate, and intolerance throughout the United States, Vermont students must understand this timely history,” said Senator Lyons. A survey conducted by the Claims Conference found a significant lack of Holocaust knowledge in the United States.

“I’m thankful to the Vermont Holocaust Memorial (VTHM), the Vermont Agency of Education (AOE), Echoes and Reflections, Senator Lyons, Senator Ram Hinsdale and the many senators and representatives that played a part in making Holocaust Education Week possible,” said Senator Baruth.

The Week of curated courses and presentations, backed by the AOE, are established to share fundamental history and vital lessons of Holocaust with Vermont students so they may develop an understanding of the mechanisms that led to genocide. In addition to innovative pedagogical methods from established national Holocaust education resources, Vermont teachers and their classrooms are invited to attend any of ten live, web-based presentations given by Holocaust survivors, their children, grandchildren, and others. Registration for the webinars, supported in part by Vermont Humanities, can be accessed with the rest of the Week’s details at: VT Holocaust Education Week.

“As a Jewish person of color, it’s important to me that we remember the conditions that gave rise to the Holocaust, one of the darkest periods in modern history,” said Senator Ram Hinsdale. “But it should also be an opportunity for us to learn about other genocides and human rights abuses, and stand in solidarity with one another in global tragedies and conflicts.”

The AOE has distributed the news of Holocaust Education Week offerings through its official Weekly Field Memo to Vermont educators and to Home Study Program families. VTHM, a volunteer-run nonprofit with a mission of sharing these invaluable messages, has been advocating for Holocaust education standards in Vermont for the past five years. Vermont is the only state in New England that does not have Holocaust and genocide education legislation.

Vermont Holocaust Memorial, a 501c3 charitable organization, is the state’s only group dedicated to facilitating Holocaust education as a means of preserving the memory of that genocide, and using those lessons to combat bigotry, bullying, and racism of all kinds. More information can be found at HolocaustMemorial-VT.org

Echoes & Reflections, a joint program of ADL, USC Shoah Foundation, and Yad Vashem, is the premier source for Holocaust educational materials and dynamic content, empowering teachers and students with the insight needed to question the past and foresight to impact the future. Echoes partners with educators to support them, foster confidence, and amplify their skills and resources to teach about the Holocaust in a comprehensive and meaningful way.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed throughout the programs do not necessarily represent those of Vermont Humanities.

Vermont Holocaust Education Week

Calendar of Activities

Note: All Zoom presentations must be pre-registered as participation is limited. To register visit: VtHEW Zoom

Date

Monday:

Jan. 23, 2023

Tuesday:

Jan. 24, 2023

Wednesday:

Jan 25, 2023

Thursday:

Jan. 26, 2023

Friday:

Jan. 27, 2023

Guiding Question for the Day

What is the Holocaust?

What were some of the historical conditions that led to genocide?

Why and how did people participate or become complicit in these crimes?

How did Jews respond to persecution and mass murder?

What does this history mean for today?

Monday, January 23, 2023

An Introduction

What is the Holocaust?

Opportunities for Zoom Participation (Whole Class or Individual)

Visit VtHEW Zoom to pre-register

10:00AM-11:00AM

Holocaust Survivor: Annie Kleinhaus

**GEARED TO HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS**

Annie will speak of her childhood during the war and escaping from Belgium with her family.

Courtesy: Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center

–

1PM-2PM

Hidden in Holland - Miriam Rosenbloom

Miriam, a daughter of survivors, shares her family’s story of survival in hiding.

Courtesy: Vermont Holocaust Memorial

Classroom Opportunities:

What was the Holocaust? Student Activity (25 minute activity) (MS/HS)
Echoes & Reflections
Allow students to explore how major institutions define the term, “Holocaust” and synthesize their own definitions in this student self-guided activity that includes an online class discussion component. Classes can be paired with other Vermont classrooms if signed up by January 13. Contact [email protected] for further details.

Introduction to the Holocaust (60 min. lesson plan) (MS/HS)
USHMM
This one-day lesson provides an introduction to the Holocaust by defining the term and highlighting the story of one Holocaust survivor, Gerda Weissmann.

Teaching with Holocaust Survivor Testimony (60 min. per section) (MS/HS)
USHMM
Students will examine Holocaust survivor testimonies as both personal memories and as deliberately-created historical records, and will evaluate how the Holocaust affected the lives of individuals, as well as the role of memory in our understanding of history.

The Path to Nazi Genocide & Lesson plans (40 Mins) (Full film: HS; Ch. 1-3 MS)

USHMM
Organized around a Museum-produced 38-minute Documentary, The Path to Nazi Genocide, these discussion questions provide students with an introduction to the history of the Holocaust.

Tuesday, January 24, 2023

Antisemitism & Pre-War Jewish Life:

What were some of the historical conditions that led to genocide?

Opportunities for Zoom Participation (Whole Class or Individual)

Visit VtHEW Zoom to pre-register

10:00AM-11:00AM

Natty Hoffman and Julie Brill

3G/Grandchildren of Survivor speakers

Natty and Julie share their grandparents’ harrowing experiences and how it affected them.

Courtesy: 3GNY

–

1PM-2PM

Conversations With My Mother - Holocaust Survivor Ruth Fishman

Heidi Fishman interviews the subject of her book “Tutti’s Promise”:

Her mother, Holocaust survivor Ruth “Tutti” Fishman.

Courtesy: Vermont Holocaust Memorial

Classroom Opportunities

What is Antisemitism? (25 Minute Activity) (MS/HS)
Echoes & Reflections
What is antisemitism? Who are the Jews? Allow students to learn more about antisemitism, including important foundational knowledge about Judaism, in order to understand how this hatred contributed to the Holocaust. Students will learn about different aspects of antisemitism and synthesize their information in this student self-guided activity that includes an online class discussion component. Classes can be paired with other Vermont classrooms if signed up by January 13. Contact [email protected] for further details.

What Was Jewish Life Like Before the Holocaust? Student Virtual Field Trip (1 hour) (MS/HS)
Echoes & Reflections

Allow students to take a journey to Ciechanow, Poland to learn more about what life was like for a young Jewish girl before the Holocaust. Students will virtually walk in the footsteps of Itka Zygmuntowicz as they explore her hometown and hear about her experiences with Jewish life and culture, as well as antisemitism, in her own words. Contact [email protected] for further details.

Glimpses of Life Before the Holocaust (5 Minute Video w/questions) (MS/HS)
Echoes & Reflections
Provide students with an overview of Jewish life before the war through the voices of Jewish teenagers in this short video that includes accompanying questions at this link.

History of Antisemitism and the Holocaust (60-75 Minute Lesson) (MS/HS)
This lesson focuses on the history of antisemitism and its role in the Holocaust to better understand how prejudice and hate speech can contribute to violence, mass atrocity, and genocide. Learning about the origins of hatred and prejudice encourages students to think critically about antisemitism today.

Three Minutes in Poland: A Lesson Plan & Film Link (60-75 Minute Lesson) (MS/HS)
This lesson is designed to engage students in understanding both the individuality of Jewish lives affected by or lost in the Holocaust and the cumulative effects of the Holocaust on communities. After viewing archival film footage documenting Jewish life in Nasielsk, a small town in Poland, before the German invasion in September 1939, students explore how the community changed during the Nazi occupation that followed.

Wednesday, January 25, 2023

Choices Matter:

Why and how did people participate or become complicit in these crimes?

Opportunities for Zoom Participation (Whole Class or Individual)

Visit VtHEW Zoom to pre- register

10:00AM - 11:00AM

Holocaust Survivor: Hannah Holsten

**GEARED TO MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS**

Hannah’s survival story is filled with moments of unbelievable luck.

She shares it so that no one ever forgets the terrors of the Holocaust.

Courtesy: Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center

–

1PM-2PM

Surviving Evil - Tom Glaser

**GEARED TO HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS**

Tom, a son of Holocaust survivors,

shares the shocking details of his parents’ survival.

Courtesy: Vermont Holocaust Memorial

Classroom Opportunities

Using Media Literacy Skills to Examine the Holocaust (30 minutes) (MS/HS)
Echoes & Reflections
What influenced Germans to participate, collaborate or be complicit in the Holocaust? Many will cite propaganda as a key factor. This activity explores questions such as: What is media literacy? How did media play a role in the Holocaust? Students will learn media literacy and its applications through a case study of Nazi propaganda. They will be tasked with preparing and sharing a PSA on why it's important to be media literacy today. Classes can be paired with other Vermont classrooms if signed up by January 13. Contact [email protected] for further details.

Kristallnacht, 75 years later - Lesson Plan

(50 minutes) (HS)
PBS NewsHour
How do neighbors end up turning against neighbors? Students will learn about the pressures of society and the struggles of conscience that operated during the Holocaust and in contemporary situations.

Refugees and Rescuers: The Courage to Act (Two 50 Minute Class Sessions) (MS/HS)
Facing History & Ourselves
Students will explore the intertwined personal stories of Jewish refugees who attempted to flee to the United States and the American rescuers who intervened on their behalf. Using a Jigsaw strategy that will allow students to delve deeply into the story of one refugee, students will come to understand how circumstances of time, place, and opportunity in many cases limited the ability of Americans to help and refugees’ ability to escape.

Thursday, January 26, 2023

Jewish Response:

How did Jews respond to persecution and mass murder?

Opportunities for Zoom Participation (Whole Class or Individual)

Visit VtHEW Zoom to pre-register

10:00AM-11:00AM

Two Sisters – Debora Steinerman, daughter of survivor

Debora explains how survival took many forms — even within the same family.

Courtesy: Vermont Holocaust Memorial

–

1PM-2PM

Natty Hoffman, Grandchild of Survivor speaker

(extended version of Tuesday’s presentation)

Natty shares the cautionary tale of the impact of war and hatred from her great-grandfather’s memoir.

Courtesy: 3GNY

Classroom Opportunities

Challenges of Escape, 1938-1941(90 Minute Lesson) (HS/MS)
USHMM
Students will understand the complex factors that led German Jews to seek to emigrate from Nazi Germany and the complex factors that impeded their immigration to the United States in the 1930s and 1940s.

“And I Never Saw Them Again” - Stories of the Kindertransport (25 Minute Video) (HS/MS)
Centropa, The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, and The Association of Jewish Refugees
In January, 2019, Centropa interviewed twelve Kindertransport refugees living in London. Born in Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia, their parents took them to their local train stations in 1938 and ‘39, promised to follow soon, and watched as their children left for England, and safety. Most of these “Kinder,” now in their 90’s, never saw their parents again. Courtesy: Centropa, The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, and The Association of Jewish Refugees.

“Thin Edge of the Wedge” (HS/MS)
Phyllis Zimbler Miller

The nonfiction Holocaust education play THIN EDGE OF THE WEDGE utilizes staged readings of firsthand accounts of Holocaust survivors and saviors in a dramatic overall historic timeline narrative.The first-person monologues help students experience a closer emotional connection to the historic past and better understand the need today to safeguard democracy.

(11 roles)

Author/educator Phyllis Zimbler Miller is available to schedule follow-up class discussions via Zoom (no charge.) Contact her at [email protected]

Resistance: Who were the Partisans? (7 Minute Film & Various Resources) (HS/MS)
Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation
Use this inspiring one-page study guide and film to teach about the 20,000 to 30,000 men and women — many of them teens — who fought back against the Nazis and their collaborators as Jewish partisans. Includes a survey of both armed and non-violent Jewish resistance during the Holocaust.

Intro to Resistance Lesson (90 Minutes Total) (MS)
North Carolina Council on the Holocaust
Jewish resistance to the Nazis took many forms, ranging from bold acts of defiance and altruism to armed resistance. In this lesson, students are introduced to resistance through the singular voices of those who took part in the Jewish Parisian Movement as some of their stories, motivations, and goals are revealed in poetry, film (an introductory video), and writing. Students will also examine a variety of primary source accounts from survivors regarding violent and non-violent resistance. The activities included in this lesson will deepen students’ knowledge of the Holocaust through an exploration of different acts of Jewish resistance and will encourage the development of critical analysis and interpersonal communication skills.

Friday, January 27, 2023

U.N. International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Connections to Today:

What does this history mean for today?

Opportunities for Zoom Participation (Whole Class or Individual)

Visit VtHEW Zoom to pre-register

10:00AM-11:00AM

Tutti's Promise: Documenting Holocaust History

K. Heidi Fishman, author, psychologist, and daughter of a survivor, shares how she researched

and wrote “Tutti’s Promise” with factual and emotional integrity.

Courtesy: Vermont Holocaust Memorial

–

1PM-2PM

“REMNANTS” - Henry Greenspan, Ph.D

**GEARED FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS**

One man play, followed by discussion, with University of Michigan emeritus professor, psychologist, oral historian, and playwright, Henry Greenspan, in which he recreates moments in which survivors reflect not only on the destruction but also on their lives in the aftermath of the Holocaust.

Classroom Opportunities

Why Didn’t Antisemitism End with the Holocaust? (Student Activity) (25 minutes) (HS/MS)
Echoes & Reflections
Why didn’t antisemitism end with the Holocaust? Students will learn about the evolution of antisemitism beyond the Holocaust. Through their learning, students are asked to consider how they can tackle hate and antisemitism in their own communities and Classes can be paired with other Vermont classrooms if signed up by January 13. Contact [email protected] for further details.

The Number on Great Grandpa’s Arm (40 minutes) (MS)
Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust/HBO
When 10-year-old Elliott Saiontz asked his 90-year-old great-grandfather Jack Feldman about the number tattooed on his arm, he sparked a wide-ranging conversation about Jack’s life: his memories of his childhood in Poland, the loss of his family, surviving Auschwitz, and finding a new life in America. This conversation became the 2018 short HBO documentary The Number on Great-Grandpa’s Arm. Recording includes a follow-up discussion 4 years later with Elliott and his mother.

History Unfolded (Flexible) (MS/HS), USHMM
Guide students to be citizen-historians and research/explore reporting on events related to the Holocaust in their own communities. USHMM can provide support for research sprints by contacting [email protected].

Understanding Displaced Persons’ Camps (2 Hours) (HS)
USC Shoah Foundation
This activity explores life in Displaced Persons' Camps (DP camps) after the Holocaust. Students will learn what DP camps were, how they were created, and the personal impact on those who were in them. Students will search IWitness for testimony that speaks to the experience in these camps. Using this testimony, students will create a GeoStory about DP Camps. Finally, students will reflect on how their GeoStory expands their understanding of these camps. This activity features testimony from David Faber who is part of USC Shoah Foundation's Holocaust collection and intersects with Echoes & Reflections Unit 6: Liberation.

Holocaust Trivialization and Distortion: “What are the implications of comparing current events to the Holocaust?” (3 Class Periods) (HS)
Facing History & Ourselves
While Holocaust allusions have typically been used to compare political leaders or acts to Hitler and the Nazis, a current trend has surfaced where groups who believe they are being oppressed or persecuted liken themselves to Jews during the Holocaust. This Teaching Idea introduces students to contemporary examples of Holocaust trivialization and distortion.

Additional Resources to Explore

Vermont Holocaust Memorial Student Holocaust Education Contest: January 23- March 21, 2023, Visit Vermont Holocaust Memorial website contest page.

Echoes & Reflections Resources for Teaching: www.echoesandreflections.org

US Holocaust Memorial Museum Lesson Plans link: https://www.ushmm.org/teach/teaching-materials

Professional Development opportunity: “Choices Matter: Complicity & Action During the Holocaust.” 3/21/2023 Woodstock. Visit: HolocaustMemorial-VT.org/2023-workshop

For additional resources, recommended reading list by age, in-person classroom presentations, projects, educator workshops, and a traveling exhibit that may be available to display in schools or libraries, contact or visit Vermont Holocaust Memorial for more information.

Interdisciplinary connections to other content areas:

TikTok Series:

Anne Frank House Online: Includes video diary links, secret annex 360 degree interactive online tour, and free virtual reality headset app tour.

USC Dimensions in Testimony: Have a virtual interactive conversation with survivor Pinchas Gutter

Ben’s Journey Through the Holocaust - an augmented reality, interactive storytelling of one man’s historical legacy via life-like conversation, from Zachor Foundation. Curriculum link.

Key Documents:

United Nations Resolution 60/7 on Holocaust Remembrance

U.S. Never Again Education Act: https://www.congress.gov/116/plaws/publ141/PLAW-116publ141.pdf

January 27 – VT Gov. Scott: Holocaust Remembrance Day Proclamation: https://governor.vermont.gov/sites/scott/files/documents/21-007%20Holocaust%20Remembrance%20Day.pdf

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MONTPELIER, VT (JANUARY 18, 2023) – Senator Virginia “Ginny” Lyons