Looking for ways to engage your students/children who are now learning remotely or being homeschooled? Here are free online resources that meet curriculum standards that have been developed by the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, New York City’s primary resource for Holocaust education. These resources include links to artifacts, primary sources, and videos as well as guides to books read by tweens and teens.
Though we are in a challenging moment across the world, we can look to history to discover how people lived in difficult times. Young people often find learning about how their predecessors overcame adversity to be helpful in soothing their own anxieties and in gathering the courage to confront challenges of their own.
The Museum of Jewish Heritage Holocaust Curriculum (holocaustcurriculum.nyc) is a free online resource offering ten lesson plans about the Holocaust, from the rise of Nazism to liberation and life post-war. An eleventh lesson plan on antisemitism defines antisemitism and examines anti-Jewish discrimination in Nazi Germany, emphasizing how Jews responded to this discrimination. This historical background leads into how antisemitism affects Jewish communities today.
Major support has been provided by The Myron and Alayne Meilman Family Foundation in memory of Alayne Meilman.
Every lesson plan contains a step-by-step plan in PDF format, as well as supporting media (images and videos). These primary source materials illustrate the personal experiences of Jewish people during the Holocaust.
Curriculum guides for books about the Holocaust frequently read by tweens and teens – The Children of Willesden Lane by Mona Golabek and Lee Cohen; Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank; Maus by Art Spiegelman; Night by Elie Wiesel; and Number the Stars by Lois Lowry – are also available.
The Museum also has created lesson plans for grades 3-5 and grades 6-8 centered around the child-friendly HBO short documentary The Number on Great-Grandpa’s Arm (the documentary is available online to everyone, not just HBO subscribers). The film and these free PDF lesson plans help teachers and parents introduce the Holocaust in an age-appropriate manner.
Coming of Age During the Holocaust explores Holocaust history through powerful stories of young people who survived. It’s an interactive curriculum based around twelve stories of young people who survived the Holocaust and one woman who grew up in the Mandate of Palestine during the same period. The stories are for middle-school students and their educators but can also be used by families who are homeschooling their children.
A timeline of Holocaust history and a curriculum glossary of people, places, and terms related to the Holocaust are also found on holocaustcurriculum.nyc.
All educational tools on our Museum of Jewish Heritage Holocaust Curriculum website are free of charge, but you will need to register to download the lesson plans and related media.
The Museum’s blog has many informational posts of interest to all ages, as well as learning activities geared to a range of ages.
Have questions about how to use any of these resources? Please contact education@mjhnyc.org.
Jewish Gen
Explore Jewish genealogy and roots on the Museum’s JewishGen website.
JewishGen serves as the global home for Jewish genealogy. Featuring unparalleled access to 30+ million records, it offers unique search tools, along with opportunities for researchers to connect with others who share similar interests. Award winning resources such as the Family Finder, Discussion Groups, and ViewMate, are relied upon by thousands each day.
In addition, JewishGen’s extensive informational, educational and historical offerings, such as the Jewish Communities Database, Yizkor Book translations, InfoFiles, and KehilaLinks, provide critical insights, first-hand accounts, and context about Jewish communal and familial life throughout the world.
Offered as a free resource, JewishGen.org has facilitated thousands of family connections and success stories, and is currently engaged in an intensive expansion effort that will bring many more records, tools, and resources to its collections. For more information, and to get started with your research, please visit www.JewishGen.org