Before:
(1) Present several survivor testimonies, pictures and historical events recorded at the time of the liberation of the concentration camps: Yad Vashem Lesson Plan with testimonies and background information
- Involve students in a discussion concerning: (1) What was liberation? (2) What did liberation mean for Jewish survivors?
- What is the “takeaway?” Have student jot down insights or understandings gained in terms of survival, liberation, and the importance of memory. Share these.
- Liberation freed the victims physically, but not emotionally. Explain this contradiction.
(2) Select and project several testimonies from the websites below which include eyewitness testimony from both American and British liberators of concentration camps including Ohrdurf , Buchenwald, ,and Dachau. One account, for example, was from a letter written by Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe, General Eisenhower, to Chief of Staff George Marshall, dated April 12, 1945.
A teacher's guide to the Holocaust
Holocaust Teacher Resource Center
- After each reading, have students copy one line that impacted them most and share.
- Why was it so difficult, if not impossible for the liberators to be prepared for what they
witnessed?
Discuss, “Why is it important that we read and know about such testimony?
During:
(1) Project the following testimony and poem and explain that poet Barbara Helfgot-Hyett was so impressed with the testimony that she created a poem from the narrative. Read both out loud to the class. Have students compare her version below with the original prose and involve students in a discussion of the ways in which each piece affected them and the different impressions the words made when written as prose and as poetry.
Source of Activity: http://fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/timeline/RESCUE/POETRY.HTM
Testimony:
“We were a combat unit. We'd been to Anzio, to southern France, Sicily, Salermo, the Battle of the Bulge, and we'd never, never seen anything like this. In the children's cell block, the bedding, the clothing, the floors besmeared with months of dysentery. I could put my fingers around their upper arms, their ankles, so little flesh. Two hundred and fifty children. Children of prisoners. Polish children. Czechoslovakian children. I can't remember what I did after I saw the children.
Poem by Barbara Helfgot-Hyett:
Our men cried.
We were a combat unit.
We'd been to Anzio,
to southern France,
Sicily, Salermo,
the Battle of the Bulge,
and we'd never, ever
seen anything
like this.
In the children's cell block,
the bedding, the clothing,
the floors besmeared with
dysentery. I could
put my fingers around their upper arms,
their ankles, and so little flesh. Two hundred
and fifty children. Children
of prisoners. Polish children.
Czechoslovakian children.
I can't remember
what I did
after I saw the children.
After:
1) Introduce students to the book, The Flag with Fifty-Six Stars: A Gift from the Survivors of Mauthausen by Susan Goldman Rubin. “On May 6th, 1945, when the 11th Armored Division of the U.S. Army marched into the Mauthausen Concentration camp, they were presented with an extraordinary gift. Despite their desperate and starving conditions, a group of prisoners had surreptitiously sewed scraps of sheets and jackets together to make a U.S. flag. Even though the inmates had added an extra row of stars, Colonel Richard Seibel had the flag flown over the camp as a tribute to the humanity, perseverance, and spirit of the survivors of Mauthausen. The meticulously researched paintings by Bill Farnsworth in The Flag with Fifty-Six Stars: A Gift from the Survivors of Mauthausen] poignantly depict the events. Source notes, a biography, further resources and a reproduction of the actual flag are included.”
(Source: author website: http://susangoldmanrubin.com/print_56stars.html)
- Share several of the pictures from the book as well as read selected portions and
summarize the story.
- Display page 25 from the book and distribute class copies of the page Working in
pairs, have students identify and reflect upon textual evidence from one survivor’s point of view-- feelings and reactions at the moment of liberation.
(2) Allow time for each pair to rework this informational piece to create a poem.
(3) Involve students in a discussion, asking the following questions: What did liberation mean to the survivors? What was their reaction when the Americans liberated the camp? Involve students in supporting their analysis with specific textual reference.
(4) Create a class wall, dedicated to the survivors of the Holocaust. Have students share their poems and post them on the wall.