Holocaust in Perspective

(Posted to this site on (07/07/2004)

The Holocaust
in Perspective

by Edith Rechter Levy

Permission to publish excerpts from this document given by:

Dr. Edith Rechter Levy, Chair,
West Virginia
Holocaust Education Commission

To order contact:
Dr. Edith Levy
West Virginia Holocaust Education Center
PO Box 1125
Morgantown, WV 26507
or send E-mail to wvhec@att.net

This text is appropriate for teaching at both the middle school and high school levels.

Acknowledgements	i
Reprint Permission	ii
Picture Credit	ii
Table of Contents
Foreword to the Students	1
SECTION ONE
Introduction	3
Chapter I - Vocabulary	7
Background to the Catastrophe	9
• World War I	10
• The Rise of Communism	11
• Hitler's Convoluted Illogical Ideas	13
• Party Platforms	18
• Comprehension Checkup	20
Chapter Review	21
Chapter II - Vocabulary	25
Why the Jews?	26
• The Euthanasia Program	26
• Antisemitism	27
• Who are the Jews?	28
• History Highlights of the Jewish People	29
• Timeline on Judaism to the Holocaust	32
• Roots of Antisemitism	34
• The Jew as Scapegoat	37
The Dark Ages	37
• Comparison of Church/Nuremberg Laws	36
• Medieval Ghettos	38
• Crusades	38
The Middle Ages	39
• Spanish Inquisition	40
• Russian/Eastern European Antisemitism	40
• French Antisemitism	41
• The Protocols of the Elders of Zion	42
• The Jew as Contributor to World Progress	43
Chapter Review	45
SECTION TWO
Chapter III. - Vocabulary	49
The Incremental Destruction of a People. Recap	50
• Indoctrination of the Young	51
• Discontent of the Masses	52
• Scapegoating	53
The Nazi Genocidal Plan - Isolation - Dehumanization Annihilation. Isolation	54
• Appeasement and Indifference	57
• The Evian Conference	58
• Kristallnacht	59
• SS St. Louis	60
Dehumanization	61
• Ghettos	63
Annihilation	65
• The Wannsee Conference	65
• Table of Euphemisms	67
• Maps and Charts	68
Chapter Review	71
United States/Germany Comparison	74
SECTION THREE
Chapter IV - The Human Equation	77
Resistance	78
• League of Nations	79
• Physical Resistanc	80
• Spiritual and Moral Resistance	81
• Passive Resistance	82
• Passing as a non-Jew	82
The Righteous Among the Nations	83
• Kindertransport	84
• One Person Can Make a Difference	85
• Jewish Foundation of the Righteous	87
Chapter V - The Aftermath	88
• Life Reborn	89
• The Balfour Declaration	90
• The Exodus	90
• The Creation of the State of Israel	91
• Yad Vashem	91
• Nuremberg Trials	92
Epilogue	93
READING SECTION
Historical	95
• The Killing of the Jews	97
• What are the Protocols?	99
• Dr. Joseph Goldberger	102
• Kristallnacht	103
• The Day They Murdered the Books	106
• Ghetto Life	108
• Janusz Korczak	110
• Resistance	111
• Montana City Reacts	115
Eyewitness and Personal	113
• Antisemitism Behind a Shining Countenance	117
• Your Hat is on Crooked	118
• Kristallnacht Eyewitness Accounts	120
• Nechama Tech	125
• Rachel G. (Kindertransport)	127
• Excerpts from Janusz Korczak Diary	129
• The Briefcase	130
APPENDIX
• Annotated Bibliography
• Annotated Videography
• Annotated Webography
• The Holocaust/Historical Summary
• Simon Wiesenthal Center Educational Resource Kit

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