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(Posted to this site on 4/5/2002)

No Way Out
Letters and Lessons of the Holocaust
by Susan Prinz Shear

Permission to publish excerpts from this document given by Susan Prinz Shear

The Collection of Letters:

What began as my attempt at simply saving a few old family letters found in a small tin box in my mother's basement, developed into an extensive project that has taken several years to complete. In the beginning, the goal was merely to preserve, through a few letters, the story of my family's efforts to emigrate from Germany. But with the discovery of hundreds of letters and documents, the project grew to include approximately 500 pieces of correspondence written by or to members of the Deutsch family from 1938-1947. While the letters demonstrate, on one level, a family's wish to stay in touch, they also show the race against time to find a way out of Germany for those left behind.

My mother's family, the Deutsches, had deep roots in Breslau, the Silesian part of eastern Germany. When Hitler came to power in 1933, my maternal grandparents, Stefan and Frieda Deutsch were living in Breslau with their four adult children, Margot, Martin, Erwin and Gerda. Life centered around the large, close extended family that lived nearby. However, by 1938 their lives had changed dramatically. Businesses closed, families scattered to all parts of the world and what had been a beautiful way of life, suddenly vanished.

My uncle Martin and my mother, Margot, emigrated to America in 1938. In early 1939 my uncle Erwin left for Bolivia. By June of that year my grandparents followed to Bolivia, leaving only Gerda behind in Germany. Although reluctant to leave, my grandparents felt some comfort in the fact that Gerda was newly married to Heinz Schottlaender, the son of a very wealthy, prominent and philanthropic Jewish family in Breslau. In the end, their money and position did not save them from the Nazis. Gerda, Heinz and their son Denny, born in June 1941, never got out. They remained in Wessig, a Breslau suburb, until their deportation east on May 3, 1942. They were never heard from again.

No Way Out documents how ordinary people tried their best to understand their circumstances amid deception and confusion, to maintain a semblance of normality during the worst of times and to make painful decisions about events that were largely out of their control. This is the seldom told story of immigration, emigration, legalized antisemitism, isolation, expropriation and, ultimately, deportation. Most importantly, it provides first hand accounts of what individuals knew or suspected and how they tried to communicate with and help one another via a censored mail system. What makes this collection especially unique is that family members outside of Germany made carbon copies of the letters they wrote, providing us with dialogue in both directions.

The final chapter of No Way Out has not yet been written. Perhaps one day we will know the whole story. In the meantime, the letters serve as a legacy for those who found No Way Out.

Tell the family story through letters.
Discuss the letters and lessons.
Display and discuss coordinating charts that provide a timeline of events and laws.
Show photographs and documents.

Getting Started:
1. Review the Teacher's Guide. (Preparation, Background Information, Optional Resources)
2. Review and read the Letters and Lessons.
3. Copy, enlarge and mount, into charts, the Laws and Events. (in the Appendix)
4. Make transparencies of Photographs and Documents. (in the Appendix)
5. Arrange for an overhead projector.

Teaching the Unit:
Day 1

Give students background information on Nazi Germany and the Deutsch Family.

Day 2 (through 1938), Day 3 (1939-40), and Day 4 (1941-beyond):

Surround the students with the charts, reverse side out, displayed around the room. Turn the charts one at a time as you discuss them. Keep the charts visible throughout the lesson to demonstrate the cumulative, insidious and sequential nature of the laws and events. (If time or money is an issue, create overhead transparencies instead of charts.)

Read and discuss the lessons and the bolded segments of the letters.

Show photographs and documents on overhead projector as indicated.

Day 5 and beyond:

Provide extended learning in large and small groups.

Reading and Writing:

Students read and understand a variety of materials.

Students write and speak for a variety of purposes and audiences.

Students apply thinking skills to their reading, writing, speaking, listening and viewing.

Students read to locate, select and make use of relevant information from a variety of media, reference and technological
sources.

Students read and recognize literature as a record of human experience.

History/Social Studies/Geography:

Students understand the chronological organization of history and know how to organize events and people into major eras to identify and explain historical relationships.

Students understand how to use the processes and resources of historical inquiry.

Students understand that societies are diverse and have changed over time.

Students understand how science, technology and economic activity have developed, changed and affected societies throughout history.

Students understand political institutions and theories that have developed and changed over time.

Students understand how economic, political, cultural and social processes interact to shape patterns of human populations, interdependence, cooperation and conflict.

Students apply knowledge of people, places and environments to understand the past and present and to plan for the future.

Student Learning Objectives:

Early warning signs and stages of Genocide: (Identification and Isolation)

Definition of the Holocaust, and the rise of Hitler and Nazi ideology

German Jewish life during the Nazi Regime

Geography and demographics of Nazi Germany

Events and legislation in Nazi Germany

Emigration, Immigration, Expropriation, "Aryanization"

Collapse of democracy, role of censorship and the loss of individual freedom in Nazi Germany

Role and response of the German population, other nations and institutions

Difficult decisions and dilemmas during the Holocaust

Universal lessons of the Holocaust such as: prejudice and racism, peer pressure, indifference, personal and institutional greed, totalitarianism, obedience, propaganda, use and abuse of power, civil rights and responsibility

Importance of primary sources as historical documentation

Discussion Questions:

"All the people like us are we and everyone else is they." What is the message in this Kipling quote in terms of identity, belonging and how we see "others"? How you do build a society that recognizes and values differences among people?

"Men are not born with hatred in their blood; the infection is usually acquired by contact." Comment on this quote. How are people taught to hate a group or a person?

Define the following terms: Stereotype, race, prejudice, segregation, scapegoating, discrimination, tolerance. Do you object to the word "tolerance?" What word could be substituted? "Tyranny begins in silence, one begins to tolerate intolerance." Do you agree with this statement?

How important is peer pressure to the way we see others and ourselves and how did it influence the German people in.their support of Nazism? Greed and career opportunism were factors in the Holocaust. Discuss what you have learned about these factors.

"The precondition for mass extermination was engineered dehumanization: the conversion of citizens into aliens." What words and actions did the Nazis use to "dehumanize" the Jews? In looking at the timeline and letters in this curriculum, when do you think de-humanization of the Jews began? How did the process of "dehumanization" make it easier for people to justify their hatred of the Jews?

The Stages of Genocide can be classified as Identification, Isolation, Concentration, and Annihilation. Discuss the first two stages in terms of the letters and laws you have just studied.

Nazi legislation against the Jews was done in a slow, progressive process and in a particular order. What might have happened if the order of the laws had been different or if they were passed more quickly?

Discuss how specific letters and laws in No Way Out affected you by examining individual passages in the letters. Which ones stand out? Can you find implied meanings? What do the tone and mood in the letters tell us? (Suggestion: Divide students into groups, giving each group copies of particular laws and letters which they can examine in depth.)

What do you think Gerda and Heinz, as well as family members outside of Germany, knew about the Final Solution? Find specific supporting evidence in the letters.

Discuss the importance of primary sources in studying history and the similarities and differences between letters and diaries. What are the important benefits of both?

The Holocaust presented people with many moral and ethical choices. What do you think were the most difficult choices for the Deutsch family?

Further Study -- Activities and Research:

Research World War I, the Versailles Treaty, the fall of German democracy and the rise of Nazism. Why do you think democracy failed in Germany? What are warning signs of a failing democracy?

"Why the Jews?" is a central question to the Holocaust. How and when did Jews become "outsiders" in Germany and elsewhere? Explore the history of antisemitism. Who are "outsiders" today in our society?

Paramount to a study of the Holocaust is the question, how could the Holocaust have happened in a cultured, educated and advanced society of the 20th century? Examine the following contributing factors. Were there other factors involved? Can you relate these factors to other events, current or past?

- Antisemitism/Racism
- Indifference
- Obedience and a sense of duty
- Fear
- Peer pressure
- Greed
- Bureaucratic structure
- Nationalism
- Economic hard times
- A weak democracy
- Political charisma
- Manipulative propaganda

July / August 1938
 32 NATIONS AT EVIAN CONFERENCE LIMIT OR REFUSE JEWISH IMMIGRATION
ALL JEWS MUST ADD "JEWISH" NAMES: ISRAEL FOR MEN, SARA FOR WOMEN

1. At the Evian Conference in July 1938, representatives from 32 countries including the United States, discussed the plight of the German and Austrian Jews. Few were willing to accept Jewish immigrants. America limited immigration and never reached its legal quota. What motivated countries to close their borders or restrict immigration? [Motivations included economics, antisemitism, isolationism and indifference.]
What message did this give the Jews? the Nazis? [Jews realized they were unwanted and without support. They also began to realize the gravity of their situation. Nazis believed these closed-door policies affirmed their own policies.]

2. Discuss the dilemmas faced by Jews as they decided whether/when/ how to leave Germany.

3. Why did the Nazi Regime encourage emigration yet make it very difficult for many Jews to leave, even if they could find a country of refuge? [The Nazis wanted Jews to leave Germany but also wanted their money, property and businesses. These "legalized" processes took time and delayed emigration and subsequently immigration possibilities.]

4. What made the law which required Jews to add "Jewish" names to documents so demeaning? [It took away their personal identity and individuality.]