History 10 at ISP

The Sunflower is Simon Wiesenthal’s story of a young German SS officer, Karl, who ends up asking Simon to forgive him for the crimes that he committed during the Holocaust.  It is a classic moral dilemma. The question whether Simon should – or could – forgive, is complex.

For this first post, I would like you to post your own reflections on the text.  What do you think of Simon’s decision?  Do you agree with him?  Why or why not?  Please make direct reference to the text when posting your response.  Also, please be sure to respond to one other person’s posting.

Do some research

Sadly, we do not have a lot of time before the holidays to do justice to our study of the Roma Holocaust, known as the Porrajmos. In order to receive extra credit, please see what you can find out about one of the following topics by looking online:

• The Lety camp in the Czech Republic
• The Roma of Slovakia before World War II
• Treatment of the Roma at Auschwitz
• Compensation for the Roma after the war
• Sterilization of the Roma in Czechoslovakia

In order to get credit you must

1. Cite the source of your information; it may not be a source already cited by someone else.
2. Write a summary of the article. What are the major points made by the writer?
3. Reflect on the significance of the article. How does this compare to the Jewish Holocaust? How do you think that this affects the Roma population today?

Due on December 18.

20 marks

This week we had the chance to meet Dana Lieblova, a survivor of Terezin, Auschwitz, and Bergen-Belsen. I think we all agreed that she was very impressive. In addition, this week we have been looking at the question of responsibility. As part of that we looked at the role of people like Nicholas Winton, who went against the apathy of the global community and saved 664 Jewish children.

There is a lovely video clip of the British show “That’s Your Life.” It is what appeared on the Czech news. It is a mix of Czech and English – and is a rather emotional clip. An appropriate reward for such a great man.

Here is the film of the poem that we read in class.

Please remember that this Tuesday from 3:00 – 4:30 Ms. Dana Lieblova will be speaking to us about her experiences in Terezin and Auschwitz.  Please do not be late, and be ready to stay in the room for 90 minutes.  You are requested not to leave the room during the presentation.

If you have any questions, please see me on Monday during class or after school.

Mr. Crane

Here is an excellent website on Auschwitz. The website is a series of maps that show you how the Holocaust took place, as well as images from the camp.  Highly recommended.

For those of you who would like to do a virtual visit of the camp, here is an amazing site which will give you a tour, as well as an explanation of the key parts of the camp.

This week we continued to explore the progression of the Holocaust.  We discussed the ghetto system, seeing clips from both Schindler’s List and Hitler Gives the Jews a City – the Nazi propaganda film about Terezin.  We also went to Terezin.  Your postings were excellent.

Then we looked at the progression of the war.  Here are key ideas from this week:

• The Second World War broke the rules with regard to the treatment of civilians.  The bombing of non-military targets and the mistreatment of POWs and refugees created a climate of violence that allowed genocide to take place.
• Though laws had socially isolated the Jews, the ghetto system physically isolated them.
• Himmler complained that Germans were trying to protect their favorite Jews.  This, together with speeches by Goebbels, Hitler and other Nazi leaders, indicates that the German public may not have been aware of all the details, but they knew that something terrible was happening to the Jews.
• Our exploration of the New York Times archive shows that the American public was informed of what was happening in Europe from the earliest stages of the Holocaust. In November of 1941 headlines reported the killing of over 1.4 million Jews in Europe.
• The Final Solution to the Jewish Question was finalized at the Wannsee Conference in Berlin in January 1942. In the course of the meeting, Heydrich presented a plan, presumably approved by Hitler, for the deportation of the Jewish population of Europe and French North Africa (Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia) to German-occupied areas in eastern Europe, and the use of the Jews fit for labour on road-building projects, in the course of which they would eventually die, the surviving remnant to be annihilated after completion of the projects.

The following video briefly refers to the Wannsee Conference.  It is the beginning of the BBC documentary on Auschwitz.  Highly recommended that you watch it before we see Ms. Lieblova on Tuesday.

Part II.