Summary
This is a lesson used to provide context for the Holocaust prior to teaching about the involvement of the United States and other Allied nations in the Nuremberg Trials. Students will watch a short film about the Holocaust called "Pigeon" and comment about what they notice. Next, students will use a timeline of the Holocaust to analyze the events individually and as a whole. They will then examine the experiences of a couple of Holocaust survivors and/or victims, and they will write about them.
Essential Question(s)
What were the events that led to and occurred during the Holocaust, and how did the world respond to it?
Snapshot
Engage
Students identify what they already know about the Holocaust by participating in a Collective Brain Dump activity.
Explore
Students watch a short film about the Holocaust called "Pigeon" and comment about what they notice.
Explain
Students use a timeline of the Holocaust to analyze the events individually and as a whole. They organize their observations with a Fishbone diagram.
Extend
Students examine the experiences of a couple of Holocaust survivors and/or victims, and they write about them.
Evaluate
Students reflect on what they have learned by completing a How Am I Feeling? What Am I Thinking? exercise.
Materials
Computers with Internet access
Pens/pencils
Guided Notes handout (attached; optional; one per student)
Holocaust Timeline (attached; several copies per class)
Fishbone handout (attached; one per student)
ID cards from USHMM (optional; one set per class)
Engage
15 Minute(s)
Begin the lesson by displaying slide 3. Ask students to take out a piece of scrap paper. Let students know that they will participate in a Collective Brain Dump activity. They will have two or three minutes to write down everything they know about what happened during the Holocaust.
After the students have finished writing, arrange them into groups of three. Instruct them to share their lists with the others in their group. Make sure the students know that they should add any new information they learn from their classmates to the lists they have created.
After the small groups have had about five minutes to share their lists with each other, have a brief whole-class discussion about the activity. Invite a few volunteers to share their lists with the rest of the class. Once students have shared their lists, conclude this portion of the lesson by briefly reviewing the essential questions and lesson objectives on slides 4 and 5.
Explore
20 Minute(s)
Display slide 6. Tell the students that they will be participating in an I Notice, I Wonder activity. Direct the students’ attention to the top two quarters of their Guided Notes sheet. Tell students that they will be watching a short film called “Pigeon.” Explain that, as they watch the film, they should take notes in the top-left quarter about the details they notice in the film.
You can play the film for students by clicking the embedded video in slide 7. If you have difficulty accessing the link, the film is also accessible at this site. However, you will need to create an account with Facing History & Ourselves in order to access it.
Once the film has ended, let students know that they have an additional five minutes to reflect on the film and write in the top-right quarter any questions they might have about it. After they have reflected, call on a few volunteers to share what they are wondering about. Ask those students to think about what they might be able to do in order to answer their “wonderings.”
Explain
30 Minute(s)
Display slide 8. Explain to students that they will be using the I Notice, I Wonder strategy again, but this time, they will use it to analyze the Holocaust Timeline that you have placed on the wall.
Have students reassemble in the groups of three that you had arranged earlier in the lesson. Let them know that the timeline is three pages long, and each student in the group will be responsible for reading a different page of the timeline using the Jigsaw strategy. As each student is reading, they should take about five minutes to jot notes in the bottom-left quarter of the Guided Notes sheet about important details they notice on their page of the timeline.
Once students have finished writing what they have noticed, let them know that they will have another five minutes to share with the other members of their group what they learned in the timeline.
After students have finished sharing, instruct them to spend another five minutes silently reflecting on what they have learned. In the bottom-right quarter, they should write down anything they might still be wondering about the Holocaust. After they have reflected, call on a few volunteers to share what they are wondering about. Ask those students to think about what they might be able to do in order to answer their “wonderings.”
Display slide 9 and pass out copies of the attached Fishbone handout to every student. Explain to students that they will use the Fishbone strategy, incorporating the notes they have already taken to pinpoint six key events that occurred during the Holocaust. Take a moment to explain the layout of the handout to students and let them know that they will need to enter the six events into the spots reserved for contributing factors that led to the Holocaust.
After about 10 minutes have passed, have the whole class reconvene for a few minutes. Ask a few volunteers to share what they chose for their Fishbone diagrams, and why.
Extend
35 Minute(s)
Display slide 10 and explain that students will be researching two survivors and/or victims of the Holocaust. If you have printed out the ID Cards, randomly distribute them to your students. Otherwise, instruct your students to head to one of two websites: One prepared for classroom use by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum or the unedited list of many more victims of the Holocaust. You will want to ensure that each student selects a different individual to research, so make sure to ask each student who they have decided to research, and potentially ask them to consult different ID cards if necessary.
Let your students know that they will have about 20 minutes (10 minutes per card) to read about the individuals profiled in their ID cards. As they do so, they will write their observations in the top-left and top-right quarters of their handouts.
After the 20 minutes are up, ask your students to reconvene one more time in their groups of three. They will spend the next 10 minutes sharing what they learned with others in their groups.
Once students have finished sharing in their groups, have your class reconvene, and spend a few more minutes asking volunteers to share what they learned with the class.
Evaluate
10 Minute(s)
Display slide 11. Tell students that to end this lesson, they will be participating in an activity called How Am I Feeling? What Am I Thinking? Share with students the two questions on the slide and let them know that they will answer them in the bottom two quarters of their Guided Notes sheets.
Make sure students have about 10 minutes to write their responses. Collect their Guided Notes sheets along with their Fishbone handouts, in order to assess their understanding of the content.
Resources
Facing History and Ourselves. (2022, April 14). Pigeon. https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/pigeon
K20 Center. (n.d.). Collective brain dump. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/111
K20 Center. (n.d.). Fishbone. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/1664
K20 Center. (n.d.). How am I feeling? What am I thinking? Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/187
K20 Center. (n.d.). I notice, I wonder. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/180
K20 Center. (n.d.). Jigsaw. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/179
Singer, M. (2015, October 6). Pigeon trigger film Holocaustmov [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/UyeAYtI1Xzw
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. (n.d.). Identification cards. Holocaust Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/landing/en/id-cards
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. (2015, January 16). 1389.4 Holocaust A. https://www.flickr.com/photos/ushmm/16269109876/in/photostream/