Heart to Heart: Adolescents Connect to Holocaust Survivors

In this unit, students will analyze video testimony of three Holocaust survivors, all of whom recount their experiences as children during this period.  The focus on children is intended to help my students make connections to survivors who experienced trauma and catastrophic loss during their youths.  Students will watch video testimonies and then work from transcripts designed to guide them through a close reading of the survivor testimonies.  Using the video transcripts as their source materials, students will create poems and write letters.  Discussions will focus on making personal connections to the experiences of the survivors and to an understanding of the mechanics of genocide.

This unit was designed for students in Grade 8.  It could be used with older students.  This material may be too disturbing for use with younger children.

This unit is suitable for language arts and social studies curricula.