Holocaust Studies for Senior Students

Holocaust Studies for Senior Students is a high quality package of 13 lessons covering some of the most important topics at senior level. It is free to download and available to purchase in hard copy.

Guidance for teachers

The aim of this resource is to provide teachers with ‘lessons to go’ on the main topics of the Holocaust. We recognise that teachers can be pressed for time during the busy school year; consequently, we provide this selection of free lessons to help teachers educate pupils about the Holocaust.

These lessons contain all the content needed to teach about the Holocaust to a excellent and expert-approved standard. Holocaust Studies for Senior Students is recommended for post-primary teachers who wish to teach the TY module or who have completed the Holocaust Education Ireland Certificate in Holocaust Education (or equivalent). It complements the IHRA Recommendations on Teaching and Learning about the Holocaust and other Holocaust pedagogical materials.

When using this resource, we would encourage teachers to read the very short introductory booklet first. It outlines the rationale for teaching the Holocaust and highlights sensitive issues and how to address them in the classroom.

Jewish children from Germany play leap frog at a Kinderlager [children's recreational summer camp] in Horserod, Denmark. 1935.

Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Norbert Wollheim

 

The rise of antisemitism

This course provides an overview of the Holocaust. Beginning with pre-war Jewish life and the rise of antisemitism which ultimately culminated in the Holocaust. The programme touches on other genocides. Before finishing with student reflections.

 

Guidance for teachers

Teaching the Holocaust can be difficult. Our Holocaust Studies for Senior Students module is now open-access to ensure teachers can access high-quality, historically accurate educational resources about the Holocaust. Please browse below to access all thirteen lessons.

Introduction

Please click below to access the Introduction for the module.

 
 

A group of young German boys view "Der Stuermer," "Die Woche," and other propaganda posters that are posted on a fence in Berlin. Julien Bryan, 1937.

Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Lesson materials

Materials for all 13 lessons are available to download below.

+ Lesson 1 - Pre-war Jewish Life

This folder contains

  • 5 Handouts
    Background Information
    Four Survivor Accounts
    Nuremberg Laws
    Three Survivor Accounts
    Three Memoirs

  • Powerpoint

  • Video Clips

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+ Lesson 2 - The Impact of Nazi Antisemitism

This folder contains

  • 9 Handouts:
    Background Information
    Book Burning
    Two Testimonies
    Anschluss
    Definition of Propaganda
    Evian Conference
    The Story of the St Louis
    The November Pogrom
    Kindertransports

  • Powerpoint
  • Video Clips

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+ Lesson 3 - Ghettos

This folder contains

  • 8 Handouts:
    Background Information
    The Suitcase
    Two images
    Children in the Ghettos
    The Theresienstadt Ghetto/Camp
    The Butterfly
    The Oyneg Shabbos Archive
    The Little Smuggler

  • Powerpoint

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+ Lesson 4 - Deportation, Transport and Arrival at the Camps

This folder contains

  • 4 Handouts:
    Background Information
    Three Testimonies
    Ettie Steinberg's last letter
    Arriving at the camps

  • Powerpoint

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+ Lesson 5 - Life in the Camps

This folder contains

  • 8 Handouts:
    Background Information
    Prisoners and Perpetrator
    Roll Call
    Camp Orchestras
    The Jewish people of Hungary
    Two poems
    Kitty Hart-Moxon
    Escape from Auschwitz

  • Powerpoint

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+ Lesson 6 - Killing Squads (Einsatzgruppen)

This folder contains

  • 6 Handouts:
    Background Information
    Jan Kaminski
    Babi Yar
    Poem 'Babi Yar'
    Killing Squad Reports
    The Wannsee Conference

  • Powerpoint

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+ Lesson 7 - Jewish Resistance during the Holocaust

This folder contains

  • 9 Handouts
    Background Information
    Types of Resistance
    Spiritual Resistance
    The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
    Mordechai Anielewicz
    The Bielski Partisan Group
    Sophie and Hans Scholl and the White Rose Group
    Poem 'Resistance'
    Famous 'Resisters' Past and Present

  • Powerpoint
  • Video Clips

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+ Lesson 8 - Rescue and Righteous

This folder contains

  • 6 Handouts
    Background Information
    Three Quotations
    Stories of Rescue and Righteous
    More Righteous Stories
    Nicholas Winton
    Denmark, Righteous Muslims, Arabs and Germans

  • Powerpoint
  • Video Clips

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+ Lesson 9 - After the Holocaust

​ This folder contains

  • 4 Handouts
    Background Information
    Five Testimonies
    The Kielce Pogrom
    Displaced-Persons Camps

  • Powerpoint

  • Video Clips

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+ Lesson 10 - Non-Jewish Victims of the Holocaust

• This folder contains

  • 9 Handouts
    Background Information
    People with Disabilities
    Roma and Sinti People
    Polish and Slavic Peoples
    Black People adn Ethnic Minorities
    Homosexuals
    Christians and Jehovah's Witnesses
    Political Opponents
    Martin Niemöller

  • Powerpoint

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+ Lesson 11 - The Holocaust and Other Genocides

• This folder contains

  • 8 Handouts
    Background Information
    Raphael Lemkin and the term ‘Genocide’
    The Genocide in Armenia
    The Genocide in Cambodia
    The Genocide in Rwanda
    The Genocide in Bosnia
    The Ten Stages of Genocide
    The Holocaust and other Genocides

  • Powerpoint

  • Video Clips

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+ Lesson 12 - After the Holocaust

• This folder contains

  • 8 Handouts
    Background Information
    Antisemitism in Ireland
    Ireland and Refugees
    Anne Drechsler
    The story of Doris Segal
    Irish Places of Refuge
    Irish People who Perished in the Holocaust
    Singing the Book of Condolences

  • Powerpoint

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+ Lesson 13 - Reflection

• This folder contains

  • 5 Handouts
    General Reflection
    Personal Reflection
    Wilhelm Hosenfeld
    Letter to Yad Vashem
    Holocaust Denial and Holocaust Destortion

  • Powerpoint

  • Video Clips

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How can I make the most of this module?

 

  • 1.

    Download the lesson materials

    Detailed lesson plans with handouts, PowerPoint presentations, and video clips.

  • 2.

    Sign up for ‘The Holocaust Narrative’ CPD course.

    We hold CPD Webinars in conjunction with local education training boards for teachers.

    Stay updated

  • 3.

    Browse our other programmes

    Which include ‘The Holocaust Narrative’, and the ‘Transition Year Module in Holocaust Studies’

    Find out More

  • 4.

    Share

    Share your expierences and get tips from fellow teachers on our social media.

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Have you seen our Transition Year Module in Holocaust Studies?

Holocaust Education Ireland has produced a module with ten lesson plans, handouts, and more for Transition Year students.

 

The full module is available to download here: