Jewish Resistance from within Theresienstadt – Hitler’s so-called “City for the Jews”
“Jewish Resistance from within Theresienstadt – Hitler’s so-called “City for the Jews”
NOTE: The first 30 classroom teachers to register and attend will receive a $60.00 stipend and a copy of I Never Saw Another Butterfly: Children’s Drawings and Poems from the Terezin Concentration Camp, 1942-1944, edited by Hana Volavkova as well as The Diary of Petr Ginz by Chava Pressburger.
Because the program will be in the virtual format, teachers will be required to attend a 90 minute webinar and then complete a sample lesson plan. Once turned in and reviewed, the stipend will be mailed.
Registration is required. The link will be sent the day before the program.
Please join us for a teacher professional development workshop to exploring “hands-on” collaborative activities that will allow teachers to work directly with the art and writings produced by children and adult prisoners in Terezin. These activities can be easily adapted for use in a variety of classroom settings.
In 1941, Nazi Germany designated the small fortress town of Terezin, near Prague, to be the site of a unique prisoner location for Jews. They referred to it as a model settlement, but the reality was far different. It was a hybrid concentration camp and ghetto through which approximately 140,000 people passed, most on their way to death in Auschwitz. Despite conditions of extreme deprivation, Theresienstadt became a place of spiritual resistance through vibrant cultural life. There were artists, poets, musicians, actors, and writers. A surprising number of these were children. Inspiring collections of art and poetry survived the war years and can be used to teach about the Holocaust and Jewish resistance. The existence of such collections raises powerful questions.
How is it possible that Terezin experienced such a surge of creativity amidst destruction? Was there something special about the place? Were the prisoners somehow more equipped to engage in this type of resistance than those in other camps or ghettos? Did Nazi propaganda goals for Theresienstadt open unique possibilities?
Also, Nazi Germany used Theresienstadt to try to camouflage their genocidal intent toward Jews. They even made a propaganda film about this location. We will use excerpts from this film during the workshop.
