Holocaust Education Week

Holocaust Education Week in Florida is held annually the second week in November which coincides with the anniversary of Kristallnacht, November 9-10, 1938, a major turning point in the persecution of European Jews by the Nazi regime. The Commissioner’s Task Force on Holocaust Education identifies the following resources to assist K-12 educators in structuring Holocaust Education Week lessons. Holocaust Education Week in Florida will be held November 7-11, 2022.

Holocaust Education Week 2022 Memo (PDF)
Holocaust Education Week 2022 Press Release
Holocaust Education Week 2022 Proclamation (PDF)

Holocaust Education Week Resources

Guidelines for Teaching About the Holocaust

• Guidelines for Teaching the Holocaust (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum; Washington, DC)
• Recommendations for Teaching and Learning about the Holocaust (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance; Berlin, Germany)
• Frequently Asked Questions about the Holocaust (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum; Washington, DC)
• Pedagogical Principles for Effective Holocaust Instruction (Echoes & Reflections)

Kristallnacht

• The November Pogrom Exhibition (Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, Israel)
• Kristallnacht: The November 1938 Pogrom Exhibition and Resources (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)
• Remembering the Night of Broken Glass - Survivor Testimony (Centropa, Vienna, Austria)
• Teaching Holocaust and Human Behavior: Kristallnacht Lesson Plan (Facing History)

Kristallnacht Lesson Plans (IWitness)

• Some Were Neighbors: Collaboration & Complicity in the Holocaust (Grades 9-12)
• Information Quest: Kristallnacht (Grades 7-9)

Combating Antisemitism

• Define antisemitism (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, Berlin, Germany)
• Teaching Materials and Lesson Plans on Antisemitism and Racism (USHMM, Washington, DC)
• The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum film on antisemitism and discussion questions (USHMM, Washington, DC)
• Antisemitism Teaching Unit with Lesson Plans (Echoes & Reflections)

Historical Overview of the Holocaust

• Studying the Holocaust Lesson Plan – Vocabulary and Background (Echoes & Reflections)
• The Path to Nazi Genocide - Film and Educator Resources (United States Holocaust Museum)
• Worksheet for "The Path to Nazi Genocide” (USHMM, Washington, DC)
• An Overview of The Holocaust: Topics to Teach (USHMM, Washington, DC)

Survivor Testimony

• IWitness (USC Shoah Foundation)
• Behind Every Name a Story (USHMM, Essays from Survivors)
• Eyewitness to History (USHMM Survivor Testimony Video Library)
• Speakers’ Bureau (The Florida Holocaust Museum)
• Survivors and Witnesses: Using Video Testimony in the Classroom (Facing History; includes lesson plans and testimony videos from iWitness)
• Classroom Zoom with a Survivor (The Holocaust Documentation & Education Center)

Virtual Tours

• Virtual Tour of Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach
• Virtual Tour of the Florida Holocaust Museum (St. Petersburg, Florida)
• Virtual Tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau (Oświęcim, Poland)
• Virtual Tour of the Secret Annex (Anne Frank House, Amsterdam)
• Virtual Tour of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (Washington, D.C.)

Reading Materials

Lower Elementary

• The Tattooed Torah by Marvell Ginsburg, Grades K-2
• Brundibar by Tony Kushner, Grades K-3
• Terrible Things: An Allegory of the Holocaust by Eve Bunting, Grades K-3
• The Butterfly by Patricia Polacco, Grades 1-3

Upper Elementary

• Benno and the Night of Broken Glass by Meg Wiviott, Grades 3-5
• The Cat with the Yellow Star: Coming of Age in Terezin by Ela Stein-Weissberger and Susan Goldman Rubin, Grades 3-5
• The Cats in Krasinski Square by Karen Hesse, Grades 3-6
• Hana’s Suitcase by Karen Levin, Grades 4-6

Middle School

• Hidden: A Child’s Story of the Holocaust by Loïc Dauvillier, Grades 5-8
• Beyond Courage: The Untold Story of Jewish Resistance During the Holocaust by Doreen Rappaport, Grades 6-12
• The Boy on the Wooden Box: How the Impossible Became Possible...On Schindler’s List by Leon Leyson, Grades 6-9
• In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer by Irene Gut Opdyke and Jennifer Armstrong, Grades 6-12

High School

• The Complete Maus by Art Speigelman, Grades 8-12
• On Both Sides of the Wall by Vladka Meed, Grades 9-12
• Salvaged Pages by Alexandra Zapruder, Grades 8-12
• Rywka’s Diary: The Writings of a Jewish Girl from the Lodz Ghetto by Rywka Lipszyc and Anita Friedman, Grades 7-12