The International School for Holocaust Studies
Learning Environments
This page features interdisciplinary or interactive learning tools. These units often focus on a particular theme – children in the ghettos, the Holocaust in the arts, postwar experiences of survivors – subjects that go beyond any single lesson plan in scope.
For more materials ready for use in the classroom, see our Lesson Plans page.
Traces of History: Salonika, Greece
This website features the story of the Jews from Salonika, Greece. Based on the testimony film about Holocaust survivor Ovadia Baruch, this learning environment delves into the food, culture, and religious aspects of prewar Greek Jewish life, and follows them through their deportation to concentration and death camps, mainly to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Focusing on interdisciplinary tools which can be used in the classroom, students can follow Ovadia through his life via film clips, while reading detailed descriptions of the prewar and Holocaust periods in Greece. In an effort to remember communities that were nearly wiped out by the Nazis, this educational aid will help teachers and students gain a better understanding of one particular community. Read more
To Remember their Faces
Introductory activity for teachers using prewar photographs of Jewish victims. We often associate the Holocaust with pictures of mass carnage. A deeper understanding of the Holocaust may be reached by discussing photographs of real people, who led complete lives before the war. Read more
Children in the Ghetto – Interactive Website for Children
This interactive website is about children and for children. The website describes daily life in the ghettos during the Holocaust from the children’s perspective, and attempts to present this complex experience in a way that is accessible to children. This project strives to demonstrate that despite the grave trials and tribulations, there were those who fought to maintain human dignity and a functioning society based on spirituality, culture and care for one’s fellow man. Read more
Animated Exhibition: The Bericha – Survivors’ Journey Towards a New Life
The bericha [Hebrew] refers to the organized attempts, during 1944-1948, to collect Jewish survivors in Europe and bring them to pre-state Israel. This site features an animated exhibition, interactive map and educational discussion material on the subject. Read more
The November 1938 Pogrom (Kristallnacht) - Educational Materials
A collection of educational materials including encyclopedia entries, personal accounts, documents, photographs, and more. Read more
Project 4
Individual experience, community, the calendar, and Jewish national history all help shape Jewish identity. Jews mark the Exodus — in which the nation was liberated — on three occasions: Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot. Jews also commemorate the destruction of the Temple during four fast days: the Seventeenth of Tammuz, the Ninth of Av, the third of Tishre the Fast of Gedalia, and the Tenth of Tevet. Read more
Seven Poems, Seven Paintings – A Teacher's Guide to Selected Holocaust Poetry
This unique teacher's guide is intended for poetry, art and literature teachers interested in a more artistic approach to teaching the Holocaust. It includes seven Holocaust-related poems, accompanied by original artist's impressions of these poems. Each poem includes discussion points for the teacher. Read more
Five Poems by Dan Pagis
Dan Pagis, a Holocaust survivor, was one of modern Israel’s most vibrant poetic voices. His references to the Holocaust are sometimes oblique, filtered through his use of biblical or mystical images. In this new teacher’s guide, we explore five of his poems, along with points for discussion, analysis and classroom debate. Read more
Journey of Discovery – Educational Activities with Pages of Testimony
Pages of Testimony serve as symbolic tombstones, providing a unique and significant memorial for individuals who were killed in the Holocaust. “Journey of Discovery” is an interactive exploration of Pages of Testimony from Yad Vashem’s online databases, outlining how these documents can be taught. Read more
January 27 – International Holocaust Remembrance Day
January 27 has been designated by the United Nations as the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust. This site has been developed in order to assist educators prepare ceremonies and lesson plans for middle school and high school students. Read more
Interactive Map: Main Camps and Killing Sites
Interactive map of the main Nazi camps and killing sites, including information on the sites, an overview article on the “Final Solution” and a collection of related items for further research. Read more
Using Testimony in Holocaust Education
Within the context of Holocaust education, testimony – both written and oral – serves as a vital bridge between historical fact and human story. This document explores the potential applications for testimony in the classroom, and outlines guidelines for proper, age-appropriate use. Read more
Reader of Short Stories
This unit is designed to provide teachers of English with some ideas on how to introduce Holocaust-related stories in their English classes. It features five hand-picked short stories and literary pieces, as well as general guidelines for educational discussion and teaching the material in the classroom. Read more
Between the Worlds – Social Circles in the Theresienstadt Ghetto
This website accompanies the educational CD ROM of the same name. It follows the world of the Jews in the ghetto during the Holocaust, focusing on the various age groups and sub-cultures that lived in the ghetto: children and parents, men and women. The site has a lesson plan with activities geared for pupils in middle and high school. Read more
Schindler's List as an Educational Tool
These lesson plans and activities, geared towards high school students, have been developed to foster a careful methodological approach so as not to confuse Hollywood with reality. Various interdisciplinary classroom activities have been designed for teachers who use Spielberg's film to address the Holocaust. Read more
"Echoes and Reflections"
Accompanying website to the similarly named multimedia kit. The website follows the kit’s ten chapters, explaining key words and complementing each chapter with encyclopedia entries, photographs, documents and related links for the School’s website. Read more
