IMMIGRATION

NOW NEXT BEYOND

COLLECTING ORAL HISTORIES

OBJECTIVES

Students will be able to…

  • Explore the new identities Holocaust survivors have constructed after leaving their home countries and arriving in Canada
  • Learn about the experiences of Holocaust survivors starting new lives in Canada and how these shaped their identities
  • Recognize and assess the social, financial, and economic issues survivors faced after arriving in Canada
  • Collect, analyze, and report on information gathered from Holocaust survivor testimonies
TEACHER PREPARATION
Provide access to digital copies of Biography: Lillian N., Biography: Jannushka J. and Biography: Leon K (b.1915). Alternately, reproduce copies of the materials to distribute to students in small groups.

STUDENT INSTRUCTION

CLASS DISCUSSION: CONSTRUCTING A NEW IDENTITY
Begin by reviewing the Holocaust experiences of Lillian N., Jannushka J. and Leon K (b. 1915). The biographies will be helpful in contextualizing their experiences and explaining where they were at the end of the war.

As a class, view the excerpts, one at a time. Using evidence gathered from the excerpts, discuss how these survivors have constructed a new identity for themselves after the Holocaust. What internal and external factors have helped to shape their identities?

ACTIVITY: COLLECTING ORAL HISTORIES
Using the testimonies and biographies within this website, you will be able to “interview” a Holocaust survivor. As a class, in small groups or individually, develop a series of questions that you would like to ask a survivor about their immigration to Canada. Some suggested topics include:

  • What was your life like after liberation?
  • Where did you want to go?
  • How did you get there?
  • How did you immigrate to Canada?
  • Where did you settle?

As you view the testimonies, you may choose to collect notes about one person, or you may want to listen to many testimonies to create a larger story of immigration.

To conduct the “interview,” view one of the testimonies and create a timeline of the survivor’s immigration to Canada.

To extend the activity, you can compare your timeline to the historical events occurring in Europe and Canada during the same time period.

Leon K.

Jannushka J.

Lillian N.

CONINUE TO BEYOND