NAZI CAMPS

NOW NEXT BEYOND

ARRIVAL

OBJECTIVES

Students will be able to…

  • Explore and define the terms “labour camp,” “concentration camp,” and “extermination camp”
  • Understand dehumanization perpetrated on the Jewish people by the Nazis during the Holocaust
  • Examine the efforts to dehumanize Jewish people when they arrived at the Nazi camps
  • Understand the effects of dehumanization on the survivors
  • Compare and contrast different survivors’ experiences within Nazi camps
  • Compare and contrast the different types of Nazi camps
  • Collect, analyze, and report on data gathered from Holocaust survivor testimony
TEACHER PREPARATION
Provide access to digital copies of Reading: Labour Camp, Reading: Concentration Camp, Reading: Extermination Camp, Biography: David E., and Activity Sheet: Web Diagram. Alternately, reproduce copies of the materials to distribute to students in small groups.

*To speed up the extension activity, teachers might want to gather photos from these sites in advance and have students select from those photos.

STUDENT INSTRUCTION

GUIDED VIEWING & CLASS DISCUSSION: DEHUMANIZATION
Watch and listen to David E. describing the scene when the transport arrived at Auschwitz.
With a partner or as a class, share your initial responses to David’s testimony.

  • How were the people treated upon arrival?
  • How do you think that the people would have felt?
  • What is dehumanization?

View the three recommended testimonies. This time record examples of how prisoners were dehumanized when they arrived. You may want to use the Activity Sheet: Web Diagram to record examples from each testimony.

David E.

Chaim K.

Karl S.

Once you have viewed all three testimonies, share your web diagram with someone or debrief as a class. Use a coloured pen to identify the similarities and differences in the survivors’ experiences.

Prisoners’ living conditions in the Nazi camps were vastly different from their pre-war lives. Their few personal possessions were taken away, they were separated from other family members, they were given uniforms and identification numbers, and many were made to share small bunks. What effects would this dehumanization have on the arriving prisoners? Why do you think that the camp personnel went to such lengths to dehumanize the prisoners?

RESEARCH: NAZI CAMPS
Using the dossier of materials that you have been given, and/or other reputable sources, you will research labour, concentration, and extermination camps. Once you have been able to compile a definition and examples of each, you will compare and contrast the different types of camps.

EXTENSION: PHOTO ANALYSIS
Focusing on the testimony of one of the three survivors, locate photos of the camp where they were imprisoned. Select one of the photos that affect you and describe what you see.

CONTINUE TO NEXT