Introducing the Holocaust to Middle School Students: What to Teach Now, What to Save for Later
Teaching about the Holocaust in middle school can be a meaningful experience when educators use age-appropriate resources and focus on first-person accounts. By doing so, students are not only able to learn the historical facts but also engage in discussions that encourage empathy and a deeper understanding of this important topic. When teaching about a challenging subject such as the Holocaust, it’s especially important for educators to be mindful of the way they present content to students and what content they choose. I’ve written about teaching the Holocaust using a trauma-informed approach, so check out that blog post if you haven’t read it yet. Even within a trauma-informed approach, educators need to navigate a huge field of possible choices.
In certain provinces across Canada, the Holocaust is now part of Grades 6–8 social studies curricula, as well as being mandated as part of high school history courses. When teaching about the Holocaust is mandated in middle school curricula, it’s the responsibility of educators to structure the learning around age-appropriate topics and resources. Since the content returns in later years, middle school educators do not have to (and can’t!) teach every detail of the Holocaust to students. Students in middle school are also simply not yet developmentally ready to hear about many of those details.
So what should I actually teach them and what can I save for future years?
A clear definition of the Holocaust
Never assume that students understand what the Holocaust was. It’s important to provide a complete and accurate definition of the Holocaust that includes key concepts such as the timeline, geography, victim groups, Nazi ideology, collaborators and overall impact. For an example of a definition to use, ours can be found in the centre of the Core Concepts graphic.
A definition and examples of antisemitism
Antisemitism has existed for thousands of years. The Holocaust may be the most widely known example in recent history, but students require the understanding of the Holocaust within the larger history of antisemitism. See the Canadian Handbook on the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism for more information on antisemitism, Judaism and Jewish peoplehood.
From The Hidden Package by Claire Baum.
3. Jewish perspective art, poetry, photographs and imagery
What are the images that come to mind when you think about the Holocaust? You likely picture those well-known graphic images we have all seen: emaciated bodies in barracks, prisoners in striped uniforms, people behind barbed-wire fences, train tracks and the gates of Auschwitz, piles of bodies, swastikas. The list goes on. Now, consider the following two questions:
What colour are these images?
Who took the photographs?
It matters that black-and-white images mainly taken by perpetrators and/or Nazis are typically the images we see when discussing the Holocaust. But when we only show images taken through the lens of perpetrators, we are furthering the perpetrator narrative to our students.
So what do we do?
Even though these images do provide historical documentation of the atrocities committed during the Holocaust, they must be paired with a critical analysis of the image, including its creator, the greater context, the intention and the ethics around using it to learn about the history. Many of these discussions, while rich in nature, are beyond the developmental readiness of a middle school student and are better suited for a high school setting.
More importantly, it’s imperative to also incorporate materials that are from a Jewish perspective. When we use visuals that centre on the Jewish perspective, our focus is centred on the human being – the victim – in the way they wanted to be represented, rather than the way the perpetrator saw them. There are many examples of poetry, music, paintings and drawings created by Jews during the Holocaust. An example of this is the collection of wartime letters and drawings created by survivor-author Claire Baum, which can be seen, along with many other examples, on our digital resource, Re:Collection.
Each visual we choose to show to students must be intentional, purposeful and thoughtful with the intent to educate. Graphic imagery should not be presented in a middle school classroom.
4. Canada’s role and response (action and inaction)
It’s important for Canadians to acknowledge not only Canada’s response during the war but also what was happening in Canada at the time of the Holocaust. This includes immigration restrictions, antisemitic policies in Canada, the story of the MS St. Louis and Canadian troops’ role in liberation.
5. Appropriate themes and historical context
There are many age-appropriate themes for middle school classrooms learning about the Holocaust, such as hiding, escape, rescue and resistance. Students can also learn about the Holocaust through the following topics:
Jewish life before the war
Memoir authors typically describe their life before the war — if they were in a big city or small town, religious or secular, had Jewish friends or non-Jewish friends, family recipes and hobbies. This pre-war context humanizes history and individualizes the statistics.
Historical context of the country the survivor was from/in during the war
The historical context reflects the timeline of different countries – a survivor born in France has a very different timeline than one from Hungary, Poland or Belgium.
c. The impact of anti– Jewish measures on Jewish citizens
As the survivor’s story unfolds, the antisemitic nature of Nazi ideology is reflected in the way it individually impacted them – perhaps they had to start wearing a yellow star or switch schools, move homes or go into hiding. The development and expansion of anti-Jewish measures is witnessed as the reader moves through the survivor’s account.
d. Immigration to and life in Canada
While their journeys differ and the amount of detail provided varies, survivors will also commonly describe their travel to and settlement in Canada.
All of the themes above can be covered through the use of a first-hand account, such as a memoir. Our 11+ memoirs focus on themes that are accessible for a middle school student, yet still detailed in nature, allowing you to cover many of these themes without explicitly teaching them.
What to save for future years
As middle school educators, you are not responsible for going into every detail of the Holocaust with your students. Although the curriculum guidelines often do not specify which aspects of the Holocaust to include in your unit, we know that foundational concepts can be covered without diving too deeply into graphic content.
The following topics should be saved for future years:
- Political process leading up to Hitler gaining power
- Nuremberg Laws
- Conditions in the ghettos
- Deportations from the ghettos
- Concentration camps
- Einsatzgruppen (killing squads)
- “The Final Solution”
- Forced death marches
- Killing centres/gas chambers/crematoria
- Graphic, perpetrator perspective imagery
These topics should not be ignored or hidden, but they should also not be the focus of your unit of study in middle school.
Inevitably, you will have students in your class who may know more or want to learn more about the Holocaust and engage with topics that are beyond middle school developmental readiness. It’s your responsibility as the educator to create boundaries around the learning in the classroom.
Students may be bringing knowledge, or in some cases, misinformation to the unit. If any misinformation arises, this is an opportunity to correct it in an age-appropriate manner, and to remind students about the importance of using credible sources for information.
If a student wants to go beyond the outline of your unit of study, you can thank them for their interest in an important moment in history and remind them that they will return to this topic in high school history. If you think they will dive into independent research, you are welcome to send links to credible sources to their parents and guardians for further guided exploration.
For a list of middle school appropriate resources: Teaching about the Holocaust in Grade 6 Classrooms
Teaching about the Holocaust in middle school may seem daunting, but we are always here to help. Have questions? Send us an email!