Day 1: Introduction to the Holocaust
"The word "Holocaust," from the Greek words "holos"(whole) and "kaustos"(burned), was historically used to describe a sacrificial offering burned on an altar (History.com).
Adolf Hitler is considered by most to be one of the most evil, Anti-Semantic men to have ever walked the Earth. By 1945, under his rule, Nazi Germany had held around 6 million European Jews in extermination camps before they were executed. Hitler thought that Jews, Gypsies, and homosexuals were inferior races, and that they were a threat to his idea of a pure and superior race. During World War II, Hitler had devised these extermination camps to be his "final solution" to achieving his goal.
In Czechoslavkia, there was a group of Jews called the "Working Group" who were negotiating with the Nazi and Slovak authorities to secure jobs within Slovakia for Jews so as to make them economically indispensible.
"To Live With Honor and to Die With Honor" - The Working Group
Adolf Hitler is considered by most to be one of the most evil, Anti-Semantic men to have ever walked the Earth. By 1945, under his rule, Nazi Germany had held around 6 million European Jews in extermination camps before they were executed. Hitler thought that Jews, Gypsies, and homosexuals were inferior races, and that they were a threat to his idea of a pure and superior race. During World War II, Hitler had devised these extermination camps to be his "final solution" to achieving his goal.
In Czechoslavkia, there was a group of Jews called the "Working Group" who were negotiating with the Nazi and Slovak authorities to secure jobs within Slovakia for Jews so as to make them economically indispensible.
"To Live With Honor and to Die With Honor" - The Working Group
1955 French Documentary
Night and Fog (Nuit et brouillard) - Ten years after the Holocaust, one filmmaker documented the abandoned landscape of Auschwitz. Night and Fog is one of the first and most eerily powerful documentaries about the horrors of the Holocaust (Dosomething.org).
Night and Fog (Nuit et brouillard) - Ten years after the Holocaust, one filmmaker documented the abandoned landscape of Auschwitz. Night and Fog is one of the first and most eerily powerful documentaries about the horrors of the Holocaust (Dosomething.org).
Day 2 & 3: Introduction to Andre Steiner
Andre Steiner was born in 1908 in Dunajska Streda, Czechoslovakia. Andre was a member of the "Working Group", Jewish leaders who bribed Nazi officials to let Jews stay in work camps in Czechoslovakia instead of being deported to the Polish extermination camps. Andre Steiner is credited with saving over 7,000 Jews during this time, thus earning the nickname, "the Jewish Schindler." To put that into a numbers comparison, Oskar Schindler only saved 1,000 Jews. He hid in the hills during the war with his wife Hetty and she gave birth there to their son Peter. After they escaped to Cuba and before they were allowed access to the United States, they had another son, my Uncle George.
Multiple Causes and Effects: Andre did not talk about the Holocaust for a very long time to anyone, including this son's, because it was something he did not want to think about anymore. He didn't want to be defined by what he did. My Uncle George persuaded him to do the Andre's Lives video where he finally opens up about it and Andre, George, and Peter travel back to Czechoslovakia to revisit the steps Andre took for him and his family to survive.
McCash, June H. & Martin, Brenden. The Odyssey of Andre Steiner: Unsung Hero of Jekyll Island. Georgia Backroads Magazine, Summer of 2009. Volume 8. Issue 2. pgs: 56 - 61 (DBQ handout to be given out in class detailing Andre's life with primary source pictures and what he has done for the city of Atlanta since immigrating there in the 1950's.)
Survivors Story
Steven Spielberg Film and Video Archive - United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
The Unheeded Cry by Dr. Abraham Fuchs
Times of Dekalb pg. 14
(Non-digitized)
Alien Questionnaire - Primary Document (DBQ document to be handed out in class detailing Andre's immigration from Cuba from Czechoslovakia)
Immigration Form Attachment documenting his admittance into the United States from Prague and Cuba - Primary Source(DBQ document to be handed out in class detailing Andre's immigration from Cuba from Czechoslovakia)
Court documents with Andre Steiner's testimony about the "Working Group" (DBQ document to be handed out in class detailing Andre's dealings with the Nazi's and Slovakian government officials)
The Little Blue Notebook (header) (DBQ to be handed out in class which is a diary Andre's wife, Hetty, kept while they were holed up in the mountains trying to escape Nazi persecution.)
The "Working Group" interview (header) which details Andre's life in Czechoslovakia as told to Ruth Lichenstein (DBQ to be handed out in class)
Multiple Causes and Effects: Andre did not talk about the Holocaust for a very long time to anyone, including this son's, because it was something he did not want to think about anymore. He didn't want to be defined by what he did. My Uncle George persuaded him to do the Andre's Lives video where he finally opens up about it and Andre, George, and Peter travel back to Czechoslovakia to revisit the steps Andre took for him and his family to survive.
McCash, June H. & Martin, Brenden. The Odyssey of Andre Steiner: Unsung Hero of Jekyll Island. Georgia Backroads Magazine, Summer of 2009. Volume 8. Issue 2. pgs: 56 - 61 (DBQ handout to be given out in class detailing Andre's life with primary source pictures and what he has done for the city of Atlanta since immigrating there in the 1950's.)
Survivors Story
Steven Spielberg Film and Video Archive - United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
The Unheeded Cry by Dr. Abraham Fuchs
Times of Dekalb pg. 14
(Non-digitized)
Alien Questionnaire - Primary Document (DBQ document to be handed out in class detailing Andre's immigration from Cuba from Czechoslovakia)
Immigration Form Attachment documenting his admittance into the United States from Prague and Cuba - Primary Source(DBQ document to be handed out in class detailing Andre's immigration from Cuba from Czechoslovakia)
Court documents with Andre Steiner's testimony about the "Working Group" (DBQ document to be handed out in class detailing Andre's dealings with the Nazi's and Slovakian government officials)
The Little Blue Notebook (header) (DBQ to be handed out in class which is a diary Andre's wife, Hetty, kept while they were holed up in the mountains trying to escape Nazi persecution.)
The "Working Group" interview (header) which details Andre's life in Czechoslovakia as told to Ruth Lichenstein (DBQ to be handed out in class)
Day 4: Andre's Lives
Watch DVD of Andre's Lives (DVD is copywrited and in my possession but any school can buy it)
Brad Lichtenstein - Producer/Director
Ali Pomeroy - Producer
Calvin Skaggs and David Van Taylor - Executive Producers
Lumiere Productions - 26 W. 17th Street, 8th Floor - New York, NY 10011 - Phone 212-807-0796
Brad Lichtenstein - Producer/Director
Ali Pomeroy - Producer
Calvin Skaggs and David Van Taylor - Executive Producers
Lumiere Productions - 26 W. 17th Street, 8th Floor - New York, NY 10011 - Phone 212-807-0796
Day 5 and 6: Discussion
Teacher's Guide to Andre's Lives
Topics for Discussion - Family and Silence
1. Does Andre have a responsibility to tell his story to his sons?
2. What does Andre's history mean to Peter and George?
3. Are there questions you wish they had asked Andre but didn't?
4. What is Hetty's significance to Andre, Peter, and George?
5. Are there questions you were afraid to ask your own parents about their past?
6. Are there incidents in your own life tha tyou would not share with your children?
Topics for Discussion - Discrimination and Survival
1. Have you ever been a witness to a situation of discrimination?
2. Have you ever experienced persecution because of who you are?
3. Does Andre deserve gratitude from the Jews he saved despite the fact that they survived by being imprisoned in work camps?
4. Why do you think survivors in the film did not thank Andre?
Topics for Discussion - Rescue and Forgiveness
1. Why do you think Andre remained silent after the war?
2. Was Andre a hero or collaborator?
3. Was the Working Group collaborating too closely with the Nazi's?
4. Should Andre forgive Pecuch?
5. How would you confront Pecuch if you were Andre?
6. How do the circumstances of war affect moral decisions?
Topics for Discussion - Rescue and Obligation
1. What motivated people like the Kucareks to rescue the Steiner family?
2. What obligation did Andre and Hetty have to the non-Jews who risked their own lives to rescue them?
3. What can Peter and George do with their new connection to history?
4. If Andre Steiner were here, what would you ask him?
5. Do you think survivors are obliged to tell their stories so that future generations understand the Holocaust?
Topics for Discussion - Family and Silence
1. Does Andre have a responsibility to tell his story to his sons?
2. What does Andre's history mean to Peter and George?
3. Are there questions you wish they had asked Andre but didn't?
4. What is Hetty's significance to Andre, Peter, and George?
5. Are there questions you were afraid to ask your own parents about their past?
6. Are there incidents in your own life tha tyou would not share with your children?
Topics for Discussion - Discrimination and Survival
1. Have you ever been a witness to a situation of discrimination?
2. Have you ever experienced persecution because of who you are?
3. Does Andre deserve gratitude from the Jews he saved despite the fact that they survived by being imprisoned in work camps?
4. Why do you think survivors in the film did not thank Andre?
Topics for Discussion - Rescue and Forgiveness
1. Why do you think Andre remained silent after the war?
2. Was Andre a hero or collaborator?
3. Was the Working Group collaborating too closely with the Nazi's?
4. Should Andre forgive Pecuch?
5. How would you confront Pecuch if you were Andre?
6. How do the circumstances of war affect moral decisions?
Topics for Discussion - Rescue and Obligation
1. What motivated people like the Kucareks to rescue the Steiner family?
2. What obligation did Andre and Hetty have to the non-Jews who risked their own lives to rescue them?
3. What can Peter and George do with their new connection to history?
4. If Andre Steiner were here, what would you ask him?
5. Do you think survivors are obliged to tell their stories so that future generations understand the Holocaust?
Day 7: Resources
Correspondence letters between Andre Steiner and Mark Weber, a graduate student of history who is doing research for a paper on the "Final Solution" - Primary documents
Mark Weber wrote some really nice letters to Andre asking him to detail his life and to get more information on the Holocaust. After doing some research and looking him up, I came to find out that not only is he a Holocaust denier, he runs the Institute trying to debunk it. (DQB documents to be handed out in class)
Europa Plan - Merlin, Samuel & Rothkirchen, Livia. American Jewry During the Holocaust. Published in: Finger, Seymour M, ed. New York, 1984. Appendeix 4-7 and 4-8.
Europa Plan - Jewish Virtual Library
Mark Weber: The Professional Denier
Institute for Historical Review
Mark Weber - A Biographical Profile
Mark Weber - Southern Poverty Law Center
Mark Weber wrote some really nice letters to Andre asking him to detail his life and to get more information on the Holocaust. After doing some research and looking him up, I came to find out that not only is he a Holocaust denier, he runs the Institute trying to debunk it. (DQB documents to be handed out in class)
Europa Plan - Merlin, Samuel & Rothkirchen, Livia. American Jewry During the Holocaust. Published in: Finger, Seymour M, ed. New York, 1984. Appendeix 4-7 and 4-8.
Europa Plan - Jewish Virtual Library
Mark Weber: The Professional Denier
Institute for Historical Review
Mark Weber - A Biographical Profile
Mark Weber - Southern Poverty Law Center
Day 8: One Page Reflection Paper
Students will do a one page reflection paper on what they have learned through the use of primary and secondary sources in relation to the story of Andre Steiner and the Holocaust.