Understanding the Causes of the Holocaust
The Holocaust is an event of such enormity and horror that it can feel impossible to understand. How could something like this happen? While we may never fully understand the answer, students used this unit to grapple with this question.
To prepare for this project, students spent weeks analyzing articles, documentaries, primary sources, and books to understand the historical, social, cultural, economic, and psychological context of the Holocaust – both inside Germany and throughout the world. Then, they were given the difficult task of analyzing and identifying which factors they think played an especially significant role in creating an environment where such an unthinkable tragedy could take place. By understanding and analyzing how an event like this occurs, students are better equipped to prevent a similar tragedy from occurring in the future, and students also used their research to consider what we can do to prevent something like the Holocaust from occurring again.
Students presented their ideas in the form of infographics, which allow viewers to see both text and images that represent each factor that the students chose. Click on the close-up below to see each student’s full project.
