Welcome to Division I Humanities
This trimester in Division I Humanities, students examined the causes, consequences, and legacy of the Holocaust. We began by studying the origins of World War I, including elements like militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism that set the stage for such an enormous and devastating conflict in 1914. Students also studied the experiences of soldiers in war. They read The Harlem Hellfighters by Max Brooks and Caanan White along with poetry written by soldiers themselves in Above the Dreamless Dead.
Then, students examined the influence of World War I on Germany in particular, including the Treaty of Versailles, the new freedoms of the Weimar Republic, and the political and economic chaos that Germans experienced after the Great War. We used this as context to understand how someone like Adolf Hitler and the Nazis could rise to power in Germany and, ultimately, what historic, economic, cultural, and psychological factors made an atrocity like the Holocaust possible.
Students spent their final weeks of class researching an “upstander” from this era, meaning an individual or group who actively fought against injustice. By focusing on these people, we concluded our unit by considering what we can learn from them: What lessons can we apply to our own lives about what it means to help others in need, even when that means risk or sacrifice?
