1. Timeline of the Holocaust
Holocaust Honors
George Washington High School
Spring Term, 2014

2. Purpose of the Lesson months, you, the student need a framework for
1. After studying the events of the Holocaust for six
months, you, the student need a framework for
the individual events that compose the chain of
events known as the Holocaust.
2. The timeline activity is designed to help
provide a way to categorize and prioritize the events
that make up the Holocaust.

3. Essential Questions
1. How do you as a student categorize information you have learned by studying the Holocaust?
2. What events are most important in learning the history of the Holocaust?
3. What events most clearly illustrate one of the thematic units used for studying the Holocaust?

4. Definition of the Holocaust
Remember the exercise that we performed as a group in which you were asked to define the Holocaust.
The dictionary defined the word holocaust as “an all consuming fire”.
You collectively defined the Holocaust as “the systematic mass murder of the Jewish people, Homosexuals, Gypsies, Jehovah’s Witnesses and other groups by the Nazi’s and those who helped them”.
Your charge in this lesson will be to construct a timeline that clearly defines the events of the Holocaust in a way that reflects your definition

5. Selecting the Items for the Timeline
Select events that set the tone for major trends or events in the Holocaust.
Example: A picture of one of the rescuers such as Chiune Sugihara or Irena Sendler could stand for recue.

6. Instructions For Students
1. Timelines will be done
Groups of four
2. Students on each team are to prepare timelines for presentation
3. Students are to use one illustration for each of the years to 1948.
4. Students should also include two additional photos that show the discontent of Germany In the 1920’s and one that deals with the rise of Hitler.
5. Students should choose photos that capture pivotal incidents in the history of the

7. Recommended Websites 1. The United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum
Go to the photo gallery for photos and for propaganda posters
2. Yad Vashem
Go to the photo album and also to the picture gallery
3. Google Holocaust Photos

8. Book Sources 1. Your text, The World Must Know
2. The Holocaust Encyclopedia – guides you month by month, year by year.
3. Maps of the Holocaust – the Holocaust by stages accompanied by accurate dates- United States Holocaust Memorial publication
4. Atlas of the Holocaust – written by Martin Gilbert, links the events and the themes of the Holocaust with maps (Black and White)

9. Major Themes of Study in the Course
1. Beginnings –Jews in Europe before the Holocaust
2. The Rise of Adolph Hitler
3. The Nuremberg Laws/police
state/ Nazi propaganda
4. Krystal Night-escalation
5. Escalation-World War Two
begins
6. Invasion of Russia/the
Einsatzgruppen
7. Invasion of Russia, the
Einsatzgruppen
8. The Final Solution, the
Wansee Conference
9. Operation Reinhardt/-Death
Camps
10. Rebellion/Ghettos and
11. Resistance/Rescue
12. Liberation and Rebirth

10. 1943-Resistance-Jewish Partisans in France.
Identities or explanation here.
Use the themes of the course.
1. Meld the photo to a theme works with that year.
2. Add to your timeline in the appropriate place.
3. Add your groups reasoning for using that theme for that year.

11. Procedures for the Lesson
1. Time lines will be researched in each group
2. Groups will given class time in room and in the computer lab to find materials and produce copy
3. Timelines will be hard copy and power point presentation
4. Students will view and critique each others work.
5. Students will compile a class timeline by selecting components from each of the timelines
6. Final timeline will be used by future classes and distributed to class members for use.

12. Assessments 1. Presentation grade 2. Grade on finished copy
3. Participation in project-
-research, discussion, and final product
4. Timeline on final examination

13. Rubric For the Timeline
Category
Falls below standard
Satisfactory
Performance
Mastery Level
Exceptional
Illustrations
A number of Illustrations are inappropriate for the event or year
Illustrations are not appropriate in all instances
Illustrations are appropriate
Illustrations are appropriate and
Exact for all items
Information provided for Illustration
There are major errors in information. Info describes a different Illustration
There are some errors (minor) caption information, still largely accurate
Information is accurate and adequately relates Illustration to year and theme
Information captures and adds additional meaning of the Illustration
Themes used for the timeline
Little attention paid to themes or appropriateness of theme. No flow to the information selected
For most of the years of the Holocaust the themes are appropriate. There are several inaccuracies
Themes are accurate and for the most part capture a major trend
Themes for each year are appropriate and capture with exactness a major trend in that year
Attached explanation paragraphs
Information does not describe the items used
Paragraphs only describe the item used
Paragraphs add some info of value
Paragraphs add
Important additional info

14. Examples and Ideas
The attached are possible ideas for you to consider and to draw ideas from.
While you may use similar illustrations, these are models only and are off limits.

15. Spring, 1945 Liberation of the Camps
A survivor of Auschwitz displays his tattoo for an American Army photographer.
Only prisoners in Auschwitz were subject to the tattooing process.
The World begins to really learn about the nightmare soon to be known as the Holocaust

16. The Present
Although Genocide continues in the world, it no longer goes unreported and unchallenged.
One of the best ways to combat genocide is through education.
Perhaps because of students like you, the next chapters in this tale will tell a new story of hope and tolerance .

17. The Holocaust network of death and exploitation – Summer of 1942.
The Wansee Conference in January accelerates the killings in the Death Camps and results in a hugely expanded network of extermination
Hundreds of sub camps are created.
Over 2,000,000 million victims will die by the end of the year

18. Acknowledgements
1. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 2. Yad Vashem, Mount Hetzel, Jerusalem, Israel 3. The Library of Congress – 4 Florida Holocaust Museum 5. Archives and History of the United States 6. Berenbaum, Michael, The World Must Know. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Johns Hopkins University Press. Washington, DC Gilbert, Martin, Atlas of the Holocaust. William Morrow and Company, Inc. New York, Historical Atlas of the Holocaust, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. McMillan Publishing USA. New York, New York. 1996