Augustana College printing logo

Lessons from the Holocaust

Instructor: Dr. Art Pitz

Dr. Arthur Pitz earned his Ph.D. in History from Northern Illinois University. He works in Augustana's history department, and has been studying and teaching students about the Holocaust for many years. He has studied at Yad VaShem in Jerusalem (the world's center for studying the Holocaust) and has been to many of the Holocaust related sites. He has also interviewed Holocaust survivors.

Program date: June 20-22, 2011

Course description:

Join a discussion on some of the questions surrounding the progression that led from discrimination to isolation to the annihilation of six million Jews and others during WWII. In a present day where some deny the Holocaust occurred, it is critical to address and never forget the truths of one of the darkest times in human history.

This course is for high school students only.

Tentative Schedule:

Monday, June 20:

  • Course introduction
  • Guest speaker to introduce Judiasm
  • Holocaust discussion
  • Personal definitions of the terms "Holocaust", "prejudice", and "anti-semitism" — discussion
  • Films: After the First (14 min.): Eye of the Storm (27 min.) - discussion
  • Lunch
  • Presentation/discussion of anti-semitism
  • Film: Race: The Power of an Illusion (50 min.) — discussion
  • Handouts from Facing History & Ourselves on anti-semitism
  • Personal definations of the terms "democracy," "conformity" and "obedience" — discussion
  • Handout of identity cards
  • Discussion of Jewish life before the Holocaust
  • Class assignment

Tuesday, June 21:

  • Discussion of the Terry Schiavo and Kitty Genovese cases
    Film: The Nazis Helped to Power: A Warning from History (50 min.) - discussion
  • Handout on oaths of obedience
  • Film: The Wave (45 min.) - dicussion
  • Personal definitions of "dictator," "euthanasia" and "ghetto"
  • Lunch
  • Presentation/discussion on the American Eugenics Movement
  • Films: The Camera of My Family (18 min.), Kristallnacht: More than Broken Glass (20 min.), Confessions of a Hitler Youth (30 min.)
  • Discussions of progression from discrimination to ghettos to annihilation — and the
  • Impact of the "euthanasia" campaign
  • Update on identity cards
  • Class assignment

Wednesday, June 22:

  • Presentation/discussion on the other victims
    Films: A Day in the Warsaw Ghetto (30 min.- somewhat graphic); The World at War: Genocide (50 min. - graphic towards the end)
  • Personal definition of "genocide"
  • Presentation/discussion on the types of concentration camps in Nazi Germany and contrast with Japanese-American internment camps in the U.S.
  • Film: Ambulance (8 min.)
  • Update on identity cards
  • Lunch
  • Final addition to identity cards
  • Presentation/discussion on the results of the Holocaust and its lessons.
  • A look at the Nuremburg Trials
  • Reflections
  • Films: Weapons of the Spirit (38 min.), Not in Our Town (25 min.) — discussion
  • Final thoughts and commitment to Zachor (Hebrew for Remember; Don't Forget)

Program Cost:

$450, includes lodging, meals and any field trips. Students arrive on campus Sunday, June 19, and depart Wednesday, June 22.