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Lessons from the Holocaust

In 8th grade Language Arts, students are completing a unit on the Holocaust. After visiting the Holocaust Museum in Maitland, students completed one final assignment: to discuss why the Holocaust is an important lesson that should be studied in school. Here are some great points the students made:

  • The purpose of studying the Holocaust is to teach children that one person can make a difference and people possess the power to make their own choices and control their own behaviors.
  • When we allow prejudice to thrive, lives are at stake, and as shown during the Holocaust, millions of lives were lost due to one man’s crazy ideology.
  • Bystanders are just as guilty as perpetrators.
  • By studying the Holocaust, children can learn how to confront present concerns involving loyalty, peer pressure, conformity, belonging, and scapegoating. When faced with these concerns, children can remember the fate of the Holocaust victims, and rather than choose to ignore the wrongdoings of others, they can take action and help to create better situations for those who are victimized.
  • It is important to study and remember the mistakes made in the past so that we never repeat them.
  • In an effort to honor Holocaust victims, we can celebrate the freedom to choose to act in the face of prejudice so that fateful events such as the Holocaust will never happen again.