Liberated men, Dachau concentration camp, May 1945. Photo by American Col. Alexander Zabin. USHMM.
Liberated men, Dachau, 1945
NORTH CAROLINA COUNCIL ON THE HOLOCAUST
NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION

COMMEMORATION
March 10, 2013
TEACHER WORKSHOPS
2012-2013
TEACHER'S GUIDE
available online
STUDENT CONTEST
Deadline: 2-15-2013
SPEAKER VIDEOS
Online at Vimeo
TRAVELING EXHIBITS
five exhibitions
TRAVELING PLAY
Let Your Children Tell
LIBRARIES
and Publications
SPEAKERS
in North Carolina
CONTACT US
contribute

The North Carolina Council on the Holocaust is a state agency in the N.C. Department of Public Instruction, established in 1981 by an executive order of Governor James B. Hunt, Jr., and authorized in 1985 by the General Assembly. The Council is composed of twenty-four members, of whom six are Holocaust survivors or first-generation lineal descendants of survivors. Through its education programs and annual commemorations, the Council strives to help prevent atrocities similar to the systematic program of mass murder by the Nazis of six million Jews and others, including gypsies (Roma), homosexuals, handicapped persons, and religious and political dissidents, from 1933 to 1945.

blue ballView Council speakers at the Council Vimeo site, including Holocaust survivors Morris Glass and Hank Brodt, and Holocaust scholars Karl Schleunes (UNC-G) and John Cox (UNC-C).

blue ballView the News Carolina (Ch. 14) segment on Holocaust Council teacher workshops:
"Holocaust Council shows educators how Holocaust [education] combats bullying," March 22, 2012.

Visit us at the annual conferences of the North Carolina Council on the Social Studies, the North Carolina English Teachers Association, and the North Carolina School Library Media Association.


STUDENT WRITING, MUSIC, AND ART CONTEST

The Council is pleased to announce the second annual Student Contest of Holocaust-related writing, music and dance for the academic year 2012-2013.
  • Open to all middle- and high-school students in public, private, and home schools in the state.
  • Entries may be works of writing (prose or poetry), visual art, music, or dance.
  • Theme: "What are the lessons learned from the Holocaust? What is the relevance of the Holocaust today?"
  • Deadline for entries: February 15, 2013.

First- and second-prize recipients, with their parents/guardians and sponsoring teachers, will be invited and recognized at the 2013 North Carolina Holocaust Remembrance in Raleigh on March 10, 2013. Please see the contest document below. For more information, contact Karen Klaich, contest coordinator, at klaichkaren@gmail.com.

The Council encourages teachers across the state to encourage student study and reflection on the Holocaust through this contest of creative work.
Contest Information and Verification Form (PDF).

TEACHER'S GUIDE

Holocaust Teacher's GuideThe Holocaust: A North Carolina Teachers' Resource, is now available online at UNC-TV's website Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State: The North Carolina Connection. The Council gratefully acknowledges UNC-TV for this service.

Proceed through the guide section by section (you can download each section separately), or print the entire guide as a Word document.

The 140-page illustrated guide contains
  • the background and history of the Holocaust, appropriate for middle and high school students
  • the personal experiences of Holocaust survivors who made their postwar homes in North Carolina
  • lesson plans with reproducible handouts
  • glossary and timeline.

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

TEACHER WORKSHOPS

Seven to nine workshops are held throughout the school year at sites across the state. Over 7000 teachers and administrators have attended Council workshops since 1989.

FALL 2012 WORKSHOPS

Oct. 22, 2012: Greensboro, Guilford County
Oct. 29, 2012: Carthage, Moore County
Nov. 19, 2012: Albemarle, Stanly County
Dec. 4, 2012: Kenansville, Duplin County

SPRING 2013 WORKSHOPS

Feb. 11, 2013: Lincolnton, Lincoln County
Feb. 20, 2013: Lumberton, Robeson County
Feb. 26, 2013: Eden, Rockingham County
March 13, 2013: Monroe, Union County
March 22, 2013: Morganton, Burke County

E-Mail Linda Scher, Education Coordinator, for more information and to register for a workshop. (brisket234@aol.com)

The one-day workshops
  • are offered at no charge (substitute pay provided)
  • are open to all North Carolina middle and high school teachers and administrators
  • take place across the state
  • provide to all participants the updated resource guide, The Holocaust: A North Carolina Teachers' Resource, the CD "A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust" (Florida Council on the Holocaust/Florida Dept. of Education), and a certificate of participation for renewal credit
  • present a historical overview by the noted Holocaust scholar, Dr. Karl Schleunes of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro
  • feature a Holocaust survivor, now a Raleigh resident, who recounts her experiences in the Majdanek concentration camp in Poland
  • are especially useful for social studies teachers of U.S. history, world civilizations, and the 6th-grade curriculum (Europe and the former Soviet Union); and for language arts teachers who use Holocaust works such as The Diary of Anne Frank, Number the Stars, and Elie Wiesel's Night.
Therese Divak
A young girl in the U.N. DP camp in Germany for homeless children, many of whom had been brought from eastern Europe to Germany for forced labor or "Aryanization." Many did not know their real names. Such photographs were published in newspapers to help reunite the children with any surviving relatives.

The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.
Plato

ONLINE SPEAKER VIDEOS

Videos of four compelling speakers at Holocaust Council teacher workshops are available at the Council Vimeo page.
  • MORRIS GLASS, Holocaust survivor from Poland, currently residing in Raleigh, NC. (40:53)
  • HANK BRODT, Holocaust survivor from Poland, currently residing in High Point, NC. (1:16:33)
  • DR. KARL SCHLEUNES, professor of history and Holocaust scholar, UNC-Greensboro: "Explaining the Holocaust: Why the Jews? Why Germany? Why Hitler?" (2:04:51)
  • DR. JOHN M. COX, professor of history and Holocaust scholar, UNC-Charlotte: "Jewish Resistance during the Holocaust." (29:47)


TRAVELING EXHIBITS

The Council sponsors five traveling exhibits for use at no charge in public libraries and in middle and high schools across the state. For more information and to schedule an exhibit, contact the Exhibit Coordinator (pdf, 138kb) in your region.

Kindertransport children 1. The Kindertransport Journey: Memory Into History. This exhibit consists of seventeen panels of photos, personal testimony, and historical background. Each school that sponsors the exhibit receives teacher packets and a free copy of the video Into the Arms of Strangers for its library (download the teacher's guide from this site).

The full exhibit can be seen online from the Kindertransport Association.


Dr. Suess Wants You; exhibit 2. Dr. Seuss Wants You!: The Political Cartoons of Dr. Seuss, 1941-1942. This exhibit consists of fourteen panels, each of which highlights one Seuss political cartoon against fascism, anti-Semitism, and bigotry, published in PM, a New York daily newspaper. From the Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education.


Faces of Resistance 3. Faces of Resistance: Women in the Holocaust. This exhibit highlights thirty-two women, exploring the human aspects of women and their life in the ghettos, camps, woods and rescue operations while constantly under threat of annihilation. Created by the Moreshet Holocaust Research and Study Centre at Givat Haviva in Israel.


Fences, Walls, and Butterflies: Children Confront the Holocaust through Art. 4. Fences, Walls, and Butterflies. Children Confront the Holocaust Through Art. Fifteen framed panels (15"x25" & 30"x25") present art work created by Israeli students at the Yad Layeled art workshop, with text panels on the educational approach of the Yad Layeled Children's Museum. From American Friends of the Ghetto Fighters' Museum.


Triumph of Life 5. Triumph of Life. A 2003 exhibit commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, this display consists of 44 panels (15.5" x 22.5") that depict Jewish resistance to Nazi oppression and feature individual stories of survivors. From American Friends of the Ghetto Fighters' Museum.


For more information and to schedule an exhibit, contact the Exhibit Coordinator (pdf, 138kb) in your region.


LET YOUR CHILDREN TELL

Let Your Children Tell This riveting one-hour play is based on the actual experiences of three young people in Europe during the Holocaust -- Jewish and gypsy (Roma) -- who struggle to survive physically and emotionally under Nazi tyranny

Written by North Carolina playwright and producer Brenda Schleunes with support from the N.C. Council on the Holocaust, Let Your Children Tell has been presented to high school and college classes across the state. For more information, contact the Touring Theater of North Carolina.

View a five-minute segment from Let Your Children Tell .

"No stronger appeal for humanity and understanding of the evils of hate and prejudice can be imagined than the actual words of these children."
Abe D. Jones, Jr., Greensboro News & Record

"The horrible coincidence of the Sept. 11 events makes Let Your Children Tell an even more important drama than when it was commissioned last winter."
Leslie Mizell, Greensboro News & Record

ANNUAL COMMEMORATION

SealHolocaust Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah in Hebrew) is a day set aside for remembering the victims of the Holocaust and for reminding Americans of what can happen to civilized people when bigotry, hatred, and indifference reign. The United States Holocaust Memorial Council, created by act of Congress in 1980, was mandated to lead the nation in civic commemorations and to encourage appropriate Remembrance observances throughout the country.

The 2013 State of North Carolina Holocaust Commemoration will be observed Sunday, March 10, 2013, 3:00-5:00 pm, in Raleigh, at Meredith College (Jones Auditorium). Renee Fink, a child survivor who lived with a Catholic family in the Netherlands during the Nazi occupation, will be the Featured Speaker. In addition, a student production of the renowned play about children in the Theresienstadt concentration camp, I Never Saw Another Butterfly, will be presented. All are welcome, and there is no charge.

Commemoration Speakers: 2000-2012

I pray you to believe what I have said about Buchenwald. I reported what I saw and heard, but only part of it. For most of it, I have no words.
Edward R. Murrow, reporting from the liberated Buchenwald camp, 1945.

REGIONAL LIBRARIES
Teachers may borrow Holocaust education materials at no cost from several regional centers.
PUBLICATIONS and VIDEOS
Holocaust Teacher's Guide Teacher's Guide. The Holocaust: North Carolina Teachers' Resource, by Linda Scher. Updated and expanded edition, 2002, 2005. 158 pages.
Available through teacher workshops and online at UNC-TV's website Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State: The North Carolina Connection.
  • Classroom activities with background information on anti-Semitism, Nazism, and the Holocaust, personalized with the stories of survivors who became North Carolina residents.
  • Seven overview sections with ten lessons that include 27 reproducible handouts.
  • Timeline, glossary, bibliography, and the Maurice Ogden poem "The Hangman."
Book. Witnesses to the Horror: North Carolinians Remember the Holocaust, by Cecile Holmes White. 1987. 137 pages. Age 12+.
First-person accounts of eleven survivors, three children of survivors, and three servicemen; with photographs, an historical overview, and appendices. Available in public secondary school libraries in North Carolina.

Video. The Holocaust: A Personal North Carolina History. 15 minutes. VHS. Grade 8+.
First-person accounts of concentration camp survivors and American servicemen that reveal how the Holocaust continues to affect these North Carolina citizens and their families. Available through the North Carolina Museum of History Media Loan Program. $1.00 per video (for one week) plus return postage. Order form available on the site.

Video. Ripples in Time. 60 minutes (in two parts). VHS. Grade 8+.
Personal stories of the Holocaust from Jews who escaped to the U.S., Jewish Americans who served in World War II, and American servicemen who liberated concentration camps. Available through the North Carolina Museum of History Media Loan Program. $1.00 per video (for one week) plus return postage. Order form available on the site.

Video. Lessons from Anne Frank: North Carolina Students Respond. 15 minutes. VHS. Grade 6+.
Produced by junior high students in Greensboro, NC. An opportunity for students to respond to and ask questions about the Holocaust. Available through the Council; E-Mail the Education Coordinator.

SPEAKERS
Upon request, the Council will provide names of Holocaust survivors and experts who present talks to classes and other groups. E-mail the Council Chairman, Michael Abramson, for speaker information.

The Chapel Hill-Durham Holocaust Speakers Bureau also provides access to speakers as well as guidance in hosting a speaker.

LINKS

U.S. Holocaust Memorial MuseumUnited States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC. The first site to visit for Holocaust history, photographic archives, online exhibitions, and educational resources including
Teaching About The Holocaust, including the museum's 138-page downloadable teacher's guide, and the Holocaust Encyclopedia.

Florida Ctr. for Instructional Technology logoA Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust
Rich website accompanying the CD provided to all teachers attending the N.C. Council's workshops. From the Florida Dept. of Education.

Facing History and Ourselves logoFacing History and Ourselves
Highly valuable program that leads students and teachers in studying the historical development of the Holocaust and other examples of collective violence -- with the goal that they may learn to combat indifference with civic participation.

Teaching ToleranceTeaching Tolerance, from the Southern Poverty Law Center. Extensive offering of worthwhile materials (free) for teachers.

Center for Diversity Education logoChoosing to Remember: From the Shoah to the Mountains. Digital exhibit on the experiences of Western North Carolina residents who are personally connected to the Holocaust. From the The Center for Diversity Education, Asheville, NC.

Down Home photoDown Home: Jewish Life in North Carolina, a project of the Jewish Heritage Foundation of North Carolina

Levine Sklut Judaic LibraryThe Levine-Sklut Judaic Library and Resource Center, Jewish Federation of Greater Charlotte. Teachers' resource center for Jewish schools in the region, offering an extensive collection of books, DVDs, CDs, videos, audiotapes, posters, games, and curriculum materials.

Greensboro CollegeThe Levy-Loewenstein Holocaust Collection, Greensboro College. An extensive collection of scholarly monographs, personal memoirs, and reference books detailing the history of the Holocaust, provided through the generosity of Richard and Jane Levy.

ForsythTechlogoThe Blynn Holocaust Collection, Forsyth Technical Community College, Winston-Salem. A collection of nearly 400 resources including books, DVDs, videos, and a unique collection of Holocaust testimonies of survivors who have called North Carolina home; provided through the donations of Mr. Guy M. Blynn with the aim of raising awareness of the Holocaust and its consequences.

NC HERO: North Carolina Holocaust Education Research and Outreach. Survivor and eyewitness testimony (videos), and other materials from The AfterWords Project, Dr. Roy Schwartzman, UNC-Greensboro.

NewMy Jewish Legacy . Begun as a Bat-Mitzvah project, Elyse Bodenheimer of Charlotte, NC, offers her website as "a starting place for kids and teens to share stories about their grandparent' journeys in escaping or surviving the Holocaust." Includes the experiences of her great-grandfather and a link to submit others' experiences for her website.

Other Southern associations and state agencies on the Holocaust:


Holocaust Memorial Museum crest
NORTH CAROLINA COUNCIL ON THE HOLOCAUST
N.C. Dept. of Public Instruction
301 N. Wilmington St., Raleigh, NC 27601
www.ncpublicschools.org/holocaust_council
Michael Abramson, Chairman (919-787-9939;
mabramson@nc.rr.com)

Contact Us:
Chairman, Michael Abramson, about Council issues and speaker contacts.
Education Coordinator, Linda Scher, about teacher workshops.
Regional Exhibit Coordinators about the three traveling exhibits.
Webmaster, Marianne Wason, about the website.

For information on other Council programs, see information and e-mail contacts on this page.

Contribute:
Please consider a contribution to the North Carolina Holocaust Foundation
to support the Council's teacher workshops and other programs in North Carolina.
For information and to inspect the Foundation's Form 990,
e-mail Council Chair Michael Abramson.

Updated February 19, 2013.

Mauthausen camp liberation, May 1945
Survivors gather around an American military vehicle in the Mauthausen
concentration camp, Austria, between May 5 and May 15, 1945.

Photograph of Bert Bodenheimer and his grand-daughter, Elyse Bodenheimer, courtesy of the Bodenheimer family.

Photograph of Gizella Abramson courtesy of the University of North Carolina-Pembroke.

Photographs courtesy of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum:
--Liberated men, Dachau concentration camp, May 1945. Photograph by Col. Alexander Zabin, an American soldier from Malverne, Long Island, New York, serving with the 4th Auxiliary Surgical Group in the US Third Army when he visited Dachau in mid-May 1945. He had landed in Normandy on the day after D-day and moved with the Third Army through France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, and Czechoslovakia. Courtesy of Col. Alexander Zabin. #62258.
--Therese Divak in U.N. displaced persons camp, Germany, 1945-1948. Courtesy of Lilo Plaschkes. #86764.
--Survivors around an American military vehicle, Mauthausen concentration camp, Austria, May 1945. Courtesy of Frank Brooks. #08297.

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
Source unknown (often attributed incorrectly to 18th-century Irish philosopher and statesman Edmund Burke)