The story of the Holocaust is too enormous, complicated and nuanced to be told in one piece. But it is made up of millions of individual stories of survivors and victims. Millions of stories we soon will not be able to hear first hand. 

In this collection you will find just a few of those individual stories, along with resources and guides for teaching them. This collection was curated by the Jewish Education Project in collaboration with Echoes & Reflections, USC Shoah Foundation, ADL, The National Library of Israel and Facing History and Ourselves.

*Please note- due to the nature of the subject matter, some resources contain graphic images or descriptions. Please be sure to look over any resource before using it with learners. 

For a broader look at how to teach this complex subject, click here for our Resources for Teaching the Holocaust collection. 


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Best for Elementary School

Child reading book

Use this list as a guide for choosing books to discuss the Holocaust with children.

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Sheet music in front of the Auschwitz train station

Even in their darkest hour, the prisoners of the Nazi camps wrote songs of hope.

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Cover for Bear and Fred

Bear and Fred is the story of a friendship that will last forever—told by Fred’s best friend, his teddy bear.

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Drawing of small child and a train

Explore Holocaust survivor Tommy Fritta's story through drawings made by his father for his 3rd birthday

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Butterfly in black and white

Excerpts from the book and a lesson plan in response to the poem written by a child in Theresienstadt.

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Young women holding paper daffodils

Lesson plans and activities for 4th-6th graders to explore the Warsaw Ghetto from the perspective of a child.

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Best for Middle-School

WWII Allied Soldiers

These Jewish soldiers took part in the liberation of Europe from the clutches of Nazi Germany.

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The facade of the Colosseum in Lviv

Virtually walk through the streets of Lviv and discover its rich Jewish life.

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Banner for Chana Senesh activity

Use the clues and complete the tasks to piece together Chana Senesh's story before time runs out!

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Artist David Friedmann with a drawing

David Friedmann used art to document his life before, during and after the Holocaust.

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Pinchas Gutter while filming testimony

An innovative way to bring testimony live to your learners through augmented reality.

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Mural of Anne Frank

The official Youtube channel of the Anne Frank House, featuring dozens of insightful and engaging videos.

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Portrait of Eva Heyman

Discover Eva Heyman's story both through her diary and through a series of Instagram Stories

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Young Fred Bachner in front of a synagogue

Meet Fred Bachner, a Holocaust survivor who had the last Bar Mitzvah at Berlin's Rykestrasse Synagogue.

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Man holding a scroll

Lesson plans, clips and teaching guide around the movie Who will Write our History.

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Tell the story of the S.S. St. Louis through primary-source documents and photos, a film clip, and suggested additional resources.

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Best for High-School

Star of David Necklace

This lesson leads learners in exploration of the diversity of Jewish life before the war.

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Young kids at school

Activities and survivor testimony to reflect the dynamic life of European Jewry before the Holocaust.

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Jewish Life before the Holocaust

What does the Holocaust teach about the impact of our choices today and contemporary Jewish identity?

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Image from graphic novel

An interactive graphic novel about Marek Edelman, one of the leaders of the Warsaw ghetto Uprising.

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Father Andrej Tumpej and young people

Explore the concept of moral courage through the story of the midwives of Egypt and the lives of Holocaust rescuers

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Woman sitting at a bench

A seven-episode narrative podcast telling the story of Holocaust survivor Hana Dubova

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Star of David on a tree

Explore the History of Babi Yar in the context of the war in Ukraine today

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Photos and names from Yad Vashem

Interactive timeline and accompanying educational resources from Echoes and Reflections

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People protesting

Curriculum for exploring the motives, pressures, and fears that shaped Americans’ responses to Nazism and the resulting refugee crisis.

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Image of Susan Stein as Etty Hillesum

A Lesson from the Etty Project pairing two young female diarists during WWII

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A Day in Warsaw

This short documentary captures the spirit of Jewish life in Warsaw, Poland, before World War II.

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Jewish partisans in a snow-covered forest

Discover lesson plans, videos and discussion guides for teaching about Jewish resistance.

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Podcast art for Playing Anne Frank

A new podcast exploring the backstory of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play and Oscar-winning film The Diary of Anne Frank

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