Teaching the Holocaust: Stories Seldom Told
Curated Series
The Jewish Education Project
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
Use this list as a guide for choosing books to discuss the Holocaust with children.
Even in their darkest hour, the prisoners of the Nazi camps wrote songs of hope.
Bear and Fred is the story of a friendship that will last forever—told by Fred’s best friend, his teddy bear.
Explore Holocaust survivor Tommy Fritta's story through drawings made by his father for his 3rd birthday
Excerpts from the book and a lesson plan in response to the poem written by a child in Theresienstadt.
Lesson plans and activities for 4th-6th graders to explore the Warsaw Ghetto from the perspective of a child.
Best for Middle-School
These Jewish soldiers took part in the liberation of Europe from the clutches of Nazi Germany.
Virtually walk through the streets of Lviv and discover its rich Jewish life.
Use the clues and complete the tasks to piece together Chana Senesh's story before time runs out!
David Friedmann used art to document his life before, during and after the Holocaust.
An innovative way to bring testimony live to your learners through augmented reality.
The official Youtube channel of the Anne Frank House, featuring dozens of insightful and engaging videos.
Discover Eva Heyman's story both through her diary and through a series of Instagram Stories
Meet Fred Bachner, a Holocaust survivor who had the last Bar Mitzvah at Berlin's Rykestrasse Synagogue.
Lesson plans, clips and teaching guide around the movie Who will Write our History.
Tell the story of the S.S. St. Louis through primary-source documents and photos, a film clip, and suggested additional resources.
Best for High-School
This lesson leads learners in exploration of the diversity of Jewish life before the war.
Activities and survivor testimony to reflect the dynamic life of European Jewry before the Holocaust.
What does the Holocaust teach about the impact of our choices today and contemporary Jewish identity?
An interactive graphic novel about Marek Edelman, one of the leaders of the Warsaw ghetto Uprising.
Explore the concept of moral courage through the story of the midwives of Egypt and the lives of Holocaust rescuers
A seven-episode narrative podcast telling the story of Holocaust survivor Hana Dubova
Explore the History of Babi Yar in the context of the war in Ukraine today
Interactive timeline and accompanying educational resources from Echoes and Reflections
Curriculum for exploring the motives, pressures, and fears that shaped Americans’ responses to Nazism and the resulting refugee crisis.
A Lesson from the Etty Project pairing two young female diarists during WWII
This short documentary captures the spirit of Jewish life in Warsaw, Poland, before World War II.
Discover lesson plans, videos and discussion guides for teaching about Jewish resistance.
A new podcast exploring the backstory of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play and Oscar-winning film The Diary of Anne Frank
This curriculum guide examines Jewish values through the lens of Holocaust survivor artifacts