Title: Memory as a way of overcoming trauma

Lesson plan elaborated by: Katarzyna Maciejak

Topic:

Testimony of the memory of the Holocaust.

Target group:

8th‑grade students of an eight‑year elementary school.

Core curriculum

I. Literary and cultural education.

2. Reading literary works. Student:

7) defines existential issues in the texts being studied and reflects them;

8) defines the aesthetic values of the literary texts being studied;

9) uses, in the interpretation of literary works, references to universal values related to social, national, religious and ethical attitudes and prioritises them;

10) uses in the interpretation of literary texts elements of knowledge about history and culture;

11) uses in the interpretation of literary works the necessary contexts, eg biographical, historical, historical‑literary, cultural, philosophical, and social.

3. Receipt of cultural texts. Student:

2) organises information depending on their function in the message;

3) interprets works of art (painting, graphics, sculpture, photography);

6) defines the aesthetic values of the learned cultural texts.

IV. Self‑study. Student:

4) reliably, with respect for copyrights, uses information.

The general aim of education

Students will get acquainted with a fragment of the Holocaust remembrance text and learn about ways of overcoming war trauma.

Key competences

• communication in the mother tongue;

• communication in foreign languages;

• learning to learn;

• cultural awareness and expression.

Operational objectives

Student:

• knows the meaning of the words: holocaust, genocide, ghetto, concentration camps;

• uses elements of knowledge about history and culture in the interpretation of literary texts;

• participates in the debate on the issue of memory;

• knows examples of the implementation of the German Nazi policy towards the Jewish population in Poland;

• improves the ability to analyse and interpret a literary text that is a testimony to the war;

• shapes the attitude of tolerance and openness to others.

Teaching methods / techniques

• giving: talk;

• practical: subject exercises;

• programmed: using a computer, using an e‑manual.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• activity in groups;

• collective activity.

Lesson plan overview (Process)

Introduction

1. The teacher determines the purpose of the lesson: the students will talk about the Holocaust and the testimonies of survivors.

2. The teacher asks students to give examples of German Nazi actions towards the Jewish population in Poland.

Realization

1. The teacher brings closer to the students the person of Michał Głowiński and encourages them to read a fragment of the text.

2. The students read a fragment of the novel Czarne sezony, paying special attention to living conditions in the ghetto.

3. The teacher discusses the text with the students – what feelings it caused, who the main hero is, what events the narrator particularly remembered.

4. Students explain the meaning of idiomatic expression spuścić na coś zasłonę milczenia and refer it to the text.

5. The teacher divides the class into two groups and invites them to a debate about memory (Memory – chance or curse?). Students individually or in subgroups prepare arguments to convince the other party. The task should be preceded by information from the teacher considering the art of argumentation.

6. Students do an interactive exercise – they will get acquainted with information about Irena Sendlerowa, Janusz Korczak and Marek Edelman. Then they choose one of the presented persons and get acquainted with their biography (based on available sources). The teacher makes sure that each figure is chosen by at least one group (instead of choosing, a lottery can be proposed).

7.The teacher asks the question:
Did Poles and Jews oppose extermination?
Students give examples of people, organisations helping Jews, explain what this help was. It is important to emphasise what threatened the Poles for helping the Jews. Finally, they perform an interactive task of pairing the organisation's name with explanation.

8. Students look in the available sources for information about the decoration Righteous Among the Nations (to whom and for what is awarded, who among Poles received it). At the end, they exchange their insights (what they think about this form of commemorating the heroes).

Summary

The teacher presents to students a short survey with the evaluation of their own work.

Then he summarises the class by asking students questions:

• What is the role of writing in saving the memory of times of war?

• What is the significance of the Righteous Among the Nations for Poland and Poles?

Homework

Justify how you understand the words from the Talmud” Whoever saves one life – saves the world entire”.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Memory as a way of overcoming trauma

The time of the Second World War is a history that is quite distant and hard to understand for the younger generation. It was the first time that tragedy and cruelty had reached such a scale. It wasn't only many Poles who suffered during those times – extreme experiences were shared by many nations. The annihilation of the Jews is one of the most tragic crimes in the history of civilisation. Many literary texts have been devoted to commemorating these events and to honouring the victims, among whom there were often children. Trauma is a concept referring to particularly dramatic situations, the survival of which causes psychological and somatic (bodily) shock in a person. Speaking about trauma is difficult for many reasons, above all, becauase it is an intense and very individual experience.

Prof. Michał Głowiński (born in 1934) a literary scholar and writer, a professor at the Institute of Literary Research. Głowiński was made famous by his excellent books on literary theory and the history of Polish literature. In his later years, he began to write memoirs. Their main theme is his recollections from the times of the Second World War.

On the 19th April 1943 an uprising broke out in the Warsaw Ghetto. Its direct cause was the decision to abolish the ghetto, a decision was made as a part of the plan to exterminate European Jews. In 2013 the 70th anniversary of this event was commemmorated, of which the daffodil became the symbol – a flower whose petals form a six‑pointed star.