Let’s Build a Concentration Camp

I was contacted by my buddy from World History to share my grandfather’s testimony next week for a cross-curricular unit on the Holocaust. Always eager for as many people to watch his video as possible, I said yes, and he sent me the project ideas they had.

1. Write a narrative after reading Holocaust survivors’. What a good idea. Literacy, WAD, and creative, all in one shot.

2. Give a presentation on a topic on the Holocaust. Yes! Students teaching students for the win. And gaining public speaking skills, too.

3. Build a product (a Concentration Camp).  ?!!!

At first, I thought I was being pranked. There is no way someone would teach a bunch of kids to build models of concentration camps, right?  A+ for little Jimmy, he constructed a perfect copy of Majdanek. Little Sally only gets a C, her crematorium isn’t quite finished. I’m uncomfortable even making that joke.

I tried to pause and figure out if I was being over-sensitive. After all, building something is the best way for most of our kids to learn about stuff. And they will really, but really, understand the layout of the Holocaust if they have to build a model of a concentration camp. Yet… Why is my mind reeling, half in horror, half in laughter? (The laughter is because this teacher is a really good guy, and that makes the situation funny).

It wasn’t until I compared it to building a campus gallows to learn about the Civil Rights movement that I had it right in my mind: yes, this would be completely inappropriate, and it’s okay for me to say so. Especially because I know these educators truly want what’s best for their students, and are racking their brains trying to figure out what that is. Which makes this a highly entertaining episode in public education.

Just received from my colleague: We haven't really figured out what the product will be quite yet. But I promise it will be something proper, respectful, and powerful.  I won't do anything on the Holocaust without your approval first.  :)

I trust him. And seem to have inadvertently become the local Holocaust guru. Morbid, eh? I think I’ll recommend showing The Producers. Nothing like a few rounds of springtime, with Hitler, in Germany, to teach children about the Holocaust. 

*Also received from him: permission to write a blog about this. Quite literally: “Lol. Knock yourself out.”

Messing with my IB students to get them back on task.