The Defiant Requiem Foundation and the Leo Baeck Institute (LBI) in New York partnered with a group of Defiant Requiem Teaching Ambassadors to create a series of lesson plans based on the virtual exhibition THE LAST STOP BEFORE THE LAST STOP and using primary sources from the LBI Archives. These lessons encourage students to examine documents, interviews, and artwork from Terezín to gain a deeper understanding of the camp and its complexity.
Visit The Last Stop Before The Last Stop Virtual Exhibition
Leo Baeck Institute – New York | Berlin
THERESIENSTADT was a place of confinement for Jews from Central Europe during the Holocaust. The Germans deported 143,000 Jews to Theresienstadt between 1941 and 1945. Thirty-four thousand, almost 1 in 4, died there due to malnutrition and disease. The majority of inmates, about 87,000, were sent from Theresienstadt to “the East.” Less than 4,000 of those deported survived. Fewer than 6,000 were still alive when the Soviet Army liberated the camp on May 9, 1945.
Eighty years have passed since the first transport of Jews arrived in Theresienstadt. Still, Theresienstadt remains misunderstood. Histories that emphasize the extraordinary cultural production in Theresienstadt or the Nazi efforts to utilize it for propaganda purposes can obscure the brutal daily reality for most of those imprisoned there. But the truth of Theresienstadt survives in memoirs, diaries, and other artifacts.
This exhibition reveals the inmates’ experiences and shows the lesser-known, grim reality of Theresienstadt. What can we learn from the history of Theresienstadt for today and the future?
Is A Picture Always Worth 1000 Words?
The Nazis used propaganda throughout the German Reich and specifically in Terezín to distort reality and lull ordinary people and organizations into indifference and complicity. Through the analysis of film, art, and survivor testimonials, students will critically evaluate how the Nazi use of propaganda has impacted the historical narrative of events during the Holocaust.
DOWNLOAD IS A PICTURE ALWAYS WORTH 1000 WORDS? LESSON PLAN
Children in Terezin
The life of Jewish children during the Holocaust was a life of challenge and loss. It was also a life of moments of joy, however small they were, in spite of their awful surroundings. This lesson asks students to consider the experiences of children specifically in Terezín, including their access to education, forms of entertainment, medical treatment and daily life.
DOWNLOAD CHILDREN IN TEREZIN LESSON PLAN
Intellectual Resistance
Throughout German-occupied Europe, Jews and other victims of the Nazis read, studied, and learned as a form of resistance to the dehumanization they experienced. In this lesson students will define intellectual resistance and discern its importance at Terezín by studying and discussing artifacts found in the LBI Archives. Students will wrap up the lesson by pondering the relevance of intellectual resistance and its efficacy.
DOWNLOAD INTELLECTUAL RESISTANCE LESSON PLAN
Transit in Terezín
The genocide of the Jewish people during the Holocaust depending upon the displacement and removal of millions of people from their homes to transit camps, ghettoes, and killing centers. In this lesson, students will study the complexity of Terezín (Theresienstadt) as a transit site through the eyes of two survivors: Norbert Troller and Edith Friedlander. Through these vastly different first person accounts, documents, maps and primary sources, students will investigate and make meaning of the concept of transit in the context of the Holocaust.
