Lessons & Classroom Resources
Fragments In Focus: A History of the Holocaust
Fragments is a bilingual online teaching resource developed by the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre (VHEC) for teaching about the Holocaust. Supported by the BC Ministry of Education for use in BC classrooms, the website is designed for students in Grades 6–12 and combines curated primary sources with historical text, integrated learning activities, and structured teacher support.
English
Student Activities
Teacher’s Guide
A History of the Holocaust
Français
Activités pour les élèves
Guide de l’enseignant
Une histoire de l’Holocauste
Ready-to-Use Lessons
What Was the Holocaust?
This worksheet provides an introduction to the Holocaust by defining the event and explaining its essential elements. A glossary and learning activity help students gain a better understanding of this watershed event in history.
Holocaust History Roadmap
A REFERENCE GUIDE FOR EDUCATORS
This educator’s guide maps out the key developmental stages and turning points in the Holocaust and articulates the curricular “Big Ideas” associated with each stage.
Defining The Holocaust
CLASSROOM ACTIVITY & TEACHER’S GUIDE
This activity can be used by classroom teachers to assess students’ existing knowledge, correct misconceptions and develop a class definition of the Holocaust that can be re-visited and refined throughout a unit of study on the Holocaust. It may also serve as a reference guide for educators.
Thinking Like a Historian
INTRODUCTION TO PRIMARY SOURCES
Students will gain historical thinking skills by learning to investigate and analyse primary sources. This lesson prepares students to be familiar with and analyse artefacts and primary sources during the study of the Holocaust. Students will learn to engage with Holocaust-era primary sources and practice using skills of observation, analysis and inference. Guided by the Analysing Artefacts Worksheet (appendix 1), students will become familiar with the Six Historical Thinking Concepts.
Hidden
TEACHING THE HOLOCAUST WITH HIDDEN
Hidden: A Child’s Story of the Holocaust is an award-winning graphic novel that offers a sensitive and compelling introduction to the experience of hidden children during the Holocaust. Suitable for grades 6 and above, the lessons in this resource enhance students’ understanding of the historical events of the Holocaust and equip them with the skills to interpret graphic narratives. By analysing primary source artefacts and interpreting testimony from local BC survivors, the lessons prompt student to reflect on themes of identity, family separation, survival, and generational memory. A classroom book set of Hidden is available for loan from the VHEC free of charge to BC educators.
Martha, A Short Film
EXAMINING THE IMPACT AND LEGACY OF THE HOLOCAUST THROUGH ONE FAMILY
In this lesson, students will watch the short film Martha and explore the impact and legacy of the Holocaust. They will gain perspective through the story of a Holocaust survivor’s descendant and connect to one Jewish family’s storytelling journey, using their own personal experiences with storytelling to build relevance.
The Basketball Game, A Short Film
USING SHORT FILM AND TESTIMONY TO TEACH ABOUT HOLOCAUST DISTORTION AND DENIAL
In this lesson, students will learn about Holocaust distortion and denial in Canada and its impact by analyzing the short film The Basketball Game. They will describe Holocaust distortion and denial through a series of activities, understand how it has affected individuals and communities in Canada, and reflect on the importance of Holocaust education.
Guidelines for Selecting Films for Holocaust Education
Selecting Holocaust films for educational use requires careful consideration to ensure that the material is historically accurate, age-appropriate, and promotes thoughtful reflection. Attached are key criteria to consider.
Too Close to Home: Anti-Semitism and Fascism in Canada, 1930s & 1940s: An Artefact Folio
Too Close to Home: Anti-Semitism & Fascism in Canada 1930s & 1940s draws attention to a shameful part of Canadian history: a time when Nazi ideology and antisemitism permeated Canada’s cultural and political landscape and was reflected in Canada’s restrictive immigration policies.
Too Close to Home, an artefact folio and teacher’s guide, provides secondary school students and teachers with primary source materials from Canada in the 1930s and 1940s. These materials paint a picture of the times and address the issues of antisemitism, Fascism, Nazism and immigration in Canada during the Holocaust.
These artefacts have the power to engage students’ interest and understanding. They help students appreciate how Canada’s present diversity and multicultural identity evolved out of a more exclusionary past.
Teacher’s Guide
- Five thematic sections: Anti-semitism, Fascism and Nazism, the Ku Klux Klan, Canadian Immigration and Propaganda
- Strategy for working with primary source materials
- Student information sheets, discussion extension questions & glossary
40 Artefacts
- 20 folio cards, 8.5″ X 11″
- Newspaper articles, letters, diary entries, photographs, cartoons and propaganda materials from the 1930s & 1940s
Digital scans of older teacher’s guides can be found in the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre Teacher’s Guides series of the VHEC library.
