Teaching the Holocaust and other Genocides

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

Activity Overview

This learning activity focuses on the understanding the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in terms of survival and resistance. Students think about what is needed to survive and resist and then analyze documents and oral histories to determine what was necessary for survival and resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto.

Grade Level

9-12

Learning Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies

RH1: Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.

RH2: Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate, objective summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.

RH7: Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.

RH8: Distinguish among fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment in a text. Identify and distinguish between a primary and secondary source on the same topic.

WHST6: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source by applying discipline-specific criteria used in the social sciences.

WHST7: Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

Social Studies Framework

10.5 UNRESOLVED GLOBAL CONFLICT (1914–1945): World War I and World War II led to geopolitical changes, human and environmental devastation, and attempts to bring stability and peace.

10.5d Nationalism and ideology played a significant role in shaping the period between the world wars.

10.5e Human atrocities and mass murders occurred in this time period.

SEL Benchmarks

3A: Consider individual and collective social, emotional, and physical safety and well-being, as well as social context in making decisions.

Objectives

Students will describe the key events and significance of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising as an act of Jewish resistance during the Holocaust.

Students will analyze primary sources—including documents and oral histories—to identify the challenges faced by ghetto inhabitants and the strategies they used for survival and resistance.

Students will reflect on the physical, emotional, and moral dimensions of survival and resistance, considering what resources, choices, and values were necessary in the context of extreme oppression. They will describe various forms of resistance including spiritual, cultural, and armed resistances.

Students will use evidence from primary sources to support conclusions about how individuals and groups resisted Nazi persecution and asserted their humanity under dire circumstances.

Essential Question

What was needed to survive or resist in the Warsaw Ghetto?

Materials

Talk About It/Mind Map It Worksheet
Document Analysis Worksheet
Reading: Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
Document A: Comparing Warsaw Ghetto Maps (1941 to 1943)
Document B: Infographic of weapons employed and casualties/losses for the Germans and the Jewish Fighters (Page 6)
Document C: Jews Captured during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
Document D: Last Letter from the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Commander
Document E: Smuggling in the Ghetto Video Testimonial
Document F: Smuggling Treblinka Map Out of the Ghetto Video Testimonial
Document G: Deportations to Treblinka Video Testimonial
Document H: Fighters in the Warsaw Ghetto Video Testimony from the Nuremberg Trials
Document I: Burning of the Warsaw Ghetto Video Testimonial
Document J: Hunger in the Ghetto Video Testimonial

Activity

1. Students should write down the answers to the following questions:

What is needed to survive?
What is needed to resist?

2. Distribute the Talk About It/Mind Map It worksheet (teachers may also distribute two per student, one map for survival and one map for resistance). Instruct students to discuss their answers with a partner and then connect their answers in the form of a mind map. If students are not familiar with mind maps, instruct them to turn-and-talk with a partner and jot down notes as they discuss.

3. Students should read the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising reading and answer the questions.

4. Set up a Gallery Walk activity using documents A-E. Students should read and analyze the documents, filling out the Document Analysis Worksheet as they work.

5. Show a selection of video testimonials from Documents F-K to the class. As students watch, they should fill out the Document Analysis Worksheet.

6. Engage students in a full class discussion: What did people in the Warsaw Ghetto need to survive? What did they need to resist?

7. Instruct students to return to the mind map they created at the beginning of class. Tell students to reflect on what they originally thought was needed to survive and resist. Then, have students indicate on the mind map which documents or videos from the lesson support the aspects of survival and resistance they noted earlier.

8. Exit ticket: How did individuals and groups resist Nazi persecution in the Warsaw Ghetto? Provide evidence from the primary sources.