#1 - Class Notes on Background Information, Historical Timeline, & In-Class Videos
See "Background Information" and "Historical Timeline" on this website. Please take notes on each section. You should also take notes on any videos that we watch in class.
#2 - Personal Testimony Reflection Questions
Victims & Survivors
1) After reading the first-person testimony of Anne Frank, Elie Wiesel, and the Lodz Ghetto diary entry, select one of those testimonies and describe your thoughts, feelings, and impressions as you read his/her story. What words or phrases stand out to you and why? What is it about their story that is compelling for you?
Testimony from a Jesuit Priest
2) What do you think about this priest's story of being a bystander? How would you define the term "bystander?" Can you think of a time in your life when you have been a bystander to someone else's suffering?
3) What factors prevented the priest from helping? Explain your answer.
Liberation 1945
4) What were your thoughts, feelings, impressions, or questions as you listened to the survivors talk about their experiences being liberated from the concentration camps? Describe what you experienced watching and listening to their testimony in as much detail as you can.
5) What were your thoughts, feelings, impressions, or questions as you listened to the liberators talk about their experiences entering the concentration camps for the first time? What were some of the things they saw and experienced? Describe what you felt and were thinking while watching their testimony in as much detail as you can.
1) After reading the first-person testimony of Anne Frank, Elie Wiesel, and the Lodz Ghetto diary entry, select one of those testimonies and describe your thoughts, feelings, and impressions as you read his/her story. What words or phrases stand out to you and why? What is it about their story that is compelling for you?
Testimony from a Jesuit Priest
2) What do you think about this priest's story of being a bystander? How would you define the term "bystander?" Can you think of a time in your life when you have been a bystander to someone else's suffering?
3) What factors prevented the priest from helping? Explain your answer.
Liberation 1945
4) What were your thoughts, feelings, impressions, or questions as you listened to the survivors talk about their experiences being liberated from the concentration camps? Describe what you experienced watching and listening to their testimony in as much detail as you can.
5) What were your thoughts, feelings, impressions, or questions as you listened to the liberators talk about their experiences entering the concentration camps for the first time? What were some of the things they saw and experienced? Describe what you felt and were thinking while watching their testimony in as much detail as you can.
#3 - Scripture Reflection Questions
Visit "The Gospel Message" tab of this website and read the three passages from Scripture that can be found on that page. Then, answer the three reflection questions that follow those readings. The reflection questions can also be found here:
1) Based on your reading of these Scripture passages, explain what Jesus means when he tells the man, "Go and do likewise."
2) As Jesus' disciples, how are we called to care for those who are suffering and in need? Explain your answer using evidence from Scripture.
3) According to Matthew 25:31-45, who are we really serving when we care for those in need? Explain your answer using evidence from Scripture.
1) Based on your reading of these Scripture passages, explain what Jesus means when he tells the man, "Go and do likewise."
2) As Jesus' disciples, how are we called to care for those who are suffering and in need? Explain your answer using evidence from Scripture.
3) According to Matthew 25:31-45, who are we really serving when we care for those in need? Explain your answer using evidence from Scripture.
#4 - "Who is my neighbor" Reflection Questions
Visit "The Gospel Message" tab of this website and read the five biographies under "Who is my neighbor? Good Samaritans of the 20th Century" as well as Ms. Smith's Reflection. Then, answer the reflection questions that follow those readings. The reflection questions can also be found here:
1) Whose story speaks to you the most? Why?
2) Given the dangers of helping Jews during the Holocaust, what factors would have motivated you to help? Under what circumstances would you risk your life to save people you don't even know?
3) What factors would have discouraged you from helping? Like the Jesuit priest on the "Personal Testimony" page, can you think of a time when you were immobilized or paralyzed by a situation and didn't help someone in need even when you knew that you should have? What happened in that experience that prevented you from acting?
4) What threats to human rights and human dignity exist today? Can you think of any modern-day examples of persecution, genocide, or violence that need our witness and attention as a people of faith who profess that every human person is made in the image and likeness of God? Explain your answer.
1) Whose story speaks to you the most? Why?
2) Given the dangers of helping Jews during the Holocaust, what factors would have motivated you to help? Under what circumstances would you risk your life to save people you don't even know?
3) What factors would have discouraged you from helping? Like the Jesuit priest on the "Personal Testimony" page, can you think of a time when you were immobilized or paralyzed by a situation and didn't help someone in need even when you knew that you should have? What happened in that experience that prevented you from acting?
4) What threats to human rights and human dignity exist today? Can you think of any modern-day examples of persecution, genocide, or violence that need our witness and attention as a people of faith who profess that every human person is made in the image and likeness of God? Explain your answer.
#5 - Annotation of Academic Articles
Guided Reading (Optional)
Three Paragraph Response (Optional)
Write a three-paragraph response to the following prompt:
Do people have a moral responsibility to act/speak out during times of violence, oppression, and/or genocide, even when doing so comes at great personal risk? Why or why not? Please explain your answer and provide justification for your response using textual evidence.
Do people have a moral responsibility to act/speak out during times of violence, oppression, and/or genocide, even when doing so comes at great personal risk? Why or why not? Please explain your answer and provide justification for your response using textual evidence.