Unit IX: Complicity and Responsibility | The Center for Jewish-Inclusive Learning Portal

Topic

The Holocaust

Summary

In Echoes & Reflections’ 12-unit Holocaust curriculum, the ninth unit examines the complex issues of responsibility and guilt on both individual and national levels.

Students explore the fluidity of roles during the Holocaust and analyze the actions and responsibilities of bystanders, rescuers, collaborators, beneficiaries, and perpetrators.

By examining larger groups and organizations, students reflect on the responsibility of society at large for the Holocaust and evaluate the actions and inactions of democratic nations to understand their impact on what ultimately happened to the Jews of Europe.

Students explore the fluidity of roles during the Holocaust and analyze the actions and responsibilities of bystanders, rescuers, collaborators, beneficiaries, and perpetrators.

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Color photograph of a memorial site with a large abstract metal sculpture of human figures suspended above a concrete wall engraved with the years “1933–1945.” Numerous wreaths with colorful ribbons are arranged along the base of the wall. Two people stand in front of the memorial, appearing to read or pay their respects. A building with a sloped roof and multiple windows stands behind the monument under a partly cloudy sky.

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