Canadian History in the Twentieth Century

Prior Knowledge Required

• 
  background of World War II
  

Teaching/Learning Strategies

2. The teacher has students create an organizer for gathering information on the Holocaust and hands out to students the organizer on human rights issues in WWII (2.4.1). The students work in pairs or in groups to gather information from their texts and from other classroom resources to complete the charts. For the first chart students gather information about Hitler’s intentions and his “final solution”. They identify the major camps and locations (the teacher may also wish to have the students place these camps on the maps made in Activity 3) and other groups targeted by the Nazis to go to the death camps (e.g., Polish, Ukrainian, Roma). From their reading, students extract personal stories of people sent to the camps. Lastly, students find information about the response of various countries to the Holocaust. Canada’s reactions should be noted here.

3. In the second chart, students exercise their abilities to research, record, and analyse by looking at human right issues in WWII. They record the basic facts and identify the injustices and human rights violations for the Holocaust, the internment of Japanese Canadians, and the dropping of the atomic bomb. For the latter two issues, students record the respective government reasoning and for all three issues, students record their personal responses. The teacher moves from group to group as students work to assist and encourage where necessary.

4. Each issue is discussed by the class, with emphasis put on the Church’s teachings about respect for human life.

5. As a follow up the teacher should present an overview from the March 30, 1998 issue of Newsweek wherein Kenneth Woodward discusses the blame laid on the Vatican for failing to stop the Holocaust. Here students have the opportunity to understand both a Catholic point of view of the Holocaust as well as the challenge of revisionism in history. The teacher may also wish to provide an overview of John Cornwell’s charges against Pius XII (Hitler’s Pope) or the results of the panel established in 1999 (by the Vatican) to examine the role of the Church with respect to the Holocaust. By examining these resources, students have the opportunity to examine several points of view.

6. If time and location permit, the teacher might arrange a trip to the Holocaust Centre, or students might contact the Centre for additional information.

Assessment/Evaluation Techniques

• 
  Formal assessment of charts for expectations
  

Accommodations

• 
  Some students may need to watch a video(s) to gather information and/or may need additional assistance in finding and/or recording the information.
  
• 
  Some students may require additional time to complete the chart.
  
• 
  Some students may prefer to work on their own rather than in groups and should be permitted to do so if their learning style is better met by doing so.
  
• 
  The teacher may wish to organize appropriate grouping of students.
  
• 
  Individual exceptional students’ IEPs should be examined so that the activity can be altered to suit their individual needs.
  
• 
  Where expectations are to be modified (according to IEP), assessment should be fitted to suit.
  

Resources

Print

Kagan, Elynor, ed. War and Peace: Canada’s Global Role (Canada 21). Scarborough: Prentice Hall Ginn, 1996. ISBN 0-13-459439-8

Santor, Donald M. Canadians at War (Canadiana Scrapbook). Scarborough: Prentice Hall, 1979.
ISBN 0-013-113514-7

Woodward, Kenneth L. “In Defense of Pius XII.” Newsweek (March 30, 1998). p. 35

Kits/Videos

Canada at War. National Film Board of Canada (series of thirteen titles) Title Code: 193B 9162 146 MSN: 32854 (Part 12: V Was for Victory)

World War 2: Canada’s Role. Burnaby, BC: Classroom Video, 1992.

Kit: Canada’s Coming of Age 1939-1945. Veterans Affairs Canada, 1995.

Web Sites

Concentration and Death Camps

http://holocaust.about.com/education/holocaust/library/misc/blchart.htm

The Holocaust Commission Map of Major Nazi Camps

http://www.holocaustcommission.org/educator_resources/death_camps_map.html

St. Maximilian Kolbe

http://www.catholic.org/saints/saints/maximilian.html

Community Resources

Holocaust Centre: 4600 Bathurst St. Toronto (416) 635-2883

Royal Canadian Legion: local branch

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