Pre-World War II European Jewish Life Photo Project

 

Goal/Objective:   

 

The focus of this project is to engage students in understanding both the individuality of Jewish lives affected by or lost in the Holocaust and the cumulative effects of the Holocaust on their communities.  It concentrates on exploring the normalcy (religious, cultural, and communal) of Jewish life by finding and analyzing family photographs of an affected community from before the Nazi occupation or invasion and then researching the drastic changes in that community following Nazi rule.  Specifically, the project seeks the address the individual lives behind the statistics of the Holocaust, which student cannot fathom, and the misconception that students may have that Jews were not people like themselves.

 

website address:    http://www.ushmm.org/research/collections/index.php?content=photo/

 

 

Lesson:

 

Assignment #1 - photo collection

 

1.  Research and print two photos that reflect Jewish life prior to the Nazi invasion of that country using the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s website,

www.ushmm.org (go to education/students/collections and archives/photographs).

2.   Search the collection of thousands of photos using key words.

3.   One you have found a photo you would like to use, right click on it.  Copy it and paste it into a new Word document.

4.   Then return to the photo on the website and copy and paste the DATE and LOCALE to the Word document with the photo.  (do NOT include any other

information, including the captions)

5.  Print it.

 

Guidelines for choosing a photo:

                *              people must be in the photo

                *              the photo cannot be what’s classified as a portrait

                *              the photo must include the date and place that the photo was taken

 

 

 

Assignment #2 - photo analysis

 

1.  Write captions for both photos using the worksheets given

 

Photo Analysis

I.  Subject of the photograph

                1.             Are there people in the photograph?

                2.             Number of people

                3.             Estimated ages

                4.             Number of men or boys

                5.             Number of women or girls

                6.             Describe the clothing

                7.             Describe the facial expressions

                8.             Describe what people are doing

                9.             Are there objects in the photographs?  If so, life the objects in the photograph.

                10.           Describe in detail the objects in the photograph.

 

II.            Setting of the photograph

                1.             Can you tell when or where the photograph was taken?

                2.             Estimated time of day

                3.             Estimated time of year

                4.             Outside or indoors?

                5.             Describe as many details as you can identify about the place where the picture was taken (example:  in a yard, on a street, etc.).

 

III.           Writing a Caption

                1. A caption is a short description or explanation of a photograph or picture.  It often includes information about what is happening in the picture, where and when the picture was taken, and who is in the picture.  Using the information you have gathered above, write a caption for your photo.

 

 

 

Assignment #3 - photo parallel (for homework)

 

1. Find a family photo at home that relates in some way to one of those you researched to bring to class.

2.  Write an organized, well-thought out and complete response to the following question concerning the photos:

                *  In examining your researched photos, what evidence suggests that life was normal for Jews before the Nazis?

                *  What did you find as you looked through your own family’s photos in relation to those that you had researched? 

                *  Which one did you choose to share that relates and why?

                *  In comparing the photos, how do they show the similarities between you, your family, or your community and those in the researched photos?

·        What do these photos, yours and the researched ones, tell you about Jewish life in Europe before World War II?

 

 

 

FINAL PRODUCT WILL BE PLACED ON CONSTRUCTION PAPER.  THE TWO PHOTOS ARE AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE.  UNDER EACH PHOTO IS THE DATE AND LOCATION OF THE PHOTO.  THE ESSAY IS PLACED UNDERNEATH THE PHOTOS.

 

Example: 

                    

1981 - Orlando, FL                                                1937 - Krakow, Poland

 

I knew that life was normal for Jews before the war because the kids are outside playing on a bike or hanging out with their friends. They are also dressed normally and seem to be happy.
When I was searching through my family photos, I came across several that were similar to the pictures I had researched. I chose the picture of my brother on a tricycle because I found a picture of a little Jewish boy on his tricycle before the war. Both pictures show typical life, whether recent and back then, because most children have tricycles at some point in their early childhood.
The main similarity of both pictures is that they picture kids. Everywhere you go today you see children playing, and this also shows that Jewish children also did that before the war.
The comparison of these photos tells me that before the Nazis invaded their communities, Jews were free and able to live happily without persecution, just like me, because my photos are similar.