Online Resources for Your Classroom
Accurate Information You Can Trust
We understand how critical it is for teachers to have dependable websites that contain ready-to-go activities to use with your students. The information below is designed to provide you with a strong starting point. Please contact Katie Cunningham, Holocaust Curriculum and Outreach Specialist, at cunninghamk@queens.edu with any needs or questions.
Quick Page Links:
Validating Resources
As the internet continues to grow and evolve, it's important to ensure that the information you're citing is factual. The information here is designed to help you determine the difference between a factual resource and propaganda.
How to Identify Reputable Historical Sources
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Visit Site
Combating Holocaust Denial and Origins of Holocaust Denial
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Visit Site
Holocaust Deniers And Public Misinformation
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Visit Site
The BBC Holocaust Year By Year
BBC UK Visit Link
Reputable Holocaust Websites
The following websites have been approved by the Stan Greenspon Center as valid and reliable sources regarding the Holocaust.
Simon Wiesenthal Center
Simon Wiesenthal, a survivor of the Nazi death camps, dedicated his life to documenting the crimes of the Holocaust and to hunting down the perpetrators still at large. Visit Site
Museum of Tolerance
The Museum of Tolerance (MOT) is the educational arm of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, an internationally renowned Jewish human rights organization. Visit Site
Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust
The Museum of Jewish Heritage is committed to the crucial mission of educating diverse visitors about Jewish life before, during, and after the Holocaust. They recently created a neww online resource for educators. Visit Site
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is America’s national institution for the documentation, study, and interpretation of Holocaust history, and serves as this country’s memorial to the millions of people murdered during the Holocaust. Visit Site
Yad Vashem – The World Holocaust Remembrance Center
Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, is the ultimate source for Holocaust education, documentation and research. Visit Site
Facing History and Ourselves
Facing History and Ourselves uses lessons of history to challenge teachers and their students to stand up to bigotry and hate. Visit Site
Shoah Foundation
Dedicated to making audio-visual interviews with survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust and other genocides a compelling voice for education and action. Visit Site
Univeristy of Michigan Center for Holocaust Studies
The Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies (CHGS) promotes academic research, education and public awareness on the Shoah, other genocides and current forms of mass violence. Visit Site
Harvard Law School Library: Nuremburg Trials Project
The Harvard Law School Library's Nuremberg Trials Project is an open-access initiative to create and present digitized images or full-text versions of the Library's Nuremberg documents, descriptions of each document, and general information about the trials. Visit Site
Survivor Testimony
As time passes, it’s critical to record, archive and share personal testimony from the Holocaust.
The USC Shoah Foundation's IWitness
IWitness is an educational website developed by USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education that provides access to more than 1,500 full life histories, testimonies of survivors and witnesses to the Holocaust and other genocides for guided exploration. Visit Site
Yale University Library
The Fortunoff Archive and its affiliates recorded the testimonies of willing individuals with first-hand experience of the Nazi persecutions, including those in hiding, survivors, bystanders, resistants, and liberators. Visit Site
British Library: Learning voices of the Holocaust
British Library: Learning voices of the HolocaustVoices of the Holocaust consists of oral history testimonies gathered from Jewish men and women who came to live in Britain during or after WWII. These testimonies are personal, individual, true stories, that describe the hardships of life during Hitler’s reign. Visit Site
Yahad In Unum
Our organization seeks to unsilence a chapter of history that has remained silent for far too long through investigation, education, and engagement. Visit Site
Holocaust Literature
Suggested resources for use in the classroom.
USHMM: Teaching Materials Using Books and Literature
Lesson plans for popular Holocaust texts, dairies, etc. Visit Site
Antisemitism, Kristallnacht, and Liberation
A selection of online teaching resources from the first waves of persecution, including the November Pogrom (Kristallnacht) to the aftermath of WWII.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Antisemitism and the persecution of Jews represented a central tenet of Nazi ideology. In their 25-point Party Program, published in 1920, Nazi party members publicly declared their intention to segregate Jews from “Aryan” society and to abrogate Jews’ political, legal, and civil rights. Visit Site
Kristallnacht: The November 1938 Pogroms
Instigated by the Nazi regime, rioters burned or destroyed 267 synagogues, vandalized or looted 7,500 Jewish businesses, and killed at least 91 Jewish people. They also damaged many Jewish cemeteries, hospitals, schools, and homes as police and fire brigades stood aside. Visit Site
Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies
Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide StudiesLesson plans and educational materials organized for the elementary, middle school, and high school levels. General lesson plans and supporting materials are also offered. Visit Site
Antisemitism
Lessons on the concept of antisemitism.
European Antisemitism from its Origins to the Holocaust
Antisemitism—prejudice against or hatred of Jews—did not end with the Holocaust. It remains a global problem today, continuing among ordinary citizens, people of influence, and even under state sponsorship. It often echoes the same falsehoods used by the Nazis. Efforts to distort or deny the Holocaust are among the ways that antisemitism is currently expressed. Visit Site
Antisemitism: The Longest Hatred
Prejudice against or hatred of Jews—known as antisemitism—has plagued the world for more than 2,000 years. Visit Site
A World in Transition: Emancipation, Acculturation, and Antisemitism
Sholem Aleichem began writing at a time when many Jews were moving from shtetls to larger urban centers and were being exposed to new ideas stemming from the Haskalah, or Jewish Enlightenment. Visit Site
Not In Our Town: Billings, Montana
This short excerpt from the film “Not In Our Town” shows how ordinary citizens in Billings, Montana joined together to stand up to hate when their neighbors were under attack by white supremacists. Visit Site
Lesson Echoes and Reflections
Contemporary Antisemitism Visit Site
Video Shoah Foundation
USC Shoah Foundation Records Testimonies About Current Anti-Semitism in Copenhagen Visit Site
Liberation
Articles on the 70th anniversary of the liberation Auschwitz.
A Lifetime Surviving Auschwitz
As the world marks the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by Soviet troops on 27 January 1945, a group of now elderly survivors of the Nazi death camp have been photographed holding wartime pictures of themselves and their murdered families. Visit Site
Remembering Auschwitz: 70 Years After Liberation
A compelling photo essay from The Atlantic. Visit Site
The voices of Auschwitz
The 70th anniversary of the liberation of the notorious Nazi concentration camp could mark the last major commemoration for many Holocaust survivors. Visit Site
“What does this have to do with me?”
Resources that help students get to the "aha" moment.
Lessons from Auschwitz: The power of our words - Benjamin Zander
Classical music mastermind Benjamin Zander concluded his 2008 TED Talk by recounting the heartrending story of an Auschwitz survivor and her brother. This short animated piece highlights that story, reminding us that the words we speak to one another are incredibly powerful tools that we shouldn’t take for granted. Visit Site
The Danger of a Single Story
Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice — and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding. Visit Site
Daring to Resist
Three women face the Holocaust Visit Site
Common Questions about the Holocaust
Because inquiring minds will want to know. Visit Site
Holocaust Education
Approaching the Holocaust is a struggle for many teachers. Finding a way to teach a tragedy of unprecedented magnitude and enduring significance is perplexing even to the most seasoned educator. Visit Site