Summer Courses from Echoes and Reflections

Teaching about Holocaust Denial & Distortion and
Defiant Requiem:  Cultural Resistance in the Terezín Ghetto

Teaching about Holocaust Denial & Distortion:  July 6-19

Gain an understanding of how antisemitic tropes and hate speech related to the Holocaust are weaponized and how to challenge students to think critically and empower them to recognize and reject antisemitic hate speech.

After completing this course, you will be able to:

• Understand Holocaust denial and distortion and how this form of antisemitism is harmful to Jews and the larger society.
• Identify opportunities to connect historical antisemitic tropes with modern examples of hate speech, specifically in the online sphere.
• Identify how antisemitism has frequently been weaponized to gain influence and power by groups and individuals.
• Learn and incorporate teaching strategies that encourage students to formulate values and opinions based on facts.

This course will Build confidence and capacity to teach about modern propaganda using media literacy skills.

Defiant Requiem:  Cultural Resistance in the Terezín Ghetto:  July 13-20

Examine the creation of the Terezin ghetto, the role of resistance, and how the prisoner performances of Verdi's Requiem inspired individuals then and now.

After completing this course, you will be able to:

• Understand the various types of resistance that Jewish individuals exhibited during the era of the Holocaust.
• Analyze how the prisoners’ performance of the Verdi Requiem in the Terezín ghetto represented an act of resistance.

In this course you will Identify and construct activities that contextualize this performance’s significance for use with students in a secondary classroom.