Lessons from the Holocaust

And I Said Nothing

In Germany they first came for the Communists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionist, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me and by that time no one was left to speak up.


TASK: Write personal reflection on the atrocities of the Holocaust and how it has (or hasn’t) changed the world.

Keep these questions in mind:
• Who is to blame for the Holocaust?
• Could the Holocaust have been stopped?
• How to the "Stages of Isolation" show the gradual persecution leading to the annihilation of the Jews?
• What would you have done if you lived in Germany during the Third Reich?
• How does the passage "And I Said Nothing" portray the actions of the people in Germany during Third Reich? What is the danger in saying or doing "nothing"?
• What lessons must be learned from the Holocaust?
• How do we, as responsible and aware human beings, ensure that an event such as the Holocaust or any type of racial genocide never occurs again?
• Do you think we have “learned our lesson” from the Holocaust, use examples to support your point of view from more recent history

To view some images from the Holocaust click the following links.
http://www.phdn.org/histgen/schmitz/indexeng.html
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/phototoc.html

Exploring your political views

Read the following instructions and complete the two activities. These were developed by a friend of mine, Mr. Thielmann, over at DP Todd.

Activity One
Purpose: find out what kind of political views you have and how they compare with world figures and political parties

Instructions:
go to http://www.politicalcompass.org/
read the instructions and complete the quiz
read through your results page to learn about your views
summarize what you learned from the quiz by commenting in response to this posting on the course blog -- http://www.soc11eh.blogspot.com

Tips:
left vs right: left-wing usually means more government control over industry and economy; right-ring usually means less government regulation and intervention (laissez-faire)
authoritarian vs libertarian: authoritarian means powerful government which controls rights and freedoms, sometimes it can be a dictatorship; libertarian means less government control of rights, sometimes less government in general

If you finish activity one and have time try activity two.

Activity Two
Purpose: learn about different ways of organizing nations by politics, economy, and values

Instructions:
go to http://www.nationstates.net
read the introduction and sign up to “build” your nation
experiment with the simulation for as long as you need to see how it works, more if you have the time (warning: NationStates can be addictive!)
summarize what you learned from the simulation by commenting on this posting on the course blog -- http://www.soc11eh.blogspot.com

Tips:
See how the choices you make at the beginning affect the kind of country which is generated by the simulator. Look at other countries and issues around the “world” to see what others have done.

Socials 11 in the News

Social Studies 11 is a course that deals with a great deal of history but is really more about what is happening in Canada and the world around us every day. To see evidence of this one really just has to open a newspaper on any given day and take account of the number of news items that directly relate to the themes we study in Social Studies 11.

Right now we are looking at the role of the Citizen and Government.

Your task is to review a variety of news sources and identify current event articles and issues that relate to the role and/or function of government. The issue you select could be a local, provincial, national or world event as long as it fits into Your post must include the following:


1.A link or reference to the article you have selected.

2.A summary of the issue and the article.
3.An explanation of how your selection ties into Social Studies 11 and its importance as a world or Canadian issue.

4.2 or 3 questions your article brings up for you that you would like to see answered in the future.Many of the news links located on the sidebar of this blog are excellent starting points for your news search.

Welcome

Welcome to the companion blog to my Social Studies 11 classes? Here we will have a chance to pose questions, share opinions, engage in discussion and discuss course topics or items of interest that relate to our classwork. A reminder that this is an open forum and it is expected that responses be aappropriate. Think of this as an extension of the classroom, if you wouldn't say it in the classroom please don't type it here. As well, please ensure you add your initials and the period of your socials class to the end of your comments so I know who to give credit to. For example if I was in the period 1 class I would end my comments with RL P-1.

Our First posting is about what it means to be Canadian.

Is there such a thing as a “typical” Canadian? How would you describe Canadians? Comment on how you think the world should see Canadians. Think about how Canada is different from other countries and why someone would want to move to Canada