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Defying the Nazis: The Sharps’ War

Inspire your students with the untold story of American upstanders who risked their lives to help desperate refugees.

Ken Burns’ new documentary Defying the Nazis: The Sharps’ War tells Martha and Waitstill Sharps’ extraordinary story. Our 3 lesson plans use excerpts of the film, personal letters, photographs, and thought-provoking questions to help you to explore what motivated the Sharps’ mission, the dilemmas they faced, and the impact of their courageous actions.

 

 

Bring the courageous and compelling story of Martha and Waitstill Sharp to life in your classroom.

The Sharps' story can be integrated into many different courses and units of study. If you're teaching a unit on the Holocaust (or a Holocaust and Human Behavior elective), use it to examine rescue and the diverse experiences of victims, survivors, and rescuers. This story can also be used:

  • In US history courses, to help students understand America’s relationship to Europe as World War II unfolded
  • In Civics courses, as a case study on the choices of two extraordinary upstanders
  • To help facilitate classroom discussion around the ongoing refugee crisis

Get started.

An American minister and his wife undertook a rescue mission to help save Jews and refugees fleeing Nazi occupation.
Responses to the 1930s Refugee Crisis
Motivate your students to think about their responsibility toward others in light of the Sharps' work in Czechoslovakia.
Children's Emigration Project
Discover the complexities of Martha Sharp's rescue project by analyzing letters and other primary sources.

Get to know the Sharps

Find family photos, letters, and other primary sources that reveal the political landscape when the Sharps planned their rescue. The lessons draw upon many of the primary sources in this collection.

A large group of children of varying ages gather for a group photo outside a building.
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Children Rescued by Martha Sharp

The group of children Martha Sharp brought from France, Fall 1940.

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A middle-aged man and his teenage daughter gaze into each other's faces, while standing on the side of a residential city street in France.
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Eva Rosemarie Feigl and Her Father

Photograph of Eva Rosemarie Feigl and her father, taken before she left France for the United States.

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Six sisters of varying ages pose together, all wearing wool winter coats and hats.
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The Theis sisters

The six Theis sisters en route from France to the United States, 1940.

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Typewritten letter from Walter Goldberg, inmate of French detention camp, to Martha Sharp, dated 1940.
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Letter from Gurs Prisoner Asking Martha Sharp to Rescue Jewish Children

Letter from Walter Goldberg, inmate of Gurs, France detention camp, to Martha Sharp, asking her to rescue Jewish children who arrived to the camp as prisoners, October 31, 1940.

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A typewritten list of children's names, ages, nationality, and identification. Dated 1940.
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Martha Sharp's List of Children to Rescue

A list of the children Martha Sharp included in her second attempt to rescue children from France, November 1940.

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A three-page typewritten letter from Helen Lowrie to the Sharp's Unitarian supporters dated 1940.
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What America Meant

Public letter to the Sharps' Unitarian supporters describing the beginning of the children's rescue, written by Martha's colleague Helen Lowrie, November 23, 1940.

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A handwritten note in French.
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Note from Eva Rosemarie Feigl to Martha Sharp

Note from Eva Rosemarie Feigl to Martha Sharp, December 10, 1943.

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A handwritten note in French dated 1940.
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Note from the Diamant Sisters to the Unitarian Service Committee

Note from the Diamant sisters to Unitarian Service Committee members, December 9, 1940.

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About the Project

Facing History is the lead educational partner for Defying the Nazis: The Sharps’ War, a multimedia project that includes a documentary film and companion book. Learn more about the project and watch a special message from filmmaker Ken Burns inviting you to tune into the premiere on PBS on September 20!

A Message From Ken Burns

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