Collection Materials for Teaching Holocaust and Human Behavior

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Unit

Defying the Nazis: The Sharps’ War

These lesson plans use the Ken Burns’ documentary "Defying the Nazis: The Sharps’ War" to explore what motivated Waitstill and Martha Sharp to help refugees.

Resources

Duration

Three or more 50-min class periods

Subject

History

Grade

6–12

Language

English — US

Published

February 26, 2021

The Holocaust

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About This Unit

Ken Burns’ documentary Defying the Nazis: The Sharps’ War tells Martha and Waitstill Sharps’ extraordinary story. Our 3 lesson-unit uses 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.

Watch the trailer here.

Lesson

Students are introduced to upstanders Waitstill and Martha Sharp, an American minister and his wife who undertook a rescue mission to help save Jews and refugees fleeing Nazi occupation.

Martha and Waitstill Sharp wave to a crowd before leaving New York City for Europe. Martha wears a corsage of flowers on her coat and holds a bouquet of flowers in her left hand. Stamped in ink on verso: "Photo by William T. Hoff, New York Municipal Airport"

Lesson

Students activate their thinking around being an upstander and their responsibility toward others in light of the Sharps' mission work in Czechoslovakia.

Picture of Jewish Refugees during World War II

Lesson

Students discover the complexities of Martha Sharp's rescue project by analyzing historical correspondences.

Children stand in front of a sign reading Maison d' Enfants USA

Up Next

The Sharps’ Dilemmas

Students are introduced to upstanders Waitstill and Martha Sharp, an American minister and his wife who undertook a rescue mission to help save Jews and refugees fleeing Nazi occupation.

Lesson

Unit

Explore the motives, pressures, and fears that shaped Americans’ responses to Nazism and the humanitarian refugee crisis it provoked during the 1930s and 1940s.

A crowd of American men and women hold signs protesting Nazi Germany's actions.

Lesson

Students examine the steps the Nazis took to replace democracy with dictatorship and draw conclusions about the values and institutions that make democracy possible.

Germans look on as the Reichstag building burns on February 27, 1933.

Lesson

Students prepare for their study of the Holocaust by reflecting on the ways in which memory is an integral part of Jewish identity.

Lesson

Students are introduced to the enormity of the crimes committed during the Holocaust and look closely at stories of a few individuals who were targeted by Nazi brutality.

A crowd of women and children, some with Stars of David patches on their clothing.

Lesson

Students deepen their examination of human behaviour during the Holocaust by analysing and discussing the range of choices available to individuals, groups, and nations.

Hans Scholl, Sophie Scholl, and Christoph Probst in June 1942.

Lesson

Students both respond to and design Holocaust memorials as they consider the impact that memorials and monuments have on the way we think about history.

Lesson

Students grapple with the meaning of justice and the purpose of trials as they learn how the Allies responded to the atrocities of Nazi Germany.

Criminal proceedings before the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg from 20.11.1945 to 1.10.1946 against leading persons prosecuted for war crimes, crimes against the peace and against the humanity.

Lesson

Students learn about the violent pogroms of Kristallnacht by watching a short documentary and then reflecting on eyewitness testimonies.

Image showing the destruction resulting from Kristallnacht.

Lesson

Students continue to explore the question “Who am I?” by examining the concept of dual or multiple identities and reflecting on their own identities as Jews.

Lesson

Students examine the Nazi ideology of “race and space” and the role it played in Germany’s aggression toward other nations, groups, and individuals.

Hitler Youth and League of German Girls in Tianjin, China

Lesson

Students examine how choices made by individuals and groups contributed to the rise of the Nazi Party in the 1920s and 1930s.

The Parade of the Political Administrators in Nuremberg, Germany.

Lesson

Students explore the long history of discrimination against Jews and come to understand how anti-Judaism was transformed into antisemitism in the nineteenth century.

Woodcut of a group of men in a pit being set on fire.

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Defying the Nazis: The Sharps’ War

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About This Unit

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Defying the Nazis: The Sharps’ War

Resources

Duration

Subject

Grade

Language

Published

Access all resources for free now.

About This Unit

Explore the Resources

The Sharps’ Dilemmas

Responses to the 1930s Refugee Crisis

Children’s Emigration Project

Get this unit in Google Drive!

You might also be interested in…

Americans and the Holocaust: The Refugee Crisis

Dismantling Democracy (UK)

Jewish History and Memory: Why Study the Past?

The Holocaust - Bearing Witness (UK)

The Holocaust - The Range of Responses (UK)

How Should We Remember? (UK)

Justice and Judgement after the Holocaust (UK)

Kristallnacht (UK)

Jewish Identity and the Complexities of Dual or Multiple Belongings

Race and Space (UK)

The Rise of the Nazi Party (UK)

The Roots and Impact of Antisemitism (UK)

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