Jewish Life before the Holocaust

About This Lesson

After learning about the effect of World War I on Germany and how its aftermath created conditions that helped give rise to the Nazis in the years that followed, students will turn their attention to Jewish life in Europe before World War II. In this lesson, they will compare and contrast Jewish life in today’s diaspora with pre-war Jewish life to reflect on the many ways in which modernity can impact tradition. 

On the first day of the lesson, students learn about shtetl, or rural, life, as well as urban life in Europe between the wars. The second day focuses on the challenge of preserving tradition in the face of modernity. This lesson also invites students to make connections to the complexities of diaspora Jewish life before the war and Jewish life in the diaspora today. Through readings and videos from the point of view of Jews at the time, students will consider the ways in which Jews were interwoven into the societies they lived in and the ways in which they lived apart, whether by force or by choice.

Essential Questions

What does learning about the choices people made during the Weimar Republic, the rise of the Nazi Party, and the Holocaust teach us about the power and impact of our choices today?

Alternate Jewish Ed Unit Essential Question:

How is our Jewish identity tied in with the history of the Holocaust?

Guiding Questions

• What did Jewish life look like before the war in Europe?
• How does modernity affect tradition? What factors influence Jewish identity in a changing world?
• What are the similarities and differences between today’s Jewish life in the diaspora and pre-war Jewish life?

Learning Objectives

• Through an analysis of images, film, and readings, students will reflect on the struggle between modernity and tradition in pre-war Europe after the Haskala (Enlightenment) movement.
• Students will reflect on the issues of assimilation and modernity versus tradition in today’s Jewish life.

Day 1: Shtetl Life

Activity 1: Show Videos about Sholom Aleichem

Tell students that in this lesson, they will be learning about shtetl life in Europe between the two world wars. Write the following questions on the board and let students know that while they view the two short videos about Sholem Aleichem and shtetl life, they should take notes that help them answer the questions.

• What do we learn about shtetl life through these videos?
• What did Sholem Aleichem seek to preserve through his stories?

Play the trailer for Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness (02:21) and the video Sholem Aleichem: Understanding the Life of Shtetl Jews (04:48). Pause between the two videos and after the second so students can record their responses to the two questions above.

To debrief the videos, have students share their notes with a partner. Encourage them to add any new information or ideas from their paired discussion to their notes.

Activity 2: View Images of Pre-War Jewish Life

Tell students that they will now be examining photographs of pre-war Jewish life in rural and urban areas in Europe. Using the Gallery Walk teaching strategy, have students walk around to examine images from Pre-War Jewish Life in Europe and the Roman Vishniac Gallery Walk. Then, as a class, discuss the following questions, having students point to specific images for evidence:

• Which of the photos of pre-war Jewish life reflect Sholem Aleichem’s story of shtetl life?
• What other lifestyles are reflected in these photographs? How are they similar to or different from what you learned from Sholem Aleichem’s story?
• Which photos, if any, reflect your own life today?
• What questions do these photographs raise for you?

Activity 3: Explore Urban Life in Poland

Tell students that they will watch a short documentary that captures the spirit of Jewish life in pre–World War II Warsaw. Narrated in Yiddish with English subtitles, the film presents the viewer with important images of daily life in Jewish Warsaw as it was before the Nazi invasion. Tell students that they will be answering the following questions after they watch the film:

• What impression does the filmmaker want us to get about Jewish life in Poland?
• What similarities are there to Jewish life in a big city with a large Jewish population in America today—for instance, New York?

Show the film A Day in Warsaw (10:56). After watching, give students some time to reflect on the two questions in their journals and then share their ideas in a paired discussion. Then briefly discuss their responses in a class discussion.

Activity 4: Understand the Complexity of Pre-War Jewish Life in Europe

To synthesize this lesson’s content, have students reflect on the videos and images as a whole. Start by discussing the following question: How can the videos of shtetl and urban life, as well as the photographs in today’s lesson, broaden our understanding of pre-war Jewish life?

As students share their ideas, make an identity chart on the board for pre-war Jewish life (the chart might include the words urban, rural, rich, poor, varied, work, leisure, shopping, community, education, etc.).

Activity 5: Assign Homework

Pass out the reading Choices in a Modern World for students to read for homework, and let them know that they will be discussing and doing an activity with it in the next lesson. Tell students to read and answer the second connection question in preparation for the next class.

Day 2: The Complexities of Modernity: Urban Life

Activity 1: Think about Adapting to a Changing World

Have students take out the reading Choices in a Modern World and share their responses to the second connection question with a partner or in small groups. Have students work together to respond to each other’s comprehension questions and then answer any remaining questions as a class.

Tell students that they will be presenting the message of the reading using the Reader’s Theater teaching strategy. Divide the class into five groups and explain the teaching strategy to the class, with a special emphasis on Step 3: Groups Prepare for Performance. Remind students that the goal is not to perform a skit that summarizes their scene. Rather, they should use specific language (words and phrases) to represent the conflict, theme, and/or underlying message of their excerpt. Assign each group one of the following scenes:

• Hanan decides to see the rabbi and has a conversation with the rabbi.
• Hanan decides to shave his beard and open a business.
• Pauline and Hanan struggle over traditions in the house.
• Jews are allowed into universities and then, after the events of 1881, forced back into the ghettos: a conversation between Pauline and Hanan.
• The children leave the tradition.

Activity 2: Make Connections to Jewish Life Today

After each group has presented its scene, discuss the following questions as a class:

• Pauline Wengeroff believed that a Jew had only two choices: “He could, in the name of Judaism, renounce everything that had become indispensable to him, or he could choose freedom with its offers of education and career—through baptism.” Were these the only choices? If not, what other choices were available?
• What factors influence Jewish identity in a changing world? How does modernity affect tradition?
• What are the similarities and differences between today’s Jewish life in the diaspora and pre-war Jewish life in shtetls and urban centers?

Activity 3: Reflect on Pre-War Jewish Life

Have students choose one to three of the following sentence stems for a journal or exit ticket reflection on this two-day lesson

I noticed . . .
I wonder . . .
I was reminded of . . .
I think . . .
I’m surprised that . . .
I’d like to know . . .