Teaching with Video Testimony

Survivor and witness testimonies—firsthand accounts from individuals who lived through or encountered genocide and other atrocities—help students more deeply appreciate and empathize with the human and inhuman dimensions of important moments in history. They supplement what we learn from historians and secondary sources by offering unique perspectives on the difficult and sometimes impossible situations individuals were forced to confront during moments of collective violence and injustice. 

The activities in this lesson support teachers and students to engage with video testimony of survivors, rescuers, and witnesses of genocide, and to discuss these important stories in a reflective classroom environment.

Essential Questions

• How are we affected by hearing the testimonies of Holocaust survivors? How do their stories influence our understanding of this history?
• What can we learn from survivors about our moral obligation to each other?

Learning Objectives

• Students will experience how the powerful stories of those who were targeted by the Nazis can affect us emotionally and deepen our investment in learning about and from the history of the Holocaust.
• Students will explore the ways in which survivors’ personal stories can help them consider the extent to which they feel obligated to help others.

Before teaching this lesson, please review the following information to help guide your preparation process. 

Activity 1 Reflect on the Words of Elie Wiesel

Before sharing the video testimony, project and read aloud this quotation from Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Elie Wiesel about the experience of hearing survivor testimony: 

. . . the idea of telling these stories is to sensitize people—that you should become more sensitive—to yourselves, to your friends, even to strangers . . . become sensitive; not only to the story of what we try to tell, but about what happens even today—because what happens even today is always related to what happened then. ¹

Have students respond in their journals to the following two questions as they reflect on Elie Wiesel’s words. Then have them share one of their ideas with a partner and see if any volunteers would like to share with the class. 

• In your opinion, what is the most valuable idea in this quotation? What makes you say that?
• What do you think it means to “become sensitive”? How can we become sensitive to others’ stories?

Activity 2 Watch and Reflect on Holocaust Survivor Testimony

• Let students know that they will be watching a video testimony in which a Holocaust survivor shares story from growing up during Hitler’s rise to power, the Holocaust, or after the war. Before showing the video clip, provide students with content about the time, place, and events surrounding the story they are about to hear. 
• Play the video and then use the Head, Heart, Conscience teaching strategy or its variation for a journal reflection. Please note that you may need to adapt one or more questions to fit the context of the testimony you shared. We recommend that students don’t take notes as they watch so they can fully engage with the survivor and their story. 
• If you plan to show more than one video, repeat these two steps for each video before moving on to the class discussion. 

Activity 3 Engage in a Class Discussion

If possible, have your students arrange their desks in a circle. Then facilitate a class discussion that draws from the following questions: 

• What ideas from your Head, Heart, Conscience reflection would you like to share with the class? 
• How are we affected by hearing the testimonies of Holocaust survivors? How do their stories influence our understanding of this moment in history?
• (If you showed two or more videos) What unique perspective does each survivor offer in their story? What connections can you make between the survivors’ stories—their experiences, human behavior, and/or choices? 
• What can we learn from survivors about our moral obligation to each other?

Activity 4 End Class with a Personal Reflection

Provide students with enough time to reflect on what they learned during the lesson. They can reflect in their journals, or on exit tickets if you would like for them to share their responses with you. Consider letting your students choose one of the following prompts that resonates with them. 

• What was surprising, interesting, and/or troubling about the testimony you heard today?
• How does ___________’s story connect to, extend, and/or challenge what you know about the Holocaust?
• What was a valuable idea from ________’s story that you want to remember? What makes you say that?

• 1 Elie Wiesel in Challenge of Memory (video).