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Teach the inconceivable: how can one talk about the Holocaust with children? - Walla! news

2022-04-28T12:11:36.015Z


Children are exposed to the subject of the Holocaust from a very young age, and sometimes encounter content that is not adapted to their age and can create trauma. A new film that combines testimonials and animation and a virtual and illustrated learning set developed at Yad Vashem, seeks to address the challenge with an approaching visual language, and from a protected distance


Teach the inconceivable: how can one talk about the Holocaust with children?

Children are exposed to the subject of the Holocaust from a very young age, and sometimes encounter content that is not adapted to their age and can create trauma.

A new film that combines testimonials and animation and a virtual and illustrated learning set developed at Yad Vashem, seeks to address the challenge with an approaching visual language, and from a protected distance

Eli Ashkenazi

25/04/2022

Monday, 25 April 2022, 01:51 Updated: Thursday, 28 April 2022, 15:06

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In the video: An animated clip from the testimony of Holocaust survivor Genia Reznik (Photography and production: Yad Vashem)

In November 1940, when Genia Reznik was 7 years old, the Germans demarcated the borders of the Warsaw ghetto and imprisoned the Jewish residents inside.

Resnik remembers the fear that accompanied her as the Germans entered the city, the noise of their march, the overcrowding and hunger, but also a voluntary system of mutual support within the ghetto, boys teaching the young children in makeshift corners in the backyards, and even a happy memory of her sister's wedding day.

"Everyone was festively dressed. My sister was standing under the canopy and throwing candies at her."



Some of these memories come up in the new film, "A Girl in the Ghetto," in which parts of her testimony are incorporated into animated clips.

The film is intended for children and is one item from an array of diverse content for conveying the story of the Holocaust to children of elementary school age, developed at the International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem.

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Make the inconceivable accessible to children.

From "A Girl in the Ghetto" (Photo: Yad Vashem, Yad Vashem)

The story of the Holocaust is an inconceivable story for many adults and all the more so for young children.

On the other hand, adults are interested in sharing the story with their children and passing it on to future generations.

The issue is so present in our lives as part of the collective memory, and children growing up in Israel encounter it and are exposed to it everywhere from a very young age - in public discourse, in the media, at special events and more.



According to Dr. Yael Richler-Friedman, acting director of the International School of Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem, "In this situation, children are often exposed at an early stage to Holocaust content that is not at all appropriate for their cognitive and emotional level."



"Such exposure, in an uncontrolled and unmediated manner by an adult close to them, can create trauma, a sense of distance and judgment, and even lead to a lack of understanding of the subject," she explains.

"On the other hand, postponing the teaching of the Holocaust to later ages is not recommended and may lead to an inability to digest the amount of facts and value challenges inherent in this event.

The testimony film "A Girl in the Ghetto" in its entirety

Richler-Friedman said that "many adults in Israel say that when they were young children they were exposed to the sights of the Holocaust, and this is etched in their memory, traumatic and hurt something in their soul. To avoid such trauma, but still allow us to remember the Holocaust as a healthy society, And put the need and we are consistently working on developing materials that will make the issue accessible to young children in a tailored manner. "

Illustration alongside a protected distance

Thus, for example, Genia Reznik's testimony film is led by the survivor's own memories, so that the children know in advance that her story ends in rescue, which allows them to watch the film out of a sense of security and even develop empathy for her character.

In February 1942, Genia, her parents and her brother managed to escape from the ghetto using fake IDs and hiding under a false identity.



They moved from one hiding place to another, until the liberation of Poland by the Soviet army in 1945. Genia

and her family immigrated to Israel in 1946. In 1954 she enlisted in the IDF, then married and started a family.

Which brings the children closer on the one hand, but also creates a protected distance. For the teaching staff, Yad Vashem also added a lesson plan tailored to the video. at him.

Emphasis on mutual help and the ability to reach out.

From the movie "A Girl in the Ghetto" (Photo: Yad Vashem, Yad Vashem)

Another suggestion for a lesson plan raises the possibility of working in groups: each group will choose the three pictures, which it thinks are the most important in the film.

The group will then share its decisions with explanations in front of the class.

The materials are available on the Yad Vashem website for everyone and present a variety of options from testimonial films adapted for young people or a virtual space where children will meet an illustrated space that will bring them together with appropriate photographs, stories of objects that accompanied the survivors and more.



"On the one hand, we give children basic concepts, which will develop in them over the years and the difficulties and evil are presented in a measured way, one that will not overwhelm the children," Richler-Friedman explained.

"On the other hand, the materials focus on issues that build resilience that build the child's ability to cope. Thus, they emphasize mutual help and the ability to lend a helping hand even in difficult times, and content through which to develop a discourse on children's strengths such as creativity, imagination and strength. "Outsiders who can help like family, community, and other adults. Thus, alongside the encounter with evil, children also encounter light. The worldview they draw for themselves from the encounter with these materials is complex, and there is also room for good, belief in man and their own powers."

"The children also meet light."

Next to "Girl in the Ghetto" (Photo: Yad Vashem, Yad Vashem)

Another content that can convey the story of the Holocaust in a soft way is the virtual and interactive space, which deals with children in the ghetto, and is built around an illustrated space.

The illustrations are based on authentic elements from the Holocaust period, but the illustrated representation makes them accessible to children in a way that will not create trauma for them.



In the space, students will encounter the story of the Holocaust through appropriate photographs, artifacts, works of art, children's paintings and testimonies.

The children are active on their own from the stage of choosing the themes, in an encounter with the stories, objects and works from the Holocaust period, in a way that allows them emotional processing.

Here, too, the emphasis is on adapted exposure to difficulties, alongside an expanded and emphasized preoccupation with the forces of creation, help, identity, heritage, culture and resilience.



Richler-Friedman explained that "the learning space deals with the lives of children in the ghettos during the Holocaust and is intended for children aged 12-10. It is based on the educational and age-old concept of Holocaust education, and describes life during the Holocaust from the perspective of children living in the ghetto. In an interactive way. "

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Source: walla

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