NEW PA CASE STUDY OVERVIEW (DOCUMENT 1)

Areas of Inquiry:
1. How does Facing History explore the ghettoization of Jews during WWII and what resources are available to aid (teachers & students) in this exploration?
2. How has contemporary ghettoization been explored through pop culture and how can FH resources be used to support this exploration?

Rationale:
Many of today’s youth are able to define or describe what a ghetto is, but how many are aware of the origin of ghettoes? Although many students can give at least a brief overview of what happened during the Holocaust, most can only outline what occurred in the concentration or death camps. Learning about the Jewish ghettoes of Europe will provide a frame of reference for understanding the complex dynamics of the development of urban ghettoes in the 20th and 21st centuries and the peoples that live there. Furthermore, by examining these dichotomies through the lens of the arts, students will come to appreciate the truly human side of life in closed, open and destruction ghettoes (as defined by USHMM).
Research Approach:
1. To define, describe and identify “ghetto” as it related to the Jewish experience during WWII
2. To define, describe and identify “ghetto” as it relates to contemporary, urban experiences in America, particularly, but not exclusively, for Blacks.
3. To compile a list of FH and USHMM resources available related to the ghettoization of European Jews
4. To archive audio and video footage related to FH and USHMM resources
5. To research and compile supplemental resources around ghetto life (past and present) for curricular implementation along the scope and sequence – poetry, lyrics, historical fiction, non-fiction text, articles, film and tv resources, other multimedia references, etc.

Materials to Preview BEFORE the Presentation:
• New PA Case Study Documents 1 & 2
If you have time & want to…
1. Skim Chapter 25, pg 199-200 of Our America entitled “Our America” (by Lealan Jones)
2. Skim the USHMM articles called “ghettos” and “types of ghettos” – links below & on ning
3. View the 2 "Growing Up in the Ghetto" videos (these are referenced in our Eyes on the Prize guide).

How to Navigate the Ning Site
→ Notes: contains the introduction to my project, list of FH resources, list of USHMM resources (online), Yad Vashem resources.
→ Forum: extensive archive of resources related to past and present understandings of ghettoes – workshop/curricular ideas, poetry by students and adults (Jewish & non-Jewish), music links, non-fiction works & primary sources on ghetto life, information on various other artforms/multimedia links related to ghetto life and articles on the importance of the arts. This is also a place for readers to contribute ideas, such as Susan’s contribution “That’s so ghetto.”
→ Blog: areas of inquiry, essential questions and unit questions for further study (in relation to the FH scope and sequence).
→ Photos & Videos: archive of images and video related to past and present work related to ghetto life. Some videos are excerpts of Jewish documentaries/films and others are contemporary music videos (some lyrics provided).


Sources

1. “Ghettos” http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005059
2. “Ghettoization” http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/phistories/index.php?content=phi_ghettos_ghettoization_uu.htm
3. “Types of Ghettos” http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10007445
4. Give me your children: voices from the Lodz Ghetto http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/lodz/
5. “Conditions in the Ghettos” http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/phistories/index.php?content=phi_ghettos_conditions_uu.htm
6. “Roundups in the Ghettos” http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/phistories/index.php?content=phi_ghettos_roundups_uu.htm
7. “Massacres in the Ghettos” http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/phistories/index.php?content=phi_ghettos_massacres_uu.htm
8. “The Ghettoization of European Jews: Deportation & Resettlement in the East” http://www.jeewishvirtuallibraryorg/jsource/Holocaust/ghet.html
9. Holocaust in History by Michael Marrus
10. New PA Case Study Ning http://sonjacasestudyproject.ning.com/
11. Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin
12. Ghetto Nation: a Journey into the Land of Bling & the Home of the Shameless by Cora Daniels
13. Our America: Life and Death on the South Side of Chicago by LeAlan Jones and Lloyd Newman
14. Ghetto Life 101” (audio accompaniment to Our America)
15. Making the Second Ghetto: Race and Housing in Chicago, 1940-1960 by Arnold R. Hirsch
16. The Phoenix: YWLCS Poetry Journal 2005
17. “Resistance and Non-Compliance” by Vladka Meed, Women Surviving the Holocaust Conference, NY, March 1983
18. “G.H.E.T.T.O.” (anonymous poem)
19. “When You Hear the Word Ghetto” (anonymous poem)






Life in the Ghetto: Looking Back
By: Sonja Moore

Life in the ghetto wasn’t always as it seemed
German propaganda footage hides their true scheme -
The total extermination of a segment of humanity
Using tactics and “special treatments” that reveal the insanity
Of man’s inhumanity to man
Some things are hard to tell
As it relates to the “final solution” regarding the religion of Israel
Political movements, a new government
Scapegoating leads to new legislation
The world’s stage is now ridden with fascist, totalitarian dictators
Whose sole aim is to rule the world & rid it of “undesirables”
But they even found ways to make real ghetto conditions deniable
The spread of typhus, lice infections and starvation
The demise of artisans, leaders and intellectuals of a great nation
Daily items now became contraband
Food and clothes we sold right along
With prayer shawls and armbands
“Essential worker” had some reprieve
Against the slaughter that was to come
But even in their case, sometimes,
Bribery or other sacrifices had to be done
Red Cross aid ended as Japanese planes
Attacked a Harbor half a world away
Forcing everyone, even children, to steal food everyday
Hunger breeds desperation
And makes you do things you normally wouldn’t
It drives you mad, it makes you crazy
It makes you say things you shouldn’t
Like, “Where is God? What is He doing?
Are we His ‘Chosen’ or the forgotten?
Why are we to suffer at the hands of evildoers
Who claim to follow God’s ‘Only Begotten’?”
Overcrowded ghetto dwellings filled with filth & disease
Call to mind the rat-infested bowels of ships carrying Africans overseas

The humiliation of haircutting of the rabbi
Makes me think of native children in missionary schools
Or the knot cutting inflicted upon ancient samurai
I can’t help but wonder if diseases were spread by government decree
As with the syphilis injections of Tuskegee
Or like the small-pox infested blankets that wrapped & killed Native babes
All are events that made it clear
That you couldn’t trust policies your government made
Careful calculations, detailed planning
Evidence destroyed and hidden from view
Was this example followed by African dictators, too?
Disregard for human life, no peaceful resting place for the dead
Human beings lined ghetto streets as Katrina’s victims did
Diaries & books tell the stories that others chose to deny
Gripping details and heartache that brings tears to your eyes
A Venetian concept, centuries old, adopted by the Nazi regime
Unfortunately, still a part of some government schemes