Cover Story

`Life Unworthy Of Life'

I

we

Holocaust curriculum wins praise from

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local and national educators.

DIANA LIEBERMAN
Staff'Writer

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ach year, students in Barb
Demlow's Holocaust
Literature class learn just how
lucky they are.
Following an activity outlined in the
curriculum "Life Unworthy of Life,"
the Ferndale High School students keep
a diary of everything they do in a day.
They record when they wake up, go to
school and watch television, how much
they eat and how often they go to the
bathroom.
Then they take a look at a typical
day for a young person imprisoned in
Auschwitz. The contrast is shocking.
While Americans eat upwards of
2,000 calories a day, prisoners at
Auschwitz were given about 600 calo-
ries of nearly inedible food — if that
much.
"Life Unworthy of Life" was written
over four years beginning in 1984 by
Sidney Bolkosky, a professor of history
at the University of Michigan-
Dearborn, and Betty Rotberg Ellias,
then a teacher at Southfield-Lathrup
High School.
Joining the project after three years
was David Harris, former social studies
coordinator with the Oakland Schools.
The curriculum, designed for
eighth- and ninth-grade history classes,
includes videos, teachers' guide and
resources, student texts and workbooks.
Demlow has been teaching
Holocaust literature for 20 years. "I
spread [the curriculum lessons] out
with literature, but I use the entire
thing,"
b, she said. "I can't recommend it
enough."
Demlow was among about two
dozen educators at Michigan State
University's second annual workshop
on Holocaust Education held April 14
on campus. She is one of a tiny handful
of pre-college Michigan teachers who
can devote an entire semester to the
subject — probably fewer than five
statewide. Lack of money, the pressure
of state testing, local curriculum man-
dates and opposition by administrators
usually limit teaching about the
Holocaust to a few weeks or less.
Demlow's class at Ferndale High
receives excellent student evaluations.
"Studying the Holocaust has changed
my attitude about standing back and

letting others do things that I don't like
or agree with," wrote student Laura
Eggen.
Chris Ayers wrote, "This course has
shown me how crucial it is that people
do not remain silent when their or
other people's rights are threatened."
There have been no long-term stud-
ies of whether these attitudes carry over
into changes in behavior, said Stephen
Feinberg of the U.S. Holocaust
Memorial Museum in Washington,
D.C.
"It's easy to test whether or not peo-
ple know there was a man named
Hitler and he pursued a policy of elimi-
nating Jews," said Feinberg, the muse-
urn's director of National Educational
Outreach. "It's almost impossible to test
qualitatively, has this made them better
citizens?"
Although they cannot devote an
entire semester to Holocaust education,
many teachers at the MSU workshop
said they use "Life Unworthy of Life"
for their classes.
"Every year, I use it more and
more," said Tom Fentin, a geography
teacher at Communications and Media
Arts High School in Detroit.
"I intend to keep teaching the
Holocaust even if I have to cut from
other places, and my principal is 100
percent behind me," he added.
"Life Unworthy of Life" is a staple in
Lindy BrutOn's Holocaust literature
class at Groves High School in the
Birmingham School District.
Bruton has taught the semester-long,
12th-grade elective for seven years.
About half of the school's seniors take
the class, which also includes visits from
Holocaust survivors. Bruton said the
thoroughness of the curriculum pro-
vides a historical background for the lit-
erature she teaches.
"When they walk out of my class, I
want them to know the Holocaust
couldn't have happened without
bystanders," she said.
Groves English teacher Beth
Greenspan said she did not use "Life
Unworthy of Life," preferring to center
her class on Holocaust-related literature
and visits by survivors. "I think the lit-
erature can speak for itself."
Two organizations — the Holocaust
Education Coalition (HEC) and
Children of Holocaust-survivors

Top: Barb Demlow teaches her Holocaust
Literature class at Ferndale High School.

Above: Gina DeGregorio, an 1 ith-grader
at Ferndale High School, finds a passage
in Elie Wiesel's book "Night."

Association In Michigan (CHAIM) —
make "Life Unworthy of Life" available
free of charge to any school that cannot
afford it.
"Many teachers who are new to the
subject have said the reason they feel
competent to teach Holocaust studies is
because they receive the curriculum,"
said Bruton, a presenter at the MSU
workshop.
Ellias and Bolkosky, the curriculum's
major co-authors, met as volunteers on
a Holocaust education subcommittee of
the Jewish Community Council of
Metropolitan Detroit.
Ellias said "Life Unworthy of Life"
combines interestingly presented histor-
ical fact with ease of use. "Perhaps the
greatest strength is the videotapes with
accompanying lessons," she added.
The curriculum consists of 18
lessons. Each begins with a 10- to 14-
minute videotape, narrated by
Holocaust survivors. Tapes are graphic,
but not "mind-numbing," Bolkosky
said. "We don't want to numb minds.
That's the opposite of what we want to
do."
Teachers with only a week to devote
to the subject can use a revised lesson
plan with recommended cuts.
Over the past 10 years, more than
125,000-150,000 students have used
"Life Unworthy of Life," from New
York and New Jersey to Washington
state.
"Being a part of the development of
the curriculum and being able to place
the curriculum in schools has had an
incredible impact on my life," said
Ellias, whose mother was a Holocaust
survivor.
"I never anticipated I'd be involved

in anything like this. On one level, it
humbled me. On another level, I was
able to make a contribution to the peo-
ple I love."
Bolkosky, an expert in German intel-
lectual history, has devoted a large part
of his career to tracing the history of
the Holocaust and preserving the stories
of its survivors. Writing "Life Unworthy
of Life" presented special challenges, he
said.
Besides trying to "allay the fears of
new teachers," he sought to do it in
language that high school students
could comprehend and with activities
that would hold their interest.
"Every page was written or rewritten
three or four times," Bolkosky said.
If he were to do it over, Bolkosky
said he would make the teachers stretch
a little more. "We gave them the ques-
tions; we gave them the answers.
Teachers need to think more for them-
selves."
"Life Unworthy of Life" is probably
one of the two most highly acclaimed
pre-college curricula available, said
Feinberg of the U.S. Holocaust
Museum. The other curriculum,
"Facing History and Ourselves: The
Holocaust," tends to be more of an
examination of human behavior and
less historical, he said.
The Washington museum makes no
recommendations. Feinberg said, "One
of the guidelines we tell teachers is,
`Decide what your rationale is. Once
you decide why you're teaching it, then
you can decide on a course of study"'
High school teachers in San Diego
recently received free copies of "Life
Unworthy of Life," said Laurance
Baron of the Litensky Center for Judaic
Studies at San Diego State University.
The public schools had purchased a
social studies series that devoted only a
small amount of space to the
Holocaust. They then purchased the
Detroit curriculum in response to criti-
cism.
Baron agreed that the series is "one
of two major curricula." But, in the
past five years, a number of introducto-
ry texts have come on the market.
While these are not as complete,
they may gain in popularity because of
their lower prices, he said. Published by
Glencoe/McGraw Hill, "Life Unworthy
of Life" is $333.42 for a complete set,
including videos, classroom exercises,
teacher's binder and 30 student texts.
"What may be the most popular
curriculum right now is Schindlers
List," Baron said. The Academy Award-
winning movie features popular actors,
has its own curriculum and resource
guide — and is free.

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