Educating Our Children on the Holocaust

October 2023

By Mitch Rifkin

The North Carolina Council on the Holocaust has completed its curriculum development for Holocaust studies in middle and high school. The curriculum has been accepted by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. If you have children in the public school system, they may be studying the Holocaust and World War II using the curriculum developed by the Holocaust Council. The North Carolina Holocaust Foundation financially supports the efforts of the North Carolina Council on the Holocaust with significant fundraising.

The Holocaust Council has a list of recommended books aligned with grades.

Grade 6: “The Devil’s Arithmetic” and “The Boy on the Wooden Box”

Grade 7: “Salvaged Pages” and “Parallel Journeys”

Grade 8: “The Diary of Anne Frank” and “I Have Lived a Thousand Years”

Grade 9: “The Pianist

Grade 10: “Night” and “Rena’s Promise”

Grade 11: “All But My Life”

Grade 12: “The Sunflower”

The Holocaust Council has also created eight instructional videos that teachers can access for their classrooms. Titles of our four most requested videos are “Jewish Resistance,” “The Ghettos,” “The Death Camps,” and “Life After the War.”

The Holocaust Council has expanded its collection of traveling exhibits. See the video: https://youtu.be/j27mPdLSzw8. Titles of some of our most requested exhibits are “The Kindertransport,” “Dr. Seuss Goes to War,” “What They Could Carry to the Ghetto,” and “I Never Saw Another Butterfly.”

Over 300 teachers attended our six workshops in the last school year. We have another six workshops planned for this year. Titles of our workshops are “Jewish Resistance in the Holocaust,” “The Ghettos,” “Nazi Propaganda, How to Counter Current Antisemitic Distortion Movements,” “Life in the Displaced Persons Camps, and Life After the Holocaust.”

Our Foundation attempts to purchase books for schools. Unfortunately, we can only fulfill about 20% of teacher requests. If you would like to help us purchase books for schools, please use our PayPal account paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/1931798 or mail a check to The North Carolina Holocaust Foundation,5704 Crooked Stick Trail, Raleigh, N.C. 27612. Your donation is tax deductible and very appreciated.

If you would like more information about our programs or the curriculum, please contact Mitch Rifkin, chairman of the Holocaust Foundation at rif121@carolina.rr.com or (704) 607-3936.