Resources

Books:

Middle School Books:

  1. The Diary of a Young Girl- Anne Frank
  2. The Devil's Arithmetic-Jane Yolen
  3. Number the Stars-Lois Lowry
  4. The Upstairs Room- Johanna Reiss
  5. Milkweed- Jerry Spinelli
  6. The Book Thief- Markus Zuzak
  7. Briar Rose- Jane Yolen
  8. Torn Thread- Anne Isaacs
  9. Devil In Vienna- Doris Orgel
  10. The Cage- Ruth Minsky Sender
  11. Behind the Bedroom Wall- Laura E. Williams
  12. Two Suns in the Sky- Miriam Bat-Ami

High School Books:

  1. Night-Ellie Wiesel
  2. Sarah's Key-  Tatiana de Rosnay
  3. Mila 18- Leon Uris
  4. QB VII- Leon Uris
  5. Voyage of the Damned- Gordon Thoman, Max Morgan-Witts
  6. The Mascot- Mark Kurzem
  7. The Hiding Place- Corrie Ten Boom
  8. The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness- Simon Wiesenthal
     

Adult Books:

  1. Fateless- Imre Kertesz  
  2. Voyage of the Damned- Gordon, Thoman, Max Morgan-Witts
  3. The Plot Against America- Phillip Roth
  4. The Mascot- Mark Kurzem
  5. The Odessa File- Frederick Forsyth
  6. Sophie's Choice- William Styron

Movies:

Middle School Movies:

  1. Paper Clips (2004)-NR Awards
  2. Judgement at Nuremberg (1961)-PG Awards
  3. The Devil's Arithmetic (1999)-NR Awards
  4. The Wave (2008)-NR Awards
  5. The Search (1948)- PG Awards
  6. The Odessa File (1974)- PG

High School Movies:

  1. Voyage of the Damned (1976)-PG13 Awards
  2. Shindler's List (1993)-R Awards
  3. Everything Is Illuminated (2005)-PG13 Awards
  4. Varian's War (2001)- Awards
  5. The Pawnbroker (1964)-PG13 Awards
  6. Defiance (2008)-R Awards
  7. The Pianist (2002)-R Awards
  8. Europa Europa (1990)-R Awards
  9. Life is Beautiful (1997)- PG13 Awards

Adult Movies:

  1. The Grey Zone (2001)-TV MA
  2. Sunshine (1999)-R Awards
  3. The Counterfeiters (2007)-R Awards
  4. Triumph of the Spirit (1989)-R
  5. Sophie's Choice (1982)-R Awards

Poems:

  1. "The Butterfly"

Pavel Friedman was born on January 7, 1921 in Prague. When Pavel was 19 he was deported to Theresienstadt where he wrote the poem "The Butterfly". Later, Pavel was transported from Theresienstadt to Auschwitz. Although Pavel passed away on September 29, 1944, his memory lives on through this poem.

The last, the very last,
So richly, brightly, dazzlingly yellow.
Perhaps if the sun's tears would sing
against a white stone. . . .
Such, such a yellow
Is carried lightly 'way up high.
It went away I'm sure because it wished to
kiss the world good-bye.
For seven weeks I've lived in here,
Penned up inside this ghetto.
But I have found what I love here.
The dandelions call to me
And the white chestnut branches in the court.
Only I never saw another butterfly.
That butterfly was the last one.
Butterflies don't live in here,
in the ghetto.

-Pavel Friedman

2. "Eli, Eli"

Hannah Szenes was born in Hungary on July 17, 1921. Hannah immigrated to Palestine at a young age in hopes to study and join the Haganah. In 1944, Hannah parachuted into Yugoslavia to help save the Jews. Unfortunately, Hannah was captured by the Nazis and put into jail. While Hannah was in Jail, she wrote many poems in Hebrew in order to keep her Jewish spirit alive.  On November 7, 1944 Hannah was tortured and killed by the Nazis.

My God, My God, I pray that these things never end,
The sand and the sea,
The rustle of the waters,
Lightning of the Heavens,
The prayer of Man.
 

-Hannah Szenes

3. "The Little Station: Treblinka"

Wladyslaw Szlengel was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1914. When the Jews of Warsaw were forced into a ghetto in 1940, Szlengel and his family became aware of the future terrors they would face. Szlengel used poetry as an outlet to express his anger, sadness and fear. Wladyslaw Szlengel died in the Warsaw ghetto in 1943.

On the Tluszcz-Warsaw line,
from the Warsaw-East station,
you leave by rail
and ride straight on …

The journey lasts, sometimes
five hours & 45 minutes,
but sometimes it lasts
a lifetime until death.

The station is tiny.
Three fir trees grow there.
The sign is ordinary:
it’s the Treblinka station.

No cashier’s window,
No porter in view,
No return tickets,
Not even for a million.

There, no one is waiting,
no one waves a kerchief,
and only silence hovers,
deaf emptiness greets you.

Silent the flagpole,
silent the fir trees,
silent the black sign:
it’s the Treblinka station.

Only an old poster
with fading letters 
advises:
“Cook with gas.”

-Wladyslaw Szlengel (translated by: Yala Korwin)