Case Studies
The Case Studies develop the theme for Holocaust Memorial Day 2010 – The Legacy of Hope. They focus on the lives of groups and individuals affected by The Holocaust, Nazi Persecution and the Cambodian genocide of the 1970’s.
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This case study contains materials for:
- Primary Level
- Secondary Level
- Post-16 Level
The Secret Archive of Oneg Shabbat
Dawid Gruber was 19 years old, in 1942, when he left his final message to the world. His testimony was placed in one of ten tin boxes and buried in the cellar of the Borochow School in the Polish city of Warsaw. He had no idea whether anyone would ever read it, but he hoped they would. Dawid was imprisoned behind the walls of the Warsaw Ghetto, unable to communicate with the outside world and he knew that his days were numbered.
Explore resources based on The Secret Archive of Oneg Shabbat's story »
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This case study contains materials for:
- Primary Level
- Secondary Level
- Post-16 Level
Hugo Gryn
Hugo Gryn was 13 when he and his mother, father and little brother Gabi were forced into a ghetto before being transported to Auschwitz. Hugo and his family lived in Berehovo, a market town in the region of Capathia. The town had an interesting history. It had once been part of the Austro-Hungarian Habsburg Empire, but when Hugo was a child it was part of the former Czechoslovakia.
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This case study contains materials for:
- Primary Level
- Secondary Level
- Post-16 Level
Denise Affonço
On April 17th 1975, Khmer Rouge forces entered Phnom Penh, Cambodia and defeated the ruling Lon Nol Army. The taking of Phnom Penh marked the beginning of the Cambodian genocide. Between 1975 and 1979 a brutal revolution took place in Cambodia. Led by Pol Pot, a radical communist group – the Khmer Rouge – seized power following a period of instability. They declared the date year zero and ruthlessly imposed an extremist programme to reconstruct Cambodia (Khmer name: Kampuchea). Working from a warped understanding of Maoist communism, they claimed to be returning society to a golden age when the land was cultivated by peasants. They despised city dwellers.
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This case study contains materials for:
- Primary Level
- Secondary Level
- Post-16 Level
Ben Helfgott
Each time Ben Helfgott revisits Piotrkow, a town in Poland 26 miles away from Lodz, where he grew up, he notices how little the physical features of the town have changed even though the community he lived in was cruelly and systematically destroyed. As he walks through familiar streets he carries with him memories of special people – his parents, youngest sister, other members of his extended family and childhood playmates, all murdered by the Nazis. In Piotrkow, he feels especially close to those unjustly robbed of life. Today he works hard to ensure that the Holocaust is never forgotten and its lessons learned.
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This case study contains materials for:
- Primary Level
- Secondary Level
- Post-16 Level
A Mosaic of Victims
The Nazis did not value diversity. Taking a great interest in eugenics and working from the premise of a false science of race, they declared that the “Aryan” people were superior to all other groups. They created an ‘ideal’ image of a German citizen – strong and healthy, fair-skinned, blond haired and blue-eyed. Propaganda films were made to show the model of the ‘perfect’ German male and female.