Echoes and Reflections Today
Welcome to Echoes and Reflections Today, a quarterly e-newsletter to keep educators informed about new materials and new ideas for use with Echoes and Reflections.
Using Music to Teach about the Holocaust
Music that was written and performed in Jewish communities, ghettos, camps, and by partisan groups served as a tool to inspire hope, preserve traditions, resist Nazi authority, and undermine efforts to dehumanize Jews as they confronted intolerable circumstances and conditions.- Lesson 2: Antisemitism and Lesson 3: Nazi Germany
Introduce students to music written and performed in response to anti-Jewish legislation and violence against individuals and communities. Mordkhay Gebirtig wrote the song Es brent (Fire) in response to violence in the Polish town of Przytyk. He calls upon Jews to stand up against oppression. - Lesson 4: The Ghettos
Music was one of the many ways that Jews documented life in the ghettos. Geto Lebn (Ghetto Life), written in the Kovno ghetto, describes the overcrowding, hunger, cold, and fear in the ghetto. Friling (Spring) was written for a Vilna ghetto theater production and represents the cultural and communal life that existed in some ghettos. - Lesson 6: Jewish Resistance
In her testimony, Mira Shelub talks about her involvement with resistance groups. Partisaner Hymn (Hymn of the Partisans) was sung by resistance fighters, and spread to labor camps and concentration camps. This song encourages and praises heroism and uprising and is a testimony to Jewish suffering and sacrifice. - Lesson 8: Survivors and Liberators
Some survivors used music to share their feelings following liberation. Khalutsim lid (Pioneers' Song) was written after liberation and is an upbeat song that proclaims victory over the Nazis and the desire for a Jewish state.
Share your ideas for using music to teach about the Holocaust with other educators on Facebook.
 Sheet music from the song, Baym Geto Toyerl At the Ghetto's Gate |
 Lodz, Poland. A conductor and children's choir during a performance in the ghetto |
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Echoes and Reflections is a joint project of ADL, the USC Shoah Foundation Institute, and Yad Vashem.
