Words have power. In the Holocaust, words were used to legislate hatred, to incite violence, to justify silence, and to record complicity. They also voiced courage, defiance, and even hope. This one-credit class offers you the opportunity to create a public exhibit of original documents – letters from Himmler, Einstein, and prisoners in Auschwitz, pieces of propaganda, and even a menu – that tell a story not only of how the Jewish people of Europe were marginalized and murdered but also of resistance, resilience, and memory.  

Each document in this exhibit will serve as a silent witness to the lives affected, the voices silenced, and the humanity both lost and preserved. Choosing from among letters held in a private collection or at NMMHI, you will draw on these artifacts to confront visitors with a painful truth: genocide is not only carried out with weapons, but also with ink, stamps, and signatures.  

Saul Friedlander, Nazi Germany and the Jews OR 

Doris Bergen, War and Genocide  (choose one)

Waxman, Women and the Holocaust

Oren B. Stier, "Torah and Taboo: Containing Jewish Relics and Jewish Identity at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.”  Source: Numen , 2010, Vol. 57, No. 3/4, Relics in Comparative Perspective (2010), pp. 505-536 Published by: Brill Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20789598 

Document exhibit: As a group, our class will create an exhibit of historic documents that will be displayed in April. Components of this project include