The “Final Solution” - Jewish Life on the Brink of Death

This Educator Video Toolbox is aligned to Echoes and Reflections echoesandreflec..., a comprehensive Holocaust education program that delivers professional development and a rich array of multimedia resources for middle and high school teachers. This video complements Lesson 5: The “Final Solution” echoesandreflec.... It addresses key historical context, supports your teaching, and provides a methodological and pedagogical framework to help you teach this subject effectively. Professional development programs for middle and high school educators are taking place around the country; you can find one near you here echoesandreflec....
This video addresses the complexities of teaching about the Final Solution. Some six million Jews were murdered in the systematic mass murder of the Jews of Europe that was defined by the Germans as the "Final Solution" of what they termed the "Jewish Question." The video focuses on the stories of individual Jewish victims, allowing us to address the Final Solution through a human lens rather than through dry statistics, and to present a multidisciplinary approach to this difficult subject of the struggle for life in the shadow of death during one of humanity's darkest chapters.
 Part 1: Introduction
 Part 2: Arrival at the Camp
 Part 3: Life in the Shadow of Death
SPEAKERS
Dr. Robert Rozett is Director of the Yad Vashem Libraries, as well as an author, researcher and senior editor on Holocaust-related subjects.
Shani Lourie is a staff member at the International School for Holocaust Studies, Yad Vashem.
Shlomit Steiner is a staff member at the International School for Holocaust Studies, Yad Vashem.
For additional information about Echoes and Reflections visit echoesandreflec...
Archival footage and photographs:
- Yad Vashem The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority:
Yad Vashem Archives
The Yad Vashem Visual Center
Yad Vashem Art Museum Collection
Yad Vashem Museum Collecion.
Internet Department, Commemoration and Public Relations Division, Yad Vashem
Gathering the Fragments - A National Campaign to Rescue Personal Items from the Holocaust Period
- Steven Spielberg Film and Video Archive, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
- Agentur Karl Höffkes
- Bundesfilmarchiv/Transit Film GmbH.
- Shlomo Breznitz - private collection.
- Amichai.Braverman -private collection.
- The testimony of holocaust survivor Ellis Lewin is taken from USC Shoa Foundation - The Institute for Visual History and Education. For more information, sfi.usc.edu/
ArtWorks:
Zinovii Tolkatchev (1903-1977)
Silence, Auschwitz Concentration Camp, 1945
Pencil on paper
29.3x21 cm
Collection of the Yad Vashem Art Museum, Jerusalem
Gift of Anel Tolkacheva and Ilya Tolkachev, Kiev
Zinovii Tolkatchev (1903-1977)
Appell, Majdanek concentration camp, 1944
Gouache, charcoal and crayon on paper
63.9x43.8 cm
Collection of the Yad Vashem Art Museum, Jerusalem
Gift of Sigmund A. Rolat of New York in loving memory of his parents Henryk and
Mania, who perished in the Holocaust
Zinovii Tolkatchev (1903-1977)
Winter, Majdanek concentration camp, 1944
Charcoal and crayon on paper
62.1x47.8 cm
Collection of the Yad Vashem Art Museum, Jerusalem
Gift of Sigmund A. Rolat of New York in loving memory of his parents Henryk and
Mania who perished in the Holocaust.
Zinovii Tolkatchev (1903-1977)
Prisoners' Bunks , Auschwitz Concentration Camp, 1945
Pencil on paper
29.7x20.6 cm
Collection of the Yad Vashem Art Museum, Jerusalem
Gift of Anel Tolkacheva and Ilya Tolkachev, Kiev
Material and quotes from:
Roman Frister ,The Cap or The price of Life, Weidenfeld and Nicolson,1999 pp. 324-325
Tzila Lieberman, Tzelinka,Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, p. 78.[Hebrew]
Every effort has been made to locate the copyright holders to obtain the appropriate permissions and apply the correct attributions. If you have any information that would help us in relation to copyright, please contact us at [e-mail].

[@leahhersko7940]

My Father passed away last week. He was a Holocaust Survivor Yehuda Menashe Ben Avraham. May All there Neshamas Have An Aliya. The World Must Never Forgot.

[@benscoles5085]

the Man talking at the end , brought me to tears, he does not show hate, but one of strength, , we have a message to tell, make this a better world. .inspiring.

[@tammyburgess6154]

My grandfather fought in WWII and made a point to educate his grandchildren about the horrors the Jewish people went through. We were taught from a young age that the Jewish people were Gods chosen people and we were not to go to bed at night without saying a prayer of blessing for Gods people and the Israeli nation. I am now 49 and since I live in the deep south I have never had the opportunity to meet a Jewish person. However when my sister was 20 she had such a love for the Jewish people she packed all that she owned and bought a one way ticket to Israel. She spent 25 years there where she volunteered and built a school. She died there at the age of 45 due to colon cancer. The family wanted her to come home to die and be buried in America. She said no, Israel was her home and she would die and be buried there. Gods people you are loved and may the nations of the world protect and shower blessings upon you always. You are in my prayers each night.

[@darrene4666]

i can't believe that there are people who believe this tragedy didn't happen. Be kind to everyone.

[@e.dbogan6266]

Thank you for presenting this. I am very sorry for the horror your people went through.

[@tcareccia]

This was not long ago! Makes me weep, my heart aches for these people. I saw Elie Wiesel speak, amazing. I'll never forget one of the most chilling lines in his book Night, "The soup tasted of corpses that night."

[@janewinkles8859]

HOW CRUEL how callous... innocence wiped from this earth .. we will never know the pain the fear of that last journey these men women and children travelled we can only imagine we will never feel those moments as it is not our journey Our journey is to remember each and everyone and never forget that mankind can be so cruel , yet mankind can and should always hold out a hand in friendship, peace and love. Mayall who perished in those camps be at peace , for them their journey is over ours is the here and now, let history Not repeat itself God Bless

[@VQ1whales]

We can not let this happened ever again. Never! I will not ever forget those who fought in ww2... Never ever.

[@lorenzoduran7803]

The images of mother’s carrying babies and toddlers crushes my heart💔💔😔💔💔so badly. I’m so sorry.

[@petroshingalana8556]

O MY GOD...HOW COULD THIS EVER HAPPENED, EVERY PROGRAM I WATCHED I CRY!! THANK YOU FOR SHOWING THIS HORROR OF TRUTH....HOW DO THE GERMANS STILL SHOW THEMSELVES TO THE WORLD.

[@AlwaysBelieve777]

The saddest part of this tragedy is that people have forgotten and that hatred of the Jewish people runs rampant. Boycott any company that supports the BDS movement (including Airbnb) and support companies they target. Don't just feel bad for the Jewish people, speak up and support them!

[@RamSadeh]

Heart breaking and yet so movingly inspiring

[@JohnWilliams-iw6oq]

We must never forget this tragedy, how people can do these things to others is beyond me. Let's also remember the atrocities of the Communists. It's all insanity on a massive scale.

[@hcklberypinkbrownies2072]

No one will forget.

[@TarunKumar-uo5gn]

Shocking brutality deserving the highest condemnation

[@curbstomp3126]

My grandfather helped liberated a camp as a American soldier. He told me they were labor camps and everyone in Germany was starving to death. He said once the rail system was destroyed it was just a matter of time for Germany to starve.

[@theresavasquez6689]

These people are just like us they deserve a place of peace they earned it . I learn so much from them I work with them they have a awesome sense if humour they speak up their mind

[@dianadee3540]

Unimaginable Grief and Pain!

[@elizabethfifield7259]

may God grant them eternal rest.

[@Mosinkhan007]

Human being should be human, irrespective of religion. People of other religions should be treated in a human way.

[@carloshugogeib7961]

That's why I'm so afraid of those messianic leaders, the end is always the same, sorrow, suffering and death. the world today is crowded of them.

[@johnsakowicz6723]

Amidah: This was the prayer of Jewish Resistance during the Holocaust. The Amidah (Hebrew: תפילת העמידה‎, Tefilat HaAmidah, "The Standing Prayer"), also called the Shmoneh Esreh (שמנה עשרה‎, "The Eighteen", in reference to the original number of constituent blessings: there are now nineteen), is the central prayer of the Jewish liturgy.

[@gavma3710]

I look at this moment of human history Jew's suffered and died for no reason but pure cruelty this cruelty should never be able to happen again and people should never be silent seeing such cruelty to people of any culture or group

[@zwijntje3010]

NEVER FORGET !!! NEVER AGAIN !!! 😥😥💔✡🇮🇱😭🙏

[@debrapodjaske8387]

How Horrific! To see what evil can do! Thesis poor people went though breaks my heart. I have missing family in Germany, trying to find them is so hard, To see the images and wondering is this my grandpa or grandma, I cry for them praying to God please let all Rest In Peace 🙏 any help or information how to find lost family would be appreciated 🙏 I think I have tried everything... maybe I missed something?

[@Oursaibaba]

Never Again

[@user-tt5li8hf2f]

A very true event. Never again.

[@sudhindrabukkebag7502]

What is the meaning Yad Vashem? Even the Russian inmate reading the book in this documentry has those two words .

[@msantos6529]

this is shocking like be human beings have some decency

[@carolynmezias9433]

Well done. Thank you.

[@carolynmezias9433]

Bloodline. I know. God bless you

[@martinemjt]

perhaps i am silly for asking this. the nazis where big on science,where they atheists?

[@ceciliatrivinovera8294]

So sorry😭😭😭💔💔

[@malibustacy3606]

Still believe in God ?

[@MichaelCollins-iu4mm]

אזוי טרויעריג Edit: So Sad

[@bulmachan1438]

This world is so fucked up