Resources for the Classroom
Resources for the Classroom
RE:COLLECTION
FEATURED MEMOIRS
Pinchas Eliyahu Blitt A Promise of Sweet Tea* • Born in Poland in 1931 or 1932 • Arrived in Canada in 1948; lives in Montreal, QC
16+
Re:Collection is an educational tool for explor- ing the history of the Holocaust through first- hand accounts of survivors. This innovative digital resource combines video interviews with memoir excerpts, photos and artifacts, and features interactive timelines and maps to place survivors’ stories in historical and geo- graphic context.
Use Re:Collection in your classroom to help students understand the experiences of indi- vidual survivors and learn about important themes in the history of the Holocaust. There are no graphic images on Re:Collection, and the content is appropriate for all students mature enough to study the Holocaust.
Young Pinchas grows up in a vibrant village in western Ukraine, his life steeped in Yiddish culture, folklore and ancient customs in a close-knit community. When the Nazis begin murdering his people and destroying his beloved village, Pinchas and his family escape to the forests of Eastern Europe. Pinchas’s vivid, wry and humorous writing bring his village back to life. Sonia Caplan Sonia brings us back to her childhood home of Tarnów, Poland, in this evocative, literary memoir of a family’s escape from Poland. Seventeen when the war breaks out, Sonia paints an engaging portrait of her town — the diverse youth movements and levels of observance, acculturation and education — and her close ties of friendships with an idealistic, eclectic group on the brink of adulthood. Ibolya Grossman Stronger Together • Born in Hungary in 1916 • Arrived in Canada in 1957; lived in Winnipeg, MB, and Toronto, ON Passport to Reprieve* • Born in Poland in 1922 • Arrived in Canada in 1945; lived in Montreal, QC In the city of Pécs, Hungary, Ibolya grows up in a blended family with four sisters, learning how it feels to live in poverty. When she moves to Budapest, marries and has a child, her perspective changes — she is young and optimistic — until her husband is sent away for forced labour four months after their child is born. 14+ 16+
Access Re:Collection online through the Education section of our website.
FEATURED THEME: PRE-WAR DAILY LIFE
and customs. Despite the variation across and within Jewish communities in Europe, there were many commonalities among European Jews who shared religious and linguistic history, cultural traditions and family bonds. Some of the most important aspects of survivors’ accounts are their memories of life before the war. To begin to understand all that was lost during the Holocaust, it is essen- tial to know how Jews lived before their lives were disrupted by war and genocide.
Jewish life in pre-war Europe varied greatly in terms of religious practice, socioecono- mic status, family size and level of accultu- ration into European society. Some Jews lived as minorities in cities and others lived in shtetls – small market towns with large Jewish populations. Many Jews, especially in Eastern Europe, were observant and orga- nized their daily lives around Judaism, while others were secular and defined themselves as Jews based on shared history, ancestry
* Contains graphic violence
If you are interested in pre-war life, you might also like these memoirs:
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