Students - Ideas For Study

Paper topic ideas

  • Women in the Holocaust (examine why women were targeted more rigorously than men in the Holocaust and the camps—can you connect that to other more modern incidents of genocide? (an interesting text for this research includes: Different Voices: Women and the Holocaust, by John Roth and Carol Rittner)
  • Feminism in the Holocaust (this period in history was largely patriarchal, but women played an important part in both resistance movements and survival—interesting texts for this research include: A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France by Caroline Moorehead; A Life in Secrets: Vera Atkins and the Missing Agents of WWII by Sarah Helm
  • Genocide in America (Examine America’s (or your country’s) own action against indigenous peoples and connect it to what we can learn from Holocaust studies; perhaps suggest ways we can change our actions towards indigenous peoples.)
  • Slavery and the Holocaust (examine the African slave trade in America and the devastating results of slavery on identity.)
  • Why Me? Bullying and the Holocaust (examine historical bullying and connect it to incidents today. Who are those being bullied today? Are there governments of political parties bullying some people?)

Project ideas

  • Interview people about what they think about the Holocaust and any of the topics listed above—or come up with your own! (Use a digital recorder and edit it for a radio piece or write it up like a newspaper article).
  • Create a work of art inspired by your insights into the Holocaust or a specific section of text from your school readings. Write an artist’s statement, explaining why you used the materials you used, the style you used (figurative, abstract…), if you used a section of text include it with your piece and connect the elements of your work to the text.
  • Create a piece of music inspired by your insights into the Holocaust or a specific section of text from your school readings. Write an artist’s statement explaining why you used the sounds or instruments you used, the style (rap, punk, mood), if you used a specific section of text include it with your piece and connect the elements (or lyrics) in your work to the text.
  • Create Performance Art – using any number of possible combinations from the arts—visual, sound, drama, dance, film or video and create a work inspired by your insights into the Holocaust or a specific section of text from your school readings. Write an artist’s statement explaining why you used the elements you used and connect your piece to the elements in the text.