Structure Of The Project Folder

Each of the eight building blocks takes one of the human rights as a motto; this can be included in the teaching unit to a greater or lesser extent. The principal aim, however, is to draw out the significance of the struggle for human dignity. 

The main themes and objectives of the building blocks are as follows: 

Building block 1: Living (surviving) in the concentration camp – the message of the smuggled papers:

Worksheets and listening examples are designed to create approaches to the smuggled hoard both as history and in the present. First the pupils should come up with and express their own definition of human dignity; after this the degrading situation of concentration camp prisoners, who were deprived of all rights, should be analysed and possible means of self-assertion in hopeless situations explored.

Building block 2: The concentration camp and human dignity – listening to a survivor:

The focus here is on interaction with excerpts from an interview with the Slovakian Ravensbrück survivor Peter Havaš, held in the men’s part of the concentration camp as a child. The aim of this building block is to gain awareness of the abuse of human dignity on the one hand, and the right to personal identity on the other. Moreover, considering the human dignity of the camp survivors provides ways of reflecting on the problems of concentration camps and human dignity. 

Building block 3: Degradation and brutal treatment – close reading of poetry:

Taking as an example the analysis of two poems written in the Ravensbrück concentration camp, which form part of the stash of documents, we can convey the opportunities and limits of language in the face of brutality and degradation. The goal is to recognise where there can be a connection between human dignity, human rights and poetic, artistic, musical language. A further objective, relevant to our modern living environment, is to consider the effect of degradation and brutal treatment on the power of speech.

Building block 4: Calling on God - an exhibition on the "Final Moments" cycle of poems:

Nine poems from the smuggled papers imagine the various phases a person waiting for execution might go through. The aim here is to present them in an exhibition. 

Collages in words and pictures can be used to work through the extreme human rights abuses of the concentration camp, and also the opportunities for self-assertion and self-expression in a hopeless situation. Cognitive and emotional engagement with the subject of death sits alongside a creative treatment of the historic documents and poetic witnesses to a worthy act of remembrance for a human being. 

Building block 5: Art as a strategy for remembrance – creating a monument in film: 

The aims of this building block are similar to those of number 4, but here the focus is on the few biographical traces we have of the Polish women and girls who became victims of shootings and medical experiments. It will show the opportunities available through producing a simple video clip, using photos, documents, the pupils’ own words and music, to create a memorial to these human lives.

The creative process will also enable the pupils to work through their own thoughts and feelings on the subject of imprisonment.

Building block 6: Polish women – Work on prejudices:

Here explicit historic and current documents will be placed side by side: Nazi anti-Polish propaganda and a poster for the far-right National Democratic Party with the slogan “Stop the Polish Invasion”. The subjects of slave labour and the Nazi image of humanity are approached by way of prejudices and stereotypes against other nationalities. There is also space to analyse various perspectives on degradation and exclusion, then and now.

Building block 7: Longing for revenge – a radio broadcast:

The central focus here is on a revenge poem, written in Auschwitz and brought to Ravensbrück, where it took on the status of an anthem among many of the Polish women. This historic witness can be used, together with the evidence of the survivors, to work on the realisation that while hate and a need for revenge existed among the concentration camp inmates, and could be essential for survival, these feelings are not viable in the long-term. The students will encounter the desire for revenge in our everyday environment too, and this can lead to a discussion of how these can be handled and the difference between the legal punishment of crime and automatic acts of revenge.

Building block 8: Called to account – the camp doctors on trial:

The documentation of forced operations carried out on Polish women and girls was central to the smuggled papers, and these were deliberately made the subject of legal action after the war. The aim here is to encourage attention to and description of these crimes from the outset; this should be combined with an analysis and assessment of the perspectives of the court, the perpetrators and victims. This is designed on the one hand to prevent a voyeuristic focus on the facts, and on the other, to have a cathartic effect when such an extreme form of human rights violation is dealt with by a court – after all, this is in keeping with the historical events. Information on the Nuremberg Doctors’ Trial of 1946/47 is provided with the aim of simulating a court hearing. Groups of pupils should study the perspectives of the perpetrators and victims, requiring a critical engagement with the documents. This should also bring out the difficulties of punishing “crimes against humanity”.

As a cross block an entry game was developed : 36 images and corresponding text panels on " Memory, Art & Human Dignity" 

The suggested sequence is suitable for interdisciplinary lessons, for project days or a project week, as well as for smaller teaching units over one or two double periods.