01 / Evidence
The Evidence Desk
Analyse a real archive photograph, a diary excerpt and a historical law. Separate observation, documented context and unsupported inference.
Open activity ↗Explore · Learn · Reflect
Interactive activities
Source-based activities with immediate feedback, historical context, and space for discussion and written reflection.
02 / Today
Pause Before You Share
Recognise stereotyping, emotional pressure and missing evidence. Choose responsible ways to respond online.
Open activity ↗03 / Choices
Choices Under Pressure
Explore constrained decisions in the Łódź ghetto and examine the roles, pressures and responsibilities of bystanders.
Open case study ↗04 / Stories
A Suitcase, a Photograph, a Name
Investigate documented objects, read children's voices and poetry in context, and connect statistics with individual lives.
Open activity ↗05 / Memory
Memory Detectives
Explore traces of Jewish life, read buildings and memorials as historical sources, and develop a grounded memorial proposal.
Open activity ↗06 / Stories & Memory
Children’s Voices
Explore Pavel Friedmann’s poem “The Butterfly” in the historical context of the Terezín ghetto, then create a clearly labelled contemporary response.
Open activity ↗07 / Comparative Archives
Three Countries, Different Records
Compare archival photographs, site documentation, police records and maps from Poland, Bulgaria and Romania. Evaluate provenance and limits.
Open source lab ↗08 / Teaching resources
Teacher & Student Resource Hub
Ready-to-use 45- and 90-minute lesson plans, an interactive timeline and map, glossary, source-analysis guide and curated archive directory.
Open resource hub ↗09 / Chronology
Holocaust History Timeline
Match historical events to years in an activity created by the project partner in Romania.
Open partner activity ↗10 / Oral histories
Oral Stories · Voices from the archive
Listen to survivors and witnesses. Explore audio testimony, transcripts and podcasts, then investigate what a voice can—and cannot—tell us.
Explore oral stories ↗The handbook framework
Five pathways through Holocaust education
The activities connect historical sources and individual experiences with difficult questions about power, memory, evidence, and responsible civic life.
StoriesIndividual lives and experiences
ChoicesDecisions and responsibility
EvidenceSources and historical thinking
MemoryRemembrance and commemoration
TodayCritical thinking and civic life
Watch · Listen · Explore
History beyond the textbook
Short films, animated personal stories and archival material can open a door into deeper historical inquiry. Every item is linked to its source and context.
Archival photograph · US Holocaust Memorial Museum
A photograph is not the whole story
Start with what an archival image can show—and what it cannot. Read the museum caption before drawing conclusions.
View the original archive record ↗Three Minutes in Poland ↗
Three minutes of film footage from Nasielsk in 1938, showing Jewish life before the German invasion. A powerful starting point for seeing people as individuals, not statistics.
Behind Every Name ↗
Short animated stories, 5–8 minutes each, based on testimony, diaries, letters and photographs held by the museum.
Daniel’s Story ↗
A 10-minute animated educational film about a fictional Jewish boy in Nazi Germany, representing experiences documented in many real stories.
For educators
Use the activities as a starting point for discussion.
Each activity is designed to take approximately 8–12 minutes individually, or 12–15 minutes in pairs. Follow it with a classroom conversation that invites questions, careful reasoning and respectful listening.
Before the lesson
- Review the activity and its learning objectives.
- Set expectations for respectful discussion.
- Make space for students to ask questions or pause.
- When using real historical documents, verify their provenance and context.
Important: The interactive activities use clearly labelled summaries based on USHMM historical resources. They link to the original context and do not present adapted summaries as verbatim quotations. Contemporary information-literacy scenarios are not presented as equivalent to the Holocaust.