The Learning Platform for Holocaust Education and Antisemitism was designed to support educators who are learning and teaching about the Holocaust. On this platform, you will deepen your knowledge about essential topics and access classroom-ready materials and sample lesson plans. You will also learn about teaching approaches and explore new Canadian resources. This platform is organized into “modules,” each exploring a key topic, teaching approach, or new resource. Whether you are an experienced Holocaust educator looking for new lesson ideas or a teacher new to Holocaust education, we have resources to support you.

“The Holocaust was the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million European Jews by the Nazi German regime and its allies and collaborators. The Holocaust was an evolving process that took place throughout Europe between 1933 and 1945.”

– United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Countless students and educators have discovered that studying and teaching the Holocaust can be a transformative learning experience. Such study necessitates delving into the behaviour of individuals and how they acted and reacted during one of the darkest periods in the history of humanity. For many, understanding the range of human behaviour represented by the categories of Victim, Bystander, Perpetrator, and Rescuer makes the Holocaust a story for all of humanity.

The complex issues that accompany a study of the Holocaust encourage students to think critically about important issues and values not only within the historical context of the Holocaust but also in contemporary society. The Holocaust aptly demonstrates the fragile nature of democratic institutions, inclusion, and even citizenship. It challenges students to develop their participation in our democratic institutions. The legacy of the Holocaust is the call to foster a caring and responsible society that respects its citizens.

The study of the Holocaust allows numerous entry points for learning across multiple disciplines. Students and teachers of History, World Religions, Writer’s Craft, Language Arts, English Language Development, and Civics and Social Responsibility are just some of the areas of study that have successfully incorporated the Holocaust into their learning activities. Studying the Holocaust is about studying people, real-life individuals caught up in the destructive whirlwind of Nazi aggression. This human element and the poignancy of the individual narrative compels one to study and to remember so that “Never Again” becomes a reality.

We have several goals for this Learning Platform that include supporting educators to:

Access pre and post-visit materials to contextualize and extend a visit to the Toronto Holocaust Museum for students in Grades 6-12.

Engage students in historical and critical thinking using various primary source materials, including photographs, artefacts, first-person testimony for learning about the Holocaust.

Explore with students the decision-making process of individuals and factors that guide these decisions with respect to victims, perpetrators, collaborators, and bystanders.

Examine with students the impact of the Holocaust on survivors, on Canadian society, and the commitment of Canadians to combat hate in all forms.

Understand how online hate is being dispersed through social media platforms and hone effective teaching strategies for countering online hate and antisemitism.

Recognize how to counter Holocaust distortion, minimization, and contemporary manifestations of antisemitism in their classrooms.

  • Historical Inquiry

    Students will use the social studies and historical inquiry process and the concepts of historical thinking when investigating aspects of history, with a focus on the development of identity and culture.

  • Reading

    Students will learn to read with understanding, to read critically, to become familiar with various text forms and their characteristic elements, and to recognize the function and effects of various text features and stylistic devices.

  • Writing

    Students will generate, gather, and organize ideas and information to write for an intended purpose and audience, using a variety of informational, literary, and graphic forms and stylistic elements.

  • Critical Thinking

    Students will develop the ability to address complex, real world problems by acquiring and analyzing information in order to take informed action.

  • Media Literacy

    Students will develop the skills required to identify media forms and to understand, create, and critically interpret a variety of media texts.

  • Global Citizenship

    Students will develop the ability to understand local and global perspectives and appreciate the diversity of people in order to address issues through an ethos of engaged citizenship.