Rescue and Liberation Discussion Questions
- View the movie Schindler's list and describe his acts of heroism.
- If you were in danger of being killed for your actions, would you help others escape Nazi persecution?
- Discuss the collective German conscience after World War II. There is a bulk of literature dealing with coming to terms with Germans and Germany "working through" what happened during the War and the Holocaust. How would you suggest coming to terms with the crimes commited by your country? Who is responsible? How long (by how many generations) in your opinion should responsibility be carried?
- Discuss the irony in Raoul Wallenberg's life story and mysterious disappearance.
- What role did Nazi resistance fighters play in aiding victims of persecution?
- What evidence of crimes against humanity did Allied forces discover when they first entered the concentration camps?
- What widely differing reactions to freedom did liberators encounter among the survivors in the crucial days that followed liberation?
- From personal stories of liberators and survivors, what can be learned about the importance of (a) human action, (b) human rights, and (c) the human spirit?
- Many Jewish children were sent to England during World War II to be kept safe. Research the Kindertransport and use evidence to explain if the program was, in your opinion, a good solution to the problem.
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