Educator Resources

Juxtaposition and Ghettos

  1. Objectives and purpose: The student will be able to juxtapose Jewish ghettos with modern ghettos and analyze how the word "ghetto" has changed throughout the years.
  2. Bell Ringer: What is a ghetto? Do you think it is a nice place to live, or do you think people want to get away from the ghetto? Is it hard to get away from a ghetto? Why or why not? Do you think the modern ghetto is glorified? By whom is it glorified and why?
  3. Modeling: (Lecture based introduction to juxtapose) Give students the following definition of juxtaposition: the act or an instance of placing two or more things side by side..You may summarize or paraphrase the definition if you'd like. I typically give the students this definition along with examples and then summarize the definition in more familiar terms. Also, this lesson would work very well with ACTAAP Venn Diagram practice.

    Give students the following definition of ghetto (source: www.dictionary.com): 1. a section of a city, esp. a thickly populated slum area, inhabited predominantly by members of an ethnic or other minority group, often as a result of social or economic restrictions, pressures, or hardships; 2. (formerly, in most European countries) a section of a city in which all Jews were required to live; 3. a section predominantly inhabited by Jews; 4. any mode of living, working, etc., that results from stereotyping or biased treatment: job ghettos for women; ghettos for the elderly.
  4. Checking for Understanding: Ask students what modern day ghettos look like. Do they have fences? Primarily, who lives in ghettos? How do people feel about the ghetto? Then, have students watch this testimony taken from Echoes and Reflections and answer the following questions:

      Leo Berkenwald

    1. What does affluent mean?
    2. Where were the affluent Jews sent?
    3. How many people could live comfortably in Leo’s house? How many people actually lived there?

      4. Milton Belfer

    4. Did many people die trying to escape the ghetto? How did the Nazi's keep people in the ghetto?

      5. George Shainfarber

    5. How did George's mother ensure everyone got equal amounts of food?
    6. What was the main food staple?
    7. How did George's mother make pancakes and why?
    8. How often did George work?
    9. Why did his family "cut up" furniture?

      10. Eva Safferman

    10. When Jewish children were no longer allowed to go to school, what did they do?
    11. Where were 2 places Eva worked and what did she do?
    12. How did Eva's name get taken off the list of people to be moved?
    13. When her name was put on the list again, how did she hide? How did her mother bribe the police?

      14. Joseph Morton

    14. Who was allowed to use the street cars and how did the German's make sure these were the only people using them.
    15. Can you relate to being closed in?
    16. When streets were closed, what happened to the people that lived on those streets? Where do you think they were taken?

      17. Ellis Lewin

    17. Why does Ellis Lewin say the ghettos were "the beginning of the end" of existence as he knew it?
    18. What were the ghettos like?
    19. Where did Ellis and his friends play?
    20. Why does Ellis say the people in the ghettos only planned as far as the next day? Do you plan for the future? Why or why not?
    21. Do you think Ellis was in a constant state of fear? What does this do to a person's morale?
    22. Why did the Nazi's want things to change quickly rather than gradually?
    23. According to Ellis, why did many young people survive the ghetto? Why is this significant?
  5. Practice: Ask students do a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting Jewish ghettos and modern ghettos. Then, have students discuss the similarities and differences. Also, students could do outside research and turn this into a research project, which works really well.