Unit 3 True Stories of Nazi Germany
Teaching Goals
On completion of this unit, teachers are expected to have enabled students to:
1. build up an active vocabulary to talk about the horrific experiences of Jews in World War II;
2. discuss people’s kindness in the darkest time;
3. understand that the root of anti-Semitism lies in religious, financial and political prejudices;
4. adopt a historical and critical perspective on racial discrimination;
5. interpret one of core values of socialism: kindness.
PART ONE: Read the Culture Notes that follow the Text on page 58 and watch a short video clip about this background information. Then, listen to it attentively twice and complete the following paragraph(P55) according to what you have heard.
(Additional cultural notes)
Anti-Semitism
St. John's University
PART TWO:
Watch the video clip and discuss the following questions with your classmates.
1.What was written on the gate of the model concentration camp?
2.Who were the first prisoners in the concentration camp?
3.What did the SS do to the prisoners?
4.How were Jews depicted by the Nazis?
5.What was taught to German school children?
Task 1 Please collect quotes about kindness in English and Chinese. And you will be asked to share them in class.
Task 2 Please watch the following video clip “Jews in Shanghai- A Home away from Home ”. Share parts of the video that reflect kindness with your classmate.
Task 3 Your are supposed to answer the following two questions, according to the news feature you have read: “ ‘China will get through it’: an American’s faith in victory over epidemic”.
Q1: Why did he decided to came to Lanzhou City amid the coronavirus pandemic and donate many medical protective materials to the First Hospital of LZU?
Q2: Suppose that you are Anthony Que, what would you do?
Task 4 Read the passage and do the task below.Work in groups and discuss the following question: What kind of character do you see in the brief description of the diplomat?
Ho Fengshan: The “Chinese Schindler” Who Saved Thousands of Jews
Wayne Chang
When Ho Fengshan (何凤山) died at the age of 96 in 1997, he took a secret to his grave. The only clue was a single sentence in his obituary (讣告).
Throughout his long life, Ho never mentioned his heroic deeds during World War II — not to his wife, his children or friends.
During 1938 to 1940, Ho, the consul general (总领事) of the then Chinese Nationalist government’s consulate (领事馆) in Vienna, saved perhaps tens of thousands of Jews from the Holocaust with just his pen.
When Jews desperately sought visas to escape from Nazi-
occupied Austria, he issued thousands — regardless of his superior’s orders.
The exact number of entry papers Ho issued — and the number of lives saved — may never be known, as too many have already been lost to time. But based on the serial number of one visa nearing 4,000, the best estimate is that thousands of visas were issued.
Ho is often hailed as “the Chinese Schindler,” in honor of the industrialist Oskar Schindler who saved 1,100 Jews by employing them in his factory located in Poland.
While other countries refused to issue visas in fear of aggravating (激怒) the Nazi government, Ho was probably the first diplomat to really take action to save the Jews.
“That is the kind of person he was — very principled, straightforward, and has integrity,” says Manli Ho (何曼礼), daughter of the late diplomat, who has been researching her father’s story for some ten Years.
