A Journey into the Holocaust, a documentary that attempts to answer why the Holocaust and other genocides happened and why they will continue to happen, has been accepted as an approved program to teach the Holocaust to New Jersey students. “We have approved and are recommending that teachers use this excellent film and Teacher’s Guide to help meet the state’s Holocaust education mandate,” expressed New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education Executive Director D. Paul Winkler.

The Commission on Holocaust Education will distribute one DVD to every public, private, charter, parochial, vocational, and special education middle school and high school in New Jersey. Teachers can then reserve the DVD for use in their classroom for the five days over which the film will be played.

The Teacher’s Guide divides the film into five class periods. The guide starts out with general background on the subject, teaching objectives, some definitions, and timelines. Each classroom day is then broken up into several parts as follows:

1. Objectives for the day (for teacher reference only)

2. Vocabulary words for the day (10 minutes of class time per day)

3. Watch several consecutive scenes of the film (12 to 22 minutes of class time per day)

4. Short summary of each scene (for teacher reference only)

5. Discussion questions and answers (the balance of each class period generally 20 to 25 minutes of class time per day)

“This is a film with a purpose,” noted filmmaker Paul S. Bachow. “We’ve relied on Holocaust survivors for years to educate us about the Holocaust. The film will not only enhance those efforts but it will memorialize their stories. The film will also sound the siren to hopefully prevent future genocides. By raising the awareness of the warning signs, hopefully we’ll be able to reduce their future occurrence.”

(The world post-Holocaust has experienced 90 genocides or mass atrocities, resulting in the deaths of up to 55 million people.)

A Journey into the Holocaust includes footage and images, much of which have not been seen widely or at all, and the stories of 14 Holocaust survivors. Many had never been on camera. The film’s trailer can be seen at http://www.ajourneyintotheholocaust.com.

Bachow’s goal for the film is that it be used as an educational tool. “This film has been designed for high school and college students across the country. Adults also usually know very little or nothing about the Holocaust and even less about why it happened.”

In addition to the Teacher’s Guide, the film’s website contains articles, documents, videos, blogs, and images that relate to the Holocaust and prior and current genocides. This wide array of materials is available as an educational resource to anyone interested in studying genocide. Registration is free and will generate an occasional email as additional items or information are added to the website.

Educators can also register and have access to a portion of the site only available to teachers. Here teachers can blog about what teaching ideas they feel work best or do not work well. They can also share collateral materials like images, timelines, maps, articles, and documents.

To receive the Teacher’s Guide and a personal screening license to show the film in his or her classroom, a New Jersey teacher must register on the website as an educator. The screening license protects teachers from copyright and use-agreement liability in their classrooms.

Visit http://www.ajourneyintotheholocaust.com/ for more information and to register.