Video

Rena Finder's Message to Young People

Rena Finder, a Holocaust survivor rescued by Oskar Schindler, offers a message to young people about their power to make the world a better place.

Last Updated: November 1, 2018

Video

Language

English — US

Subject

History

The Holocaust

Why do you want kids to make a bridge?

Well, I try to empower them. I try to tell them that they can change by being kind, that they can make their life easier, by themselves. If they get rid of a hate for somebody who is not the same color or doesn't believe in the same God.

I say those are private things. And just because somebody doesn't believe in the same God or somebody is a different color, it's still the same human being as you are. And if you want to have a better world for yourself or for your children, then it's up to you.

There is a lot of things people can do to make life better, if they only understood that they have the power to make things better.

Credit:

Facing History & Ourselves

Facing History & Ourselves, “Rena Finder's Message to Young People,” video, last updated November 11, 2018.

Unit

Explore the motives, pressures, and fears that shaped Americans’ responses to Nazism and the humanitarian refugee crisis it provoked during the 1930s and 1940s.

A crowd of American men and women hold signs protesting Nazi Germany's actions.

Lesson

Students examine the steps the Nazis took to replace democracy with dictatorship and draw conclusions about the values and institutions that make democracy possible.

Germans look on as the Reichstag building burns on February 27, 1933.

Chapter

Investigate how World War I heightened divisions between “we” and “they” among people and nations and left behind fertile ground for Nazi Germany in the following decades.

Painting title Gassed by John Singer Sargent. Shows World War I soldiers with bandaged eyes being led by other soldiers. Many dead and injured soldiers laying at the base of the painting.

Lesson

Students consider the choices and reasoning of individual Germans who stayed quiet or spoke up during the first few years of Nazi rule.

German military recruits swear allegiance to Adolf Hitler.

Lesson

Students analyze images and film that convey the richness of Jewish life across Europe at the time of the Nazis’ ascension to power.

Shabbtai (Shepske) Sonenson takes one of the shtetl's Hebrew teachers for a ride on his new motorcycle.

Lesson

Students identify the social and cultural factors that help shape our identities by analyzing firsthand reflections and creating personal identity charts.

Hands raised in the air by group of people

Chapter

Explore the efforts to build a democracy in Germany in the 1920s, and examine the misunderstandings, myths, and fears that often undercut those efforts.

In addition to his depictions of World War I, Otto Dix was also known for his ruthless criticism of German society during the Weimar years.

Lesson

Students are introduced to the enormity of the crimes committed during the Holocaust and look closely at stories of a few individuals who were targeted by Nazi brutality.

A crowd of women and children, some with Stars of David patches on their clothing.

Lesson

Students both respond to and design Holocaust memorials as they consider the impact that memorials and monuments have on the way we think about history.

In Kassel, Germany, artist Horst Hoheisel created a “counter-memorial” marking the site where a majestic fountain built by a Jewish citizen once stood; it had been destroyed by Nazis in 1939.

Lesson

Students develop a contract establishing a reflective classroom community in preparation for their exploration of this unit's historical case study.

Lesson

Students deepen their examination of human behavior during the Holocaust by analyzing and discussing the range of choices available to individuals, groups, and nations.

Hans Scholl, Sophie Scholl, and Christoph Probst in June 1942.

Chapter

Consider the factors that made it possible for the Nazis to transform Germany into a dictatorship during their first year in power.

The Parade of the Political Administrators in Nuremberg, Germany.

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Using the strategies from Facing History is almost like an awakening.

— Claudia Bautista, Santa Monica, Calif

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Rena Finder's Message to Young People

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