Chapter 10

"In Chortkov Prison"

RATIONALE:
"In order to gain a deeper, more holistic understanding of the events and effects of the Holocaust, students must be able to delve appropriately and respectfully into the lives of the victims. An often neglected element of Holocaust studies is the daily routines and lives of those Jewish and political prisoners who were relegated to living within the walls of ghettos in major cities throughout Europe. By applying the seemingly innocuous and mundane task of cooking food as a context for their study of the Holocaust, students will be able to apply a real-world lens to their view of the victims’ lives. In analyzing the Jewish dietary restrictions of kashrut and juxtaposing them with the availability of food and living conditions in the ghettos, students will gain a deeper understanding of the social, religious and cultural difficulties the victims underwent. If executed with the utmost respect for the victims and with a deep level of engagement from the students, this lesson can serve to bridge the gap for students who may find the Holocaust hard to understand emotionally."

INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVE(S):
Students will be able to:

- Identify many of the hardships incurred by those who lived in ghettos and concentration camps during the Holocaust.

- Understand the basics of Jewish dietary laws/restrictions and the impact they had on adapting to life in ghettos and concentration camps during the Holocaust.

- Analyze informal recipes and accompanying stories by survivors of the Holocaust’s ghettos.

- Utilize their knowledge of life in the ghettos of the Holocaust to produce a short informative writing and recipe.