Educational workshops for middle and high school students
These workshops are primarily intended for groups who have already had the opportunity to discuss or deepen the subject in class in different subjects. They include a 45-minute tour followed by two hours of workshop in the classroom.
FATES IN TIME OF WAR
NEW! Two painters facing nazism
For 3rd grade students
(beginner level in German)
Charlotte Salomon was Jewish, Ceija Stojka was Gypsy. Both loved painting, poetry and music. Through their works, students are led to retrace the journey of these two women victims of Nazism and discover two cultures then threatened.
SIMONE VEIL AND HER: JACOB FAMILY ITINERARIES
For students from the 3rd to the Terminale
Originally from Nice, the Jacob family is a French Jewish family, perfectly assimilated and deeply attached to republican values. With the Second World War, the life of Simone and her relatives changes. Based on archival documents and testimonies, this workshop proposes to retrace the journey of Simone Veil and her family during these turbulent years. The anti-Jewish measures of Vichy, the repression of the German occupier, the acts of resistance and the world of concentration are addressed by taking support from several activities. A final part focuses on understanding how Simone Veil became a major figure of the twentieth century, by approaching its multiple post-war struggles.
SIMONE VEIL, A FRENCH HISTORY
For 6th and 5th graders
Through the itinerary of Simone Veil, née Jacob, children discover a French Jewish family strongly attached to republican values, whose fate changes during the Second World War. Using archival documents from the Jacob family, they address the history of the exclusion of the Jews from France and then highlight Simone Veil’s commitment to memory work and the presence of the Righteous in collective memory.
LIVES OF PAPER: TRACES OF SINGULAR ITINERARIES IN THE ARCHIVES
For students from the 3rd to the Terminale
By discovering the unique journey of Jewish families, men, women and children in France during the Second World War, students also learn to think about the use of archives in writing history.
THERE WERE 13,000: THE COURSE OF HIV
For students from the 3rd to the Terminale
This workshop proposes a study of the Vel d'Hiv through archival documents, the analysis of individual destinies and family paths. The exploration of letters found from the Vel d'Hiv, written or filmed testimonies, but also photographs will reveal the specificity of this scoop that has become emblematic of the history and memory of the Shoah in France.
A writing workshop will allow you to review the courses studied and work on the notion of memory transmission.
NEW! Beate’s slap
For students in the 1st and 3rd grade with a good level of German
This workshop evokes the militant struggle of Beate and Serge Klarsfeld to bring to justice those responsible for Nazi crimes. By also following the Klarsfeld family’s journey, the students address the history of the persecution of the Jews in France. The activity is conducted entirely in German: it allows students to deepen their language skills.
RESCUE AND RESISTANCE
LIGHTS IN THE NIGHT: ITINERARIES OF RIGHTEOUS AMONG NATIONS
For students from the 3rd to the Terminale
Awarded to any non-Jewish person who assisted Jews during the Holocaust, this honorary title has been awarded to date to nearly 27,921 people. From almost 50 countries, all of them have decided to oppose hatred and dehumanization at the risk of their lives and without compensation. This workshop proposes to discover several paths of Just in Europe, emphasizing the motivations and forms of rescue, whose recognition was sometimes late in the collective memory.
By taking every risk to come to the aid of persecuted Jews, these men and women embody the fundamental values of justice, dignity and humanity.
THE FIGHTER’S STAR
For students from 6th to 5th
The workshop traces the journey of a Jewish resistance fighter. Children observe various forms of engagement, from rescue to armed struggle. Songs, objects and archival documents help to better understand the issues of this plural resistance.
JOSEPH, JEAN-CLAUDE AND THE OTHERS
For 6th and 5th graders
This workshop is based on the analysis of excerpts from films about the life of Jewish children in France under the Occupation.
While analyzing the choices of staging and discovering the notions of cinematographic language, students learn the story of hidden children.
JEWISH RESISTANCES: SAVE, FIGHT, PROTEST (CNRD)
For students from 3rd to Terminale
Collecting documents, fabricating a false identity card, passing on valuable information or even taking up arms attest to the diversity of acts of resistance during the war. Through the study of archives and individual reconstruction,, the students highlight the different forms of engagement of these women and men Jews facing the Shoah.
WOMEN IN RESISTANCE: THE FIRST WOMEN TO BE ENGAGED (CNRD)
For students from 3rd to Terminale
Liaison agent, convoyer of escaped prisoners or Jewish children, doctor... women played an essential role in the Resistance. Yet, in memory and history, their actions were long neglected, so much so that the image of the resistance fighter was necessary. By focusing on describing the routes and actions of five resistance figures, the students are also introduced to historical research, recounting the journeys of heroic women, engaged in one way or another from 1940-1941.
THE GENOCIDES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
MEMORY CARDS
For students from the 3rd to the Terminale
Through the discovery of comics, this workshop proposes to study the genocides of Armenians, Jews and Tutsi. The students are invited to reflect and work on several albums, Le Fantôme arménien, Maus et La Fantaisie des Dieux, as well as to understand the singular approach of each author. Through an original narrative and a particular graphic design, they address the representation of the genocide process and the questions posed by the transmission of memory.
JUSTICE FOR GENOCIDE
For students of the 3rd and Terminale
Since 1945, the Justice has been trying to answer questions raised by crimes of genocide: what are the crimes that can be qualified as genocide? Who are the perpetrators of these crimes? How can we punish those who participated in them? Based on audio and visual archives of 20th century trials (notably Nuremberg in 1945-1946, Eichmann in 1961, Klaus Barbie in 1987 and the Gacacas of Rwanda in the 2000s), this workshop aims to initiate a reflection on how a society recovers from genocide and allows survivors to contemplate living together again.
GYPSY DESTINS
For students from the 3rd to the Terminale
The activities proposed in this workshop aim to deconstruct the prejudices still so often present today. The aim is to better understand the reasons for the internment of Gypsies in France and their killing in Nazi Europe through a few individual paths. The students are invited to make a sound montage that mixes their voices with the gypsy music of yesterday and today.
AUSCHWITZ IMAGES: HISTORY OF THE REPRESENTATIONS (CNRD)
For students from the 3rd to the Terminale
Photographs taken by the Allies during the discovery of the concentration camps contributed greatly to the misrepresentation of the Holocaust. But the analysis of the photographs taken by the SS at Auschwitz in 1944 allows us to capture, provided we question them, the history and representations of this place that has become central in the history of the genocide of the Jews. During the workshop, students will be asked to work on a variety of visual and textual archives, reflect on the relationship with images and exercise their critical thinking.
HISTORY AND CITIZENSHIP
PHILOSOPHY TO COMBAT PREJUDICE
For 6th and 5th graders
During a philosophical awakening session, the nature and forms of prejudice are discussed, as well as their links with discrimination, rejection and hatred of others.
US AND OTHERS AT THE CINEMA
For students from 6th to 5th
Through excerpts from classic fiction films such as E.T. by Steven Spielberg (1982) and Edward in the Hands of Money by Tim Burton (1991), which recount a first encounter with the Other, children exchange among themselves about prejudices and the relationship to otherness.
WHAT IS IT TO BE JEWISH?
For students from 6th year onwards
On the eve of World War II, more than 300,000 Jews live in France. Of diverse origins, cultures and languages, the Jews of France are far from forming a homogeneous group. So what is it to be Jewish? Is it sharing a religion, history or culture? A common destiny after dispersion? As many facets that are evoked during the workshop with images, texts, objects and melodies. A walk in the Marais allows participants to discover the Jewish life of yesterday and today by making a logbook.
PREJUDICES: IN DAILY LIFE AND HISTORY
For students from the 3rd to the Terminale
How are prejudices formed? How do they become part of a society? How can they sometimes lead to institutionalized racism, or genocide? Students address these questions by analyzing the prejudices conveyed by language or propaganda images. They also try to put into perspective the role of certain racist prejudices in 20th century history.
NEW! The imaginary Jew: a history of anti-Jewish myths (FROM JANUARY 2025)
For students from the 3rd to the final year
Although the term Antisemitismus was coined at the end of the 19th century, hatred against Jews is based on several centuries-old myths that were revived in times of crisis. From documents of various natures transmitted from the Middle Ages to the present day, students analyze the construction of anti-Semitic discourse and imagery over long time, between permanences and mutations.
Far from the imaginary Jew, reflection opens, through constant exchanges and dedicated activities, on a discovery of the diversity of Jewish worlds.
FROM THE BERLIN OLYMPICS TO TODAY: SPORT, MIRROR OF OUR SOCIETIES?
For students from the 3rd to the Terminale
Used by the Nazi regime as a real propaganda tool (cinema, press, radio, posters), the competition was used to make the 1936 Olympic Games a symbol of the greatness of the Third Reich. Sport was thus regularly instrumentalized by political regimes that aroused the resistance of civil societies. This workshop focuses on the fates of athletes who are victims of persecution, solidarity between athletes and media coverage of their struggles.
INFORMATION, INFORMATION AND PROPAGANDA
For students from 4th to Senior
At a time when traditional media are being challenged and social networks play an important role in students' daily lives, it is becoming increasingly difficult to separate the true from the false. In the context of a historical perspective and the study of different media (texts, photographs, videos), students learn to stimulate their critical thinking, to identify sources of information and to verify them. This workshop, modulable according to the school curricula of each of the classes concerned, aims at appropriating useful tools and reflexes to better cope with a continuous flow of information.
THE CONSPIRACY FACTORY: YESTERDAY AND TODAY
For students from the 3rd to the Terminale
Conspiracy or conspiracy theory? The story of the Holocaust is a telling example of public opinion manipulation. Structured by anti-Semitism, the Nazi ideology is based on a conspirationist vision of the world. By establishing relevant links between history and the very contemporary period, the workshop aims to provide tools for better analyzing images and speeches circulating on the Internet and social networks.
ART HISTORY
THE MEMORY IS WANDERING
For students from 6th to 5th
What is the purpose of remembering? How does memory work? Who remembers and why? Christian Boltanski, Jiro Taniguchi, Muriel Bloch and many other artists have addressed these issues. Starting from the discovery of very varied works (installation, comics, music, tales...), children will try to understand the main mechanisms of memory and its major functions. They will then discuss the use and role of commemorative plaques.
THE STORY APPEARS
For students from 6th to Senior
What do the images tell us? How can we analyse them and place them in a specific historical context? This workshop is a «laboratory of image creation»: it makes a link with history, propaganda images of the past and those of the present (media, social networks). Students experiment with various graphic games around the concepts of portrait robot, caricature and dehumanization. These exercises then enable them to decipher a propaganda poster.
WAR REPORTER
For students from the 3rd to the Terminale
Students first study the constraints faced by war reporters, Germans and Allies, when they were on the ground. They then decipher the composition of photographs taken in Paris, Kiev, Bergen-Belsen or Auschwitz. Finally, they seek to measure the impact of these images on the perception and understanding of genocide. The workshop ends with the creation of a «memory book» containing the notes and sketches of the students made from a chosen photograph.
NEW! SPECIFIC DATES FOR WORKSHOP VISITS
The Memorial de la Shoah offers workshops on specific dates starting in September.
Located at the intersection of history, letters, philosophy, art history or moral and civic education, these workshops contribute to the construction of knowledge from the beginning of the school year, learning and the development of students' critical thinking.
They were 13,000: Parcours du Vel d’Hiv
For students from the 3rd to the final year
• Thursday, September 19, 2024 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
• Thursday, September 26, 2024 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Prejudices in daily life and history
For students from the 4th
• Monday, September 23, 2024 from 10 am to 1 pm
• Tuesday, October 8, 2024 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Information, misinformation and propaganda
For students from the 4th to the final year
• Tuesday, September 24, 2024 from 10 am to 1 pm
• Monday, October 14, 2024 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Images of Auschwitz: history and representations
For students from the 3rd to the final year
• Wednesday, September 25, 2024 from 10 am to 1 pm
• Wednesday, October 16, 2024 from 10 am to 1 pm
The imaginary Jew: a history of anti-Jewish myths
For students from the 3rd to the final year
• Wednesday, October 9, 2024 from 10 am to 1 pm
The Jewish Resistance: Save, fight, witness
For students from the 3rd to the final year
• Tuesday, October 15, 2024 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
CYCLE OF SPECIFIC EDUCATIONAL WORKSHOPS FOR PARIS CITY COLLEGE STUDENTS
PARIS UNDER OCCUPATION
This cycle consists of three activities: The workshop Joseph, Jean, Claude and others... at the Shoah Memorial, the visit to Le Marais under the Occupation, as well as the workshop Daily life in the Paris of the Occupation at the National Archives.
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY GENOCIDE
This cycle consists of several activities: a visit to the Shoah Memorial and three workshops:
BD for Memory, Gypsy Destins, Justice for genocide.
DECONSTRUCT RACIST PREJUDICES
This cycle consists of several activities: two workshops at the Mémorial Les préjugés au quotidien and dans l'Histoire et l'Histoire s’affiche, then an inter-museum at the National Museum of the History of Immigration
PROPAGANDA AND HATE SPEECH IN HISTORY
This cycle consists of several activities: a thematic visit to the Memorial focused on anti-Semitic speech and propaganda, and three workshops: History is displayed, From the Berlin Olympics to today: sport, mirror of our societies? , The Conspiracy Factory: yesterday and today.
