[AUSCHWITZ] EVALUATION OF THE EPT

THE WORK CARRIED OUT

THROUGHOUT THE YEAR:

THE T.P.E.

(FRAMED PERSONAL WORKS)

The sessions started in February. In collaboration with my colleague from Lettres Modernes, Mrs. Buzin-Guérin, many topics on the Shoah were proposed to students (see the initial project). A number of them (ten in total) did not wish to work on this theme, without however expressing their reasons.

In the case of personal work, we deliberately left the students facing their difficulties. Nevertheless, I provided them with a large amount of documentation and was at their disposal, in particular to make them meet witnesses, direct or indirect, of the Shoah.

The results are, after all, mixed. These tests were not better or worse than if the trip to Auschwitz had not been done. The defects and qualities of all subjects are those found in the discipline.

- We find the difficulties they encounter in identifying a problem with a topic: vague titles, absence of problems or problems that are not adapted to the topic, TPE plan that does not address the stated problem. Regarding the form, there is sometimes no introduction, no conclusion.

The case of the 3^th part of the T.P.E. on the process of dehumanization is, in this respect, revealing. The student wanted to work with a specific classmate and not with the group that was already working on negationism, hence the "sleight of hand" to make negationism an umpteenth form of dehumanization (this term is already an admission of incomprehension in itself!). I didn’t dissuade her from it: I hoped that by working on this concept of dehumanization, she would realize the impasse in which she found herself. It was nothing of the sort! It seems that the three girls in this group worked independently, regardless of what the others did.

The T.P.E. on the Resistance also reveals a total absence of my understanding of the subject. In addition to the repetitions from one part to another, there are many off-topics that significantly hinder the coherence of the whole: a part devoted to daily life under the Occupation, a development about the Gestapo that only concerns its implementation in Germany in the 1930s

- Another defect of the T.P.E. to which this class did not escape more than the others, the drama of copy/paste and the total absence of personal reflection.

The two topics on negationism (negationism and the 3^th part of that on the process of dehumanization already mentioned) are more about the looting of the website, of course a reference site, what is http://www.phdn.org/negation/definition.html that of a real understanding of the issue that Holocaust denial represents for memory.

Similarly, the work on the memory of war and its evolution is just a clumsy attempt to summarize P. Ricoeur’s article, which the students clearly did not understand at all.

For a number of subjects, it is impossible to determine whether the students have really assimilated and understood what they copied.

- It is also worth mentioning the blunders (for which, however, my colleague and I had warned them) that are "traditionally" found in this type of work: document references are never indicated. (they are only there to "illustrate" the remarks, but their source is unidentifiable), the bibliographies (when they appear!) are very incomplete and unusable ("the newspaper Le Monde")

In fact, investment varies greatly between individuals: students who are generally serious in the classroom have been so for very small businesses. Those who are not, or are not usually, have not been, either. Shoah or not, journey to Auschwitz or not. Rare are those from elsewhere who exploited the journey to Auschwitz in the reflection they conducted.

I had to completely re-enter all the TPEs (except for one), having only received the "paper" versions and correcting only the spelling mistakes (probably leaving a few of them, despite my efforts!) and the syntax when it was really too inconsistent. But I have not corrected any mistake, no misunderstanding; although some assertions made me shudder. (cf. the figures on deportation in the TPE on children of deportees, confusions between extermination and concentration camps, allegations that Vichy retained full powers, including in occupied areas, and so on).

However, some work is worth noting for the students' investment. The two who worked on art and the Shoah did so with relevance and interesting personal reflection. Those who worked on the memory of the deportation in Bergerac made multiple approaches to a number of people. Another did not hesitate to travel all the way to Bordeaux to film the remains of this memory. The work on the process of dehumanization (the first part) was particularly well conducted. Similarly, the work on photography in the camps, despite some inconsistencies, is not uninteresting.

This work was noted, but the notes (and ratings) were manually carried forward to the report cards, so they have no impact on quarterly averages. Finally, we sometimes had to distinguish, within the same group, the various stakeholders with very different investments. The note takes into account the substance, the form, but also the oral performance.

Headings	Ratings	Notes (/20)
The transmission of the memory of deportation by deportees to their children	Superficial set. Delivered with a lot of delay.	04
The deportation to Bordeaux	Uneven investment by the group members. Some aspects would have deserved to be developed.	13 and 08
The memory of the deportation to Bergerac	A relevant and effective investment.	16
The memory of the genocide and its evolution	Relevant cultural perspectives have been eliminated. The quality concern is missing in this file.	08
German repression of the French Resistance during the Second World War	An approach that is not sufficiently analytical given the chosen issue	08
The photograph bearing witness to the Nazi concentration camp system	Analysis to deepen. Structure of the clumsy whole.	11
Art and the Shoah	Relevant analyses and quality presentation.	17
Negationism	Together little researched. Lack of personal analysis.	08
The process of dehumanization in the concentration camp system	Overall uneven, both in terms of investment and analysis.	16 12 and 10

Summary