Introduction

Introduction:

Facing History & Ourselves is a course offered through the history department to juniors and seniors at the high school. The class closely follows the rising of Nazi power in Germany, the time of Nazi occupation, and the end of World War II when the Nazi’s surrendered. The course focuses on the Holocaust and the dehumanization of millions of people in Europe during this time. Most of the content is displayed through documentaries and videos during the class periods. There are many reasons that I decided to take this class. I am Jewish and have studied and explored the Holocaust in deeper detail than the average high school kid. I’ve been two Israel twice and visited Yad Vashem (Jerusalem’s Holocaust museum) on the first trip. Just last month, I traveled to Poland and toured the concentration-death camps Auschwitz-Birkenau. My parents have been very supportive in my research of this event. For six years now, they have brought in a Holocaust survivor to speak to students at the Mill Pond School. Through all my exposure to the Holocaust, I have understood the importance of remembering the events of the past and doing my part to make sure that no comparable actions ever occur again. I took this course hoping to continue to gain knowledge about this time and how I can contribute to the future. I had heard from past students and that the course is one of the, if not the most, memorable course that they took throughout high school. I simply could not see myself passing up this once in a lifetime opportunity to explore the horrors of this time.