We propose a map of the warsaw ghetto with the listed buildings and sites marked by numbers. The map can be enlarged through photocopying, which will make it easier to read.

Divide your chanichim into groups of about eight. Each group should make a model or a large sketch of the Ghetto (or part of it) based on the map. (Use clay, paint, cardboard, paper etc.). Try to visualise schools, hospitals, synagogues, prisons, the deportation centre, train tracks, the Judenrat, Youth Movement houses etc. The assistance of a revolving Madrichla will be necessary for all the groups, in order to explain what each building was, and answer any questions.

You now have two options to continue this activity:

a) The Warsaw Ghetto as a Jewish Community in Distress:

- When they have created their model, they should prepare two lists. First: those parts of the Ghetto to found in any normal Jewish Community. Second: those features of the Ghetto that make it an abnormal community.

The list can comprise physical elements such as buildings and people, as well as nonphysical elements such as emotions (fear, hunger, sadness, security comfort etc.).

- Next, the group prepares a list of those things needed to make an ideal Jewish Community (focus on both physical and non-physical elements). They then compare the lists, andwith the help of the madrich - try to establish how difficult life was in the Ghetto, but how -' despite the conditions - people tried to create some kiij,d of normal Jewish communal life.

- Bring the groups together for a general discussion on the role of the Jewish community. Focus on your particular community if the group all come from the same place, or on any type of community the group knows. It is worth ending perhaps with the role Youth Movements have in today's Jewish community and the role that participants have as individuals.

b) Ghetto History

- Using visual elements (photographs, coloured paper, drawing pins, thread etc.), create a visual representation of the different stages of the Warsaw Ghetto's establishment and the Revolt.

- One possibility is the allocation of different elements to each subgroup, with the result that each model represents a separate stage in the Ghetto's development.

 

 
 

 

 

 

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13 Sep 2005 / 9 Elul 5765 0