Teaching Resources / Grade 9

Perpetrators & Bystanders

What roles can and do people play in perpetuating or preventing injustice?
"If the action and inaction of perpetrators and bystanders represents some of the worst of which human beings are capable, the courage of resisters and rescuers represents the best."  USHMM article on Kristallnacht

Exercise Overview

Students should have access to a computer to view the worksheets or copies may be made for their use in the classroom.

  1. Introduce and reinforce the ideas of the following concepts for students:

    • Perpetrator: A person carrying out a harmful, illegal, or immoral act.

    • Victim: A person being targeted by the harmful, illegal, or immoral acts of a perpetrator.

    • Bystander: A person who is present but not actively taking part in a situation or event.

    • Upstander/Rescuer/Resister: A person speaking or acting in support of an individual or cause, particularly someone who intervenes on behalf of a person being attacked or bullied.

    • Now ask students to read except from Facing History: The Range of Responses to the Holocaust, from the USHMM which reinforces the meanings and actions during Kristallnacht, of perpetrators, victims, bystanders and upstanders/rescuers/resisters.

  2. Read the following background on Kristallnacht from the US Holocaust Museum - teachers should be sure to read this.

    • Watch the 9 minute movie on Kristallnacht to understand the story.

    • View two interviews of your choice below from the eight survivors who lived through Kristallnacht and let their words help you understand how complicated the story is through the lenses of victims, perpetrators, upstanders/rescuers (from Yad Vashem website. Videos also found at the bottom of this page.).

    • Read this excerpt from Facing History about the complicated response of a German family who are both bystanders and upstanders.

Grade 9

Assessment

  • What has analyzing the variety of responses to Kristallnacht suggested to you about the ways people respond to episodes of violence and terror?

  • What roles can people play in perpetuating or preventing injustice?

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