Bringing History to Life for Local Students

November 16, 2017

The Teaching with Primary Sources Program, part of Mars Hill University’s Education Department, partnered with Madison High School English Language Arts and History teachers to illustrate the heart-wrenching atrocities of the Holocaust. Holocaust survivor Dr. Walter Ziffer shared his personal survival story with 150 students on November 9 in the Broyhill Chapel. Dr. Ziffer’s experience was the culminating activity in a series of primary source lessons developed for World History classes and World Literature classes at Madison High School. Assistant Director of TPS Bridget Morton partnered with Madison High School Professional Learning Communities to research sources from both the Library of Congress and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum to build meaningful yet challenging lessons to engage students in the study of WWII and the Holocaust. Students intently listened as Dr. Ziffer communicated his journey through 8 concentration and slave labor camps during the Holocaust, being the only 1 of his 15 family members to live through the horrors. Adults and students both left the event with a deeper understanding of and sympathy for genocide victims.