Children were especially vulnerable to Nazi persecution. As many as 1.5 million children were killed by Nazi Germany and its collaborators.
For background information about some of the children please visit these suggested links:
US Holocaust Memorial Museum page of children.
Children of the Holocaust - Museum of Tolerance
Life in Shadows: Hidden Children and the Holocaust - US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Holocaust's Children, One by One by One - The New York Times
Forget You Not - Memorial Album Honoring more than 1.5 Million Souls (note: some graphic images)
Suggested activities/lesson plan:
1. Provide your students - with sheets of colorful paper, glue, scissors, crayons, string (any/all decorative items will do). Have the students create and/or decorate a leaf. It is important to encourage each child to be creative and make whatever leaf they feel comfortable making. All materials are welcome. They can use tissue paper, clay, wire, cellophane, buttons, ribbon, etc.
2. Instruct your students – to decorate a leaf. Have the student inscribe each leaf with his/her own words. Offer messages of hope and notes of promise. Allow the student to create and leave his/her own personal imprint.
3. When the project is complete - have the students hang their leaves from the ceiling with string (you may have to use a hole punch). Every student’s leaf should be displayed.
4. Encourage conversation – Make sure the students understand that these leaves represent children, like themselves, with hopes and dreams and plans for the future; and that all that potential died along with them. Talk about choosing to do what’s right by others in their classroom, in their community and among their friends. Focus on stories of hope and lessons learned that came from the Holocaust. Ask the students how they would choose to respond if someone was hurting someone else. Talk about the courage to be an active ‘up-stander’ rather than a passive ‘bystander’. Talk about the symbolism of a tree – how it relates to family, life, re-growth, hope, humanity.
5. Ask - the student to explain why they decorated the leaf as they did. Suggest students write a story or poem about a child of the Holocaust or to express their own feelings and share it with the class.
6. Collect – and finally - gather and count your leaves, and send them with any additional notes and thoughts to:
Vermont Holocaust Memorial
P.O. Box 436
Jeffersonville, VT 05464
Although we prefer your original leaf art, in light of the current Covid-19 pandemic VTHM will temporarily accept scanned images of your “leaves” as part of our Leaf Project memorial collection. Scans can be sent to: info@holocaustmemorial-vt.org