'Choiceless choices' during the Holocaust
I can explain what it meant for Jews during the Holocaust to face ‘choiceless choices’.
'Choiceless choices' during the Holocaust
I can explain what it meant for Jews during the Holocaust to face ‘choiceless choices’.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- A major uprising occurred in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943.
- After the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was defeated, most survivors were murdered.
- Leaders in the Lodz Ghetto chose to comply with German orders.
- Many Jews faced 'choiceless choices' during the Holocaust.
- 'Choiceless choices' gave Jews little real control over whether they survived or not.
Keywords
Liquidated - to destroy something
Compliance - behaviour which obeys an order, rule or request
Common misconception
Leaders in the Lodz Ghetto made 'bad' choices for choosing to comply with German orders.
Leaders in the Lodz Ghetto, like many other Jews, faced multiple poor choices - or 'choiceless choices'. The decisions they made occurred in extreme circumstances where they had little real control over their own survival.
Content guidance
- Depiction or discussion of discriminatory behaviour
- Depiction or discussion of serious crime
- Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering
Supervision
Adult supervision required
Licence
This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).
Lesson video
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