Valuing Testimony
Visual storytelling and testimony requires collaboration between survivors, artists, and readers. Visual testimony is a powerful medium to reflect on the challenges of transmitting memory, trauma, and the magnitude of the Holocaust. Students are encouraged to reflect on the value of visual testimony, in particular, in teaching the Holocaust, as well as the possible limits we face in understanding the Holocaust and other genocides.
Learning Objectives
Students will be able to:
- assess both the value and the limitations of using survivor testimony to learn about the Holocaust.
Guiding Question
- What can we learn from historical testimony?
- Are there limitations to survivor testimony? If so, explain.
Preparation
Prepare technology to project images and video.
Cue up the three short films about the process of creating the narratives in But I Live.
Introduction
Introduce the three films on the creation of the graphic narratives.
Lesson Activities
Viewing Films
These films explore the process of creating the graphic narratives. Ask students to record, while they watch, the strengths and limitations of this process, and on the value of historical testimony more broadly.
Viewing Guide: Valuing Testimony
Small Group Discussion
Using the Viewing Guide, ask students to discuss questions in groups or pairs.
Conclusion
Come together and discuss these questions as a class. Have students write a final reflection answering the guiding questions for this lesson.
