Media Literacy , the Holocaust, and 21st century genocide

I have been an English teacher at the middle school level for eight years. I am currently an Eighth grade teacher that is required to teach the Holocaust as part of the curriculum. In the past we have read The Diary of Anne Frank (which is required) as well as other
supporting material to give students some background knowledge previous to starting their ten page research paper. Some of the topics include researching influential people such as Adolf Hitler, Henrich Himmler, Holocaust survivors, as well as specific concentration camps and corporations who supported the Nazi regime. Students really love this unit because it is a part of our history that they usually know little about and can compare it to places like the Sudan and Iraq where genocide is still present today.

My hopes are to create a unit that still captures the interests of my students, but that not only requires them to demonstrate mastery in research skills and writing, but also to employ some kind of media literacy as well. While looking on YouTube, I was able to find several video clips that dealt primarily with this subject and could be easily used by students as they are researching their topics and/or creating their presentations. The following video-clips highlight a media that might be useful to students due to their rawness/graphic depictions in the pictures, musical choices, historical content, camera angles, and that more importantly appeal to our emotions.

In reading some of the bloggers responses to the video-clips that I will be highlighting below, I was really blown away with their raw honesty. There was definitely a lot of people that were horrified that the Holocaust took place, but several others state that it never existed and also shared their prejudices and racism very openly. This in itself would make for a very interesting dialogue with students.