Social Studies teachers at the CPS presentation about Karski (Photo: John Merchant)
Chicago – A lecture about the Jan Karski legacy was recently included in the Social Science SummerExpo, organized by Chicago Public Schools Department of Literacy on August 17-18. Dr. John Merchant of the Loyola University Chicago gave two presentations to a group of Social Science teachers on behalf of the Jan Karski Educational Foundation entitled “Teaching the Legacy of a Polish Catholic and Officer of the Polish Government-in-Exile, Who Tried to Stop the Holocaust.”
Most of those audience members who teach to Polish communities in Chicago were familiar with the topic and the problems they have to face while presenting it. They commented on the need for greater understanding of the Polish experience of WWII and the Holocaust. The majority of the teachers, however, had never heard of Karski and were eager to find additional resources they could use for teaching the Holocaust. One teacher in particular spoke about her interest in using Karski to teach about the Holocaust in her sixth grade classes. She was most interested in using Karski’s story to help her students make sense of the massive topic of the Holocaust, by focusing on the experience of one person during the War.
Dr. Merchant brought to the teachers’ attention plenty of resources, such as the short films about Karski, “Messenger from Hell” and a short documentary “Karski and the Lords of Humanity”, as well as various resources that are available to them via the Jan Karski Educational Foundation website, the Google Cultural Institute exhibit on Karski, and the educational materials made available by the Polish History Museum.
In addition to speaking about Karski and the activities of the Polish Underground – the most sophisticated and effective resistance movement in the Nazi occupied Europe – Dr. Merchant provided the teachers with other examples of heroic figures representing the Polish Underground, including Irena Sendler and Witold Pilecki.
The teachers received copies of Karski’s wartime memoir Story of a Secret State as a gift from the Jan Karski Educational Foundation. They were very grateful and planned to use them to supplement their lessons. On the whole, the teachers were attentive and open to the idea of broadening their view of the Holocaust and they were appreciative of the additional resources they could use in their classrooms.
Chicago Public Schools was the first public schools organization in the US to add Story of a Secret State to their recommended reading list for middle and high school students.
