Life Stories

Aims

In this learning path learners:

• Get to know the stories of several people affected by antigypsyism, antisemitism, racism and discrimination against LGBT+.
• Reflect on positive achievements in addressing discrimination and the things that haven’t changed.
• Gain skills to work with historical sources.
• Work in small groups to exchange ideas about the effect of discrimination on people.
• Prepare a presentation for the larger group and get acquainted with a variety of stories from different periods in history.

Structure

This learning path consists of one lesson with a number of steps.

• The learners are introduced to 10 personal stories.
• They first pick one for themselves and learn briefly about that person, then go on to work in small groups, sharing stories. The stories all deal with different forms of discrimination, such as antisemitism, racism, and discrimination against Roma and LGBT+.
• Each group then looks at photos and quotes and chooses one person’s story to look into more deeply. A timeline of that person’s life gives an overview. As a group, learners prepare a presentation for the class.

The historical biographies were chosen to contribute to intercultural historical learning. The focus is not on a particular period, though the Nazi era plays an important role in many of the lives presented here. The contextual information given is limited. The aim is to reflect on how personal lives are affected by discriminatory measures. Care has been taken to present people not only as victims but also as people with their own lives and identities.

Educator guide

This includes tips and extra information per lesson.
You can download the educators’ guide on this page.

A special guide for distance education, with tips and additional information on working with the learning path.

Additional materials

Want to work offline with this learning path? This document contains all the information about the ten life stories, which you can find in the online toolbox. Each story consists of a short biography, a timeline, quotes and resources about the person concerned.

A collection of all ten life stories

Go to the learning path Life Stories