Following the creation of the exhibition by the collection’s department, the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust took the initiative to prepare some additional educational material to be used by teachers and their students. Katarzyna Odrzywołek, one of the authors of the lessons, presented the material. The 50-page booklet is composed of teaching aids for teachers and worksheets for students, including a short history of KL Auschwitz-Birkenau in order to offer teachers and educators a more in-depth knowledge before working on the exhibition and a description of artworks created by some of the prisoners, accompanied by short biographies with pictures of the artists whose work is exhibited, and quotes from accounts given by other former prisoners.
The three workshops in the booklet are designed for 45-minute lessons for students aged from 15 and over. They are composed of individual and collective activities. Throughout workshops, students learn how prisoners were able to create art, both legally and illegally; they also learn about the role that art played in prisoners’ lives during the camp’s operation and in their lives after the war. In addition, students have the opportunity to learn about art and artists’ works, how to interpret them, which techniques were used, what is depicted by their authors…
These tools allow students to better understand the artists, go behind the work of art and understand in which condition it was created, by whom (through biographies and photos of artists), and finally allow them to reflect on the art and their feelings.
In the first workshop, students are invited to select one biography, then find and observe the works of art made by this artist in the exhibition. Based on this individual work, they can answer various questions such as “What do you think motivated this artist to create his/her artwork? What specifically caught your attention while analysing the artwork(s) created by the artist that you selected? Do you think that this artist’s work(s) is/are a faithful reflection of the camp’s reality?” For students from art schools, more specific questions such as “What artistic technique(s) does the artist use?” can be asked. Students can also be asked to respond artistically to the artist’s work.