The web resource contains five distinct information areas entitled:

Teacher information Reference section Testimony library Student information cards Student topics

Students will make the best use of the web site if they begin by exploring the six Student topics in the order below (the order fits into a time scale of the Holocaust) and then follow the directives. The topics can also be used for student research on a specific aspect of the Holocaust. Below is a summary of contents for each section

1. Teacher information

Teachers' introduction to website Useful addresses / forum information Audio use information Teachers' worksheets/discussion sheets Students worksheets (for printing) Information for meeting a survivor

2. Reference section

Maps - identifying locations of survivors such as places of birth, work camps and extermination camps
Glossary explaining unfamiliar words mentioned in testimonies
Chronology providing a reminder of the major events of the Holocaust
References to useful teaching publications/organisations

3. Testimony library

Oral testimony clips grouped under topic headings (enables teachers to choose any oral testimonies for use with students, without having to access the different topic pages)
Survivor biographies
Transcripts of oral testimonies

4.Student information cards

Additional information on specific aspects of the Holocaust

5. Student topics

There are six student topics: Life before the Holocaust Ghettos and deportation The camps Resistance Liberation One survivor's story - Edith Birkin

Each section contains individual testimonies related to the topic. The oral testimonies are short and have been taken from lengthy life interviews stretching over several hours (full recordings in The British Library National Sound Archive). In addition each topic includes:

• A full verbatim transcript for ease of access, supplementing each oral testimony
• Student activities relating to the topic
• Links to student/teacher worksheets

Important considerations:

• This web resource does not aim to teach the whole history of the Holocaust in chronological order. It is presumed that history teachers will already have covered the subject with students. Instead, the primary goal of the site is to use oral history in order to enable students to enhance their understanding of selected issues from the Holocaust relating to survivors' testimonies.
• All the testimonies here reflect the viewpoint of victims of the Holocaust. There are no testimonies included from the perpetrators or the bystanders. Teachers should ensure they supplement these testimonies with other historical sources in order to promote further inquiry and discussion.
• In order to prevent students from defining Jews as victims of the Holocaust, they should recognise the validity and strength of Jewish faith and culture. Students should therefore explore examples of Jewish pre-war culture. They should realise that millions of Jewish individuals were murdered during the Holocaust, thus destroying a way of life that had been developed over centuries. In spite of this, Jewish faith and culture managed to survive and continues today.
• Teachers should explore the concept of anti-Semitism with students before using the web site in order to prevent any misleading false stereotypes concerning the depiction of Jews.
• In order to enhance their students' understanding of the subject, teachers may consider gathering further evidence to supplement the testimonies. This could include historical sources, videos and visits by survivors.
• The fact that the Holocaust was a unique event should be emphasised by teachers. Although many groups were persecuted by the Nazis, (including gypsies, people with disabilities, gays, all political opponents, black people, Jehovah's Witnesses) it was only the Jews who were targeted for total extermination, using economic and industrial methods to facilitate their aims. Men, women and children were to be systematically murdered for no other reason than the fact that they were Jewish. The ideological motivation for their persecution was racially based and culminated in genocide.