Preface.

In the coming lessons the students will study an important period of the Dutch past: the Second World War and more specifically: the behavior of ordinary people during the war. How do they behave when circumstances become increasingly difficult? This issue is dealt with on the basis of four topics:

·       Dancing in a obsessed world.

·       Betrayal and resistance.

·       About life in Westerbork and Auschwitz.

·       Coming home?

These four themes are derived from the book that Paul Glaser wrote about his aunt Roosje - Dancing with the enemy. The war secret of aunt Roosje. In addition to Aunt Roosje, other people also play a role in these lessons. The central question is why people act the way they do. 

The studentes will try to answer these questions with the help of research assignments and special sources. They do this in a digital environment in which they often work independently. They learn to apply historical skills and empathize with situations and people who faced difficult choices. And they will also regularly be faced with dilemmas.

The lesson series is concluded with an important final assignment. The students can choose to look back on the lessons and to put into words what insights they have received about human behavior. They can also choose to look ahead, to the commemoration of the dead on the next May 4 and to the role that they themselves could play on that day.