Essential Question
How did the 20th century see both humanity's worst horrors and its bravest holiness?
This is the gravest week of the year. The student studies the two World Wars, the rise of totalitarianism, and the Holocaust, the darkest chapter of human history, alongside the brightest witnesses of holiness it produced: Sts. Maximilian Kolbe and Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, martyrs of the camps. The faith, the saints, the art, and the music all reckon with the same question: how could a century hold such horror and such heroic love? We handle these subjects with honesty, reverence, and age-appropriate care.
Liturgical note: Ordinary Time (May). The Church remembers the martyrs of the 20th century; St. Maximilian Kolbe's witness in particular illuminates Christ's words, 'Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends' (John 15:13).
Threads at a Glance
World War I (causes, the trenches, the fall of empires); the interwar years; the rise of totalitarianism (communism, fascism, Nazism); World War II (the war, the Holocaust treated with gravity, the Church's witness); the dawn of the atomic age.
World War II: Sacrifice, Victory, and Remembrance
Winston Churchill.
The world at war: draw the WWI alliances and the WWII theaters (Europe and the Pacific).
Modern art and the wars: Picasso's 'Guernica,' Expressionism, and Dada's response to WWI.
The 20th century: Stravinsky's 'Rite of Spring' and the splintering of tonality; jazz comes of age.
Sts. Maximilian Kolbe and Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), martyrs of the camps.
Heroic Charity: 'greater love has no one than this.'
YOUCAT on the dignity of life, the culture of life, and peace and war (Q378-Q397).
Synthesizing complex information clearly; avoiding nominalizations.
Research-based: a 'history that matters' essay (primary-source or interview based).
Weekly Writing Assignment
Choose one person, place, or moment from the World Wars era that you believe should never be forgotten, and explain why it matters. Options include: a person who showed heroic courage or charity (such as St. Maximilian Kolbe, a rescuer of Jews, or a soldier or nurse); a place that bears witness (such as a memorial or a former camp); or a moment of decision. If possible, interview an older relative or read a survivor's testimony. Write an essay that tells the story clearly and argues, with evidence, why it still matters today.
The Week
Close the Week
Add each date to your running timeline notebook — one color for World History, another for US History.
Unit Reading · The Contemporary World
by Corrie ten Boom (with Elizabeth and John Sherrill)
The true story of a Dutch Christian family who hid Jews from the Nazis and paid for it in the concentration camps — and of the faith and forgiveness that carried Corrie through. A modern classic of witness.
by Lois Lowry
Ten-year-old Annemarie helps her family smuggle her best friend to safety as the Nazis come for Denmark's Jews. A Newbery Medal novel about ordinary courage in a dark time.
by Elaine Murray Stone
The life of the Franciscan priest who offered his own life in place of a stranger's in a Nazi death camp. A short, powerful biography of a saint of the modern age and the love that is 'stronger than death.'
by Anne Frank
The real diary of a Jewish teenager hiding with her family from the Nazis — funny, hopeful, and heartbreaking, written by a girl about the same age as its readers. A companion to The Hiding Place and Number the Stars; reviewed and recommended by Catholic diocesan resources. (The Definitive Edition includes a few candid passages about growing up; parents may prefer to preview.)
by George Orwell
The animals overthrow their farmer to build a fair society, only to watch the pigs become tyrants worse than the man they replaced. A short, brilliant fable exposing how revolutions and propaganda betray ordinary people. On the Cardinal Newman Society reading list.
by Harper Lee
Through the eyes of young Scout, a small-town lawyer defends an innocent black man and tries to teach his children courage, justice, and mercy. One of the most-assigned American novels and a moving study of conscience. On the Cardinal Newman Society reading list. (Deals seriously with racism and a rape trial — mature subject matter suited to thoughtful discussion.)