Terrible Situation A
Klaus Schmidt is an SS officer who has just been assigned to a concentration camp. A trainload of 300 prisoners will be arriving shortly. He has been told that as the prisoners get off the train, he should send half to the right to work in slave labor conditions. The other half must be sent to the left to the gas chambers. Which of the following actions should he take? Select only one.

A. Send the able-bodied to the right; the sick and old to the left.

B. Send men to the right; women to the left.

C. Neither,  let all the prisoners escape.

        1. Why did you choose the response you chose?
        2. What will be its consequences for Klaus? For his family?
        3. What will be its consequences for the prisoners, will they be able to survive if they manage to escape?
        4. What will he do once they're gone?
        5. How will he explain his actions to his superiors?

Terrible Situation B
David Klein is the leader of the Judenrat. The Jewish Council is responsible for making certain decisions in the ghetto. The people in the ghetto are housed here until they are sent to concentration camps. The Nazi commander in charge of the ghetto tells him that he must ship out fifty people because the ghetto is overcrowded. He will not tell David where the people are going, only that he must choose ten women, ten men, and thirty children. His mother, father, uncle, and first cousin are in the ghetto. Which of the following responses should he choose? Select only one.

A. Should he do as directed?

B. Should he try to save his own relatives in the ghetto?

C. Should he refuse to make any choices?

          1. Why did you make the choice you made?
          2. What are its consequences?
          3. Do you think that all the people in the ghetto would be punished if Klein did not obey?
          4. Would the commander make this decision if Klein did not?
          5. How should Klein choose those that must leave the ghetto?

Terrible Situation C
Anna Berger is a prisoner in a concentration camp. Her job is to help the cook in the kitchen. She washes the dishes. She is working in the kitchen when the cook steps outside for a minute. There are scraps of food left on the plates from the officers' dining room. Many people in her barracks are slowly starving to death. She thinks about taking scraps of food for them. What should she do? Select only one response.
 

A. Plead with the cook to give her some food when he comes back.

B. Ignore the chance because, if she gets caught, she will be severely punished and probably killed.

C. Take the food, knowing that she may be searched.

          1. Why did you make the choice you did?
          2. What are its consequences for Anna?
          3. What are the consequences of not taking the food?

  ref: South Carolina Voices: Lessons from the Holocaust