RESEARCH &
CURRICULUM
FOCUS GROUPS
Before starting research, in order to analyze and record if students would be interested in this subject matter at my school, I conducted three focus groups.
The Shalhevet focus groups were composed of eight students, all in 10th grade, who met on three separate occasions. Discussions were led by myself and Dr. Harris, History Teacher and History Department Chair at Shalhevet High School. The Focus Groups revealed gaps in students’ Holocaust knowledge, misconceptions of Jewish wealth and power, and preferred learning styles in collaboration with the Jewish Digital Cultural Recovery Project.
THE CURRICULUM
My curriculum “Art & Plunder Through the Lens of the Holocaust” explores the history of artwork looted during the Nazi Era, between 1933 and 1945. The goal is to understand how looting happened, what methods are used to document the history of ownership, and whether art, collections, collectors, and museums can help us teach the Holocaust.
The course specifically examines the Adolphe Schloss Collection—including its provenance and timeline in history—to provide students context on how the Nazis systemically plundered Jewish owned artwork for government propaganda, state ownership, and personal financial gain. It is already being taught as an advanced class to seniors at Shalhevet High School in Los Angeles. However, we are looking to expand the course to determine direct learning opportunities for public school students to examine the fate of the Adolphe Schloss Collection and learn more about the little known history while also studying the Holocaust.
In addition, we are in the process of creating a portable virtual and immersive art experience that will transport participants back in time and on a journey through the provenance history of the Schloss collection paintings that were stolen by the Nazis. The purpose of this experience is to personalize the history by allowing viewers to see these events from a first person perspective while simultaneously being immersed in the beauty of the works. This project is supported by the provenance research department at the Louvre Museum in Paris as well as the Holocaust Museum of Los Angeles (who is interested in exhibiting the immersive experience), in addition to other organizations including the Jewish Digital Cultural Recovery Project (JDCRP) funded by the European Union.
