Making Bombs for Hitler: Podcasts, History, and Refugee Voices

6th Grade, Reeths-Puffer Intermediate

How do people maintain their humanity when the world tries to turn them to numbers?

While reading Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch's Making Bombs for Hitler, students produced original podcasts connecting the experiences of children forced into Nazi labor camps to the lives of refugees today. The project partnered with a Ukrainian school and a children's book author, giving students the chance to speak with modern-day refugees and bring those conversations into their work. The book itself served as an explicit anchor: a piece of historical fiction that students used as a bridge from World War II to current refugee experiences in Ukraine and the United States. Proceeds from the podcast support a refugee-related charity, turning student work into a tangible act of solidarity. Students built research, interviewing, scripting, audio production, and historical-analysis skills, while developing empathy for people whose stories are often told for them rather than by them.

Resources

Student-Created Podcast

Community Partners

  • Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch
  • UNHCR
  • Iryna Kryzhanivska
  • Ukrainian Students

Standards Alignment

ELA: Reading literature and informational text, narrative and informative writing, speaking and listening (interviewing, podcasting) | Social Studies: World War II, refugee movements, push and pull factors of migration, civic action and global awareness (standards alignment to be confirmed)

The Third Coast Learning Collaborative is a collective project of Orchard View Schools, Reeths-Puffer Schools, Human Restoration Project & Open Way Learning. This work is independently evaluated by RAND.

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‍The contents of this website are developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Education Innovation and Research (EIR) Program. However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the federal government. This grant is 100% directly funded through federal funding totaling $3,995,537 beyond in-kind matching funds. All involved parties will contribute in-kind time to make the project a success at an in-kind rate of $429,173.