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ABOUT THE PROJECT

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THE T4 STORY

ABOUT THE PROJECT

CATHERINE MARY MACÍAS

This project consists of a documentary film, a website primarily for use by students and educators, and discussion forums at various universities in the United States, mostly at schools of education

The documentary and website will focus on the T4 victims. I am striving to share the stories of these victims who were so maliciously killed by the Nazis as a means of highlighting yet another group of human beings who were targeted during the Holocaust.

	In recent years we have seen the emergence of films and literature that show the range of victims attacked by the Nazis, from individuals of various ethnic populations to people who were killed because of their beliefs. The T4 victims are yet another unique group in that they were German citizens, killed just as the Holocaust was gaining momentum.

The film will show the interviews of victims’ relatives, as well as that of a T4 scholar from the University of Heidelberg. Each director at the memorials for the T4 killing sites has also been interviewed regarding the history of each site. Photographs and theatrical pieces will be interwoven throughout the film and a narrator will succinctly explain events.

Filming has taken me to Germany four times and once to Austria. I have driven through every landscape, through each of the seasons of Germany; it seems, to meet with victims’ relatives. Photographing and filming the killing sites has also been an adventure, with every creative molecule in my body being put to use in search of that perfect frame, the most intriguing angel. From high on a wall to stretched out on the ground, I have attempted to capture images that will match the intensity of emotions from the interviews.

The website, obviously, is already being developed and will be ongoing. Ideally it will suit students from the middle grades through college, as well as educators in all classroom settings. I will provide cross curriculum lesson plans, lesson plans that focus on specific academic subjects, and lessons that will highlight social development such as respect for differences among people and cultures. Users will also be able to download a glossary of terms, maps, and the pages of the website itself in adobe format.

The academic forums will serve to create discussion among future educators and other child care professionals at various universities across the United States in the hopes of promoting the inclusion of the topic of T4 within the daily instructional curriculum. Having been a teacher for several years now, I know there are many opportunities to include various ideas within a specific lesson or thematic plan. The Holocaust as well is specifically studied at various times during the middle and high school years. The direct instruction about the T4 Program during these periods of Holocaust study would be an ideal upshot of these academic forums.

My goal for the film is to complete it within the next year, in the hope of having it distributed nationally as a film for film festivals, cable networks, and as a DVD for use in the home and classroom. The academic forums will be possible after the film and website are complete.