Holocaust Background
See Also:
The Hangman Poem by Maurice Ogden Lesson
The Terrible Things by Eve Bunting Lesson
Introduce California State Library Resources:
ProQuest e-Library
Common Assignments: The Holocaust
"The Diary of Anne Frank," which you have read, is a play based on the events recorded in Anne Frank's diary that she kept while she was hiding with her family in the annex during the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Upon their discovery and arrest by Nazi soldiers, Anne and the other members of the annex were sent to various concentration camps. Anne did not survive the harsh life in the camps, but her father did. He was given Anne's diary when he later returned to Amsterdam. After reading the diary, he decided to have it published. The Diary of a Young Girlby Anne Frank was published in 1947 under the title, Het Achterhuis (The Annex). It was translated into English in 1952.
Anne's diary
Holocaust Project
What happened to Anne Frank, happened to six million other human beings during the Second World War. The Holocaust is the most infamous genocide in history. You and your classmates will research more specific people, places, and events of the Holocaust and you will share what you learned about this tragic historical period in class.
As you conduct your research, you will record the types of sources you use on the provided source citation sheets. You will take notes on the sources using the provided note-taking sheets. You will copy down your notes word-for-word on to your note-taking sheets. In class, you will be taught how to paraphrase your notes and how to create a parenthetical reference for when you use the author's direct quotes or use information directly from a source without putting it into your own words.
As you research your particular person, place or event, please keep these prompts and questions in mind:
Imagine you were a participant in your particular event or at your particular place of research. Explain your feelings as a participant at this event or explain how you feel about your life in your particular place of research.
How does your topic relate to the Holocaust as a whole? What role did your particular person play? What significance did your place or event have in this historical time period?
Do you agree with the actions of the particular person whom you researched? Defend your stance.
Topics to research:
Heroes: Mordechai Anielewicz, Anna Borkowska, Anne Frank, Otto Heinrich Frank, Varian Fry, Miep Gies, Mustafa Hardaga, Marion Van Binsbergen Pritchard, Emmanuel Ringelblum, Oskar Schindler, Hans & Sophie Scholl, Sempo (Chiune) Sugihara, Pastor Andre Trocme, Raoul Wallenberg, Eli Wiesel
Villians: Klaus Barbie, Martin Borman, Adolf Eichman, Paul Joseph Goebbels, Hermann Goring, Reinhard Heydrich, Rudolf Hess, Henrich Himmler, Adolf Hitler, Rudolf Hoss, Josef Mengele, Heinrich Muller, Ernst Rohm, Albert Speer, Joachim Von Ribbentrop, Einsatzgruppen, Hitler Youth, NAZI party, Gestapo, Schutzstaffel soldiers (SS/black shirts), Sturmabteilung soldiers (SA/brown shirts)
Places: Auschwitz-Birkenau, Belzec, Bergen-Belsen, Buchenwald, Chelmno, Dachau, Gross-Rosen, Majdanek, Mauthausen-Gusen, Ravensbruck, Sorbibor, Theresienstadt, Treblinka, Vught, Warsaw Ghetto, Westerbork
Events: Battle of Stalingrad, Kindertransport, Kristallnacht, Nuremberg rallies (Reichsparteitag), Nuremberg trial, pogroms, Wannsee Conference, Warsaw Ghetto uprising
Other Holocaust topics: Allied Power, Eugenics,The Final Solution, Mein Kampf, Nuremburg Laws, Third Reich
Weblinks: