Anne Frank Mini Webquest continued

Most Jews were deported from

the steps of this Amsterdam theater.

Photo: Amy Schwalb Photography

What happened to the Frank family?

VA USII.7b  Locate and describe the major events and turning points of the war in Europe 

What will I know at the end of this webquest?

Goals: 1. I will be able to explain and describe

--the system of extermination in Nazi territory                
--a concentration camp

Materials:  Students will need headphones

New history words: transit camp, concentration camp, death camp

Words to know: deportation, detainees, synthetic, detested, extermination

What did happen to Anne and her family? 

Activity #1 Read about it here. Watch a movie about it here 

 

     In Nazi occupied Europe, arrests and deportations to the East were common occurrence  The Nazis believed that certain groups were dangerous to Germany. These groups would commit crimes in the future. To prevent this, the Nazis targeted certain minorities in Europe. Anyone part of these groups were guilty at the time of their arrest.

No one was spared from deportation. The very young to the old. (UK Army photograph
 [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons)

     The Jews were the largest and most detested group, but other people were persecuted such as the Gypsies, Jehovah's Witnesses (they were pacifists), the mentally and physically handicapped and criminals.
     The reality was that anyone could be arrested and taken to a concentration for any reason: not giving the Nazi salute, harboring Jews, making fun of Hitler are some examples. Even German students were encouraged to turn in their teachers or parents to the authorities if they spoke out against the regime. Germans lived in daily fear of arrest.  Therefore, camps were filled with people of many faiths and backgrounds, not just Jews. 



Barracks and fencing at Westerbork, a transit camp near Amsterdam.  (UK Army photograph  [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons) 

     There were different kinds of camps throughout Europe. Conditions, work, food, and shelter varied from camp to camp. First, people were deported to transit camps to await transportation to concentration camps further East. Dutch Jews, like the Franks, were taken to Westerbork, just north of Amsterdam.  Like all camps, at Westerbork, food and water were scarce.  Houses were overcrowded wooden huts that were built without consideration for heat or hygiene. Mud was everywhere since the camp wasn't paved.The black and white pictures on the right were taken at Westerbork. 



     Anne and her family lived at Westerbork throughout August of 1944.  Find out more what Anne experienced from an eye witness at the camp here.

    Conditions at Westerbork was not as hard than as at a concentration camp. Families were allowed to stay together. In addition, it was possible to receive mail and packages at Westerbork; a luxury since the detainees could receive food and supplies by mail.  However, everyone at Westerbork knew that every Tuesday trains left towards the East. 

     

     On September 4, 1944, the Frank family boarded a train to Auschwitz-Birkenau.  Deportees taken to the east were crowded into cattle cars which have no seats, restrooms, windows, or toilets. 

What or where was Auschwitz-Birkenau? 

Activity #2 Watch an animated map about Auschwitz-Birkenau here. 

      Auschwitz was the largest concentration camp run by the Nazi state and was a extermination camp where arrivals were murdered on a  huge scale. 

    There were 5 other death camps in Poland: Treblinka, Sobibor, Belzec, Chelmno and Majdanek. Compared to Auschwitz, these camps were small because they were used only for mass murder.

    
   Auschwitz-Birkenau (Auschwitz II) was different because it was a labor camp and a death camp. At Auschwitz II, people were unloaded on a ramp close to the gas chambers. Next, the  Germans divided everyone into two large lines; one for women the other for men. From these lines, the Germans selected a small number of people to work as slave labor. The rest: the old, the sick, and children were sent to the gas chambers. Families were torn apart as the young healthy adults were chosen for work and their parents, younger siblings, and grandparents were selected for death.

The main gate at Auschwit-Birkenau. These tracks
reached directly in front of the gas chambers.
(photo: C.Puisney public domain)

   
    Slave laborers worked to build and maintain the camp, but the Germans were interested in the area because of large deposits of coal and other resources for a German company called IG Farben. The company worked to produce synthetic (artifical) rubber and gasoline. 

     Anne, Margot, and Edith were selected for work in Auschwitz-Birkenau. They were seen together from eye witness reports. By January 1945,  Anne and Margot were moved from Auschwitz to Bergen-Belsen, a labor camp in Germany.  If you're getting confused with all of the dates and places, click here for help.  


    Here Anne met a friend of hers from school in Amsterdam, Liesel.  Hear her story here

     

Anne Frank Mini Webquest Continued

Go on a tour of The Secret Annex where the Frank family lived in hiding for over two years

VA USII.7b The student will demonstrate knowledge of the major causes and effects of American involvement in World War II by

b) locating and describing the major events and turning points of the war in Europe and the Pacific.

At the end of this webquest, I will be able to: 

                      --explain what was D-Day

                       --explain why was it so important to those in hiding                     

                         

Westerkerk church near the annex
photo: Amy Schwalb Photography

Activity #3      Go on a tour of the Secret Annex 

Anne wrote most of her diary while she was in hiding and addressed her entries to a fictional friend named Kitty, who was a character from a series children's books that were popular at the time.  Anne states at the beginning of her diary that her writings were to be a secret and she would be honest about her experiences.

Today, The Anne Frank House is now a museum, the most popular in Amsterdam.  Their website allows visitors to go on a virtual tour of the annex. Remember the furniture that you see in the tour is not currently on display at the museum. The furniture was part of a special temporary exhibit and gives the online tour a feel of realism.

You could spend as long as an hour or two on this website! It's a great experience! In the interests of time, this webquest requires you to:

The front door of the Annex that faces the canal
Amy Schwalb Photography 

1. Visit the following rooms during the online tour:
The Franks' Room
Anne's Room
The Van Pels' Room

To get started: directions on how the tour works and watch the movie introduction click here

Remember to listen to the narration about each room. Hint: read the questions first then try to find the answers. 

The following questions are like a scavenger hunt.

Assignment 3   

Thank you for participating! Next post...what happens to the Frank family.
Please leave me helpful feedback and please subscribe. --Amy

Anne Frank Mini Webquest

Learn about Anne Frank, Jews in hiding, and the Nuremberg Laws

VA USII.1F  Analyze and interpret maps that include major physical features.
VA USII.7b  Locate and describe the major events and turning points of the war in Europe 

What will I know at the end of this webquest?

Goals:  1. I will be able to identify major countries in Europe on a map
            2. I will be able to explain and/or describe:
                 -- Anti-Semetic laws or the Nuremberg Laws
                 --why some Jews chose to go into hiding      

 In 1947, a diary was published that changed the world. Anne Frank was a Jewish girl living in the Netherlands when the Nazis invaded. Her father, Otto Frank, was a businessman who owned a company, Opekta,  that produced pectin, a type of wax that is used to make jams.


The canal house on the left is 263 Prinsengracht, the Secret Annex (photo: wikicommons)



An advertisement for Otto Frank's company (photo: wikicommons)

Going into hiding meant that people found shelter (in attics, basements, behind walls) where they could disappear and wait until the war ended. Most Jews hid in the countryside separated from their families without knowing how long they could stay in their hiding place.  Jews asked friends, neighbors, even strangers to help them. This happened all over Europe and the most famous of all hidden Jews was Anne Frank. Find out more about hiding from the Nazis here 

Activity #1  Where is Amsterdam?

Amsterdam is the capital of The Netherlands or Holland.

Directions: Click on the link to identify the nearby countries and the city of Amsterdam on the map below. Look in a textbook, globe, or atlas to find the answers. Note: that this is a modern map of central Europe.  Label all of these countries in blue and then place a dot on where Amsterdam is located.

Map of Europe

Activity #2 What restrictions did the Nazis place on Jews?

The Franks were originally from Germany and they fled to Amsterdam to escape Nazi persecution.  Amsterdam was a trading city and was well known for religious tolerance.   As the tension in Germany increased, more Jews fled into Holland.  In 1940, the Nazis came and soon passed anti-Semitic regulations.

1. Go to the US National Holocaust Museum to read about the invasion of the Netherlands here

2. Go to the Anne Frank House website and read what she wrote about living in Amsterdam once the Nazis arrived here

3. Find out more about Anne's family here 

4. What happened to force them into hiding found out here

Assignment 2 by 1558reading

Thanks for participating! Please subscribe and give me feedback! I want to make every post fun and informative. --Amy

The Butterfly

The Butterfly-- I love this poem and I'm not into poetry, really.
Read it slowly and then read it again.... 

This post is going to feel like an literature lesson. Too bad, historians look to literature to look for clues into the past. Remember that primary sources can be any form of communication that date from the time period.
 It was written by a teenager, Pavel, while living in a ghetto in what is now the Czech Republic. Remember while you read it that he was a teenager and not much older than you are now.
I designed this poster because I love the imagery. The poster is 12x24 and when I showed it to my husband, he wanted me to order a copy for ourselves to display. I was flattered. Below, I've presented as
a ppt slide.

 

 



Some reflection questions:

 

(Do your teacher a favor and write neatly and in COMPLETE sentences!!!)

 

1. Do you know what a ghetto is?  How did the Nazi use them differently than what we would refer to as a ghetto in the US? (Try to answer the questions, without help, but if you must click here.)

 

2. What imagery you visualize as you read the  poem?

 

3. What parts of the poem did the artist (that's me) used to design the poster?

 

4. What adverbs and adjectives does the author use? What do these words add to the poem?

 

4. What does the butterfly symbolize? Are there anymore literary devices and what do they mean?

 

5. Why did the author write this poem? What is he trying to tell us?

 

6. Why do you think the author chose to write a poem rather than in prose?

 

7. What can we infer about ghetto life from Pavel's poem?

 

 

I hope you enjoyed this piece as much as I do!!

Amy

 

Where else can we find primary sources?

Are primary sources only written documents?

Normally, when teachers and students discuss primary sources, students think of written records.

Where else can we find a records of the past?  Really any object or artifacts from the past can be a primary source. However, artifacts require more intrepretation.

I've been to Italy several times because I'm into Roman history. When I was in the eighth grade, my mother made me watch I, Claudius. After that I was hooked. I took two undergraduate courses in Roman history and loved it. However, I never took Latin or Greek. Looking back, I should have to enrich my studies, but hindsight is twenty-twenty. So I'm posting some of my pictures from Rome, so that if you are studying Latin you can practice being an historian and translate an artifact. See if you enjoy it. Also you're helping me out, so far I'm clueless what is written. I encourage you to post your translations so that I know more about my pictures.

This first one is a no brainer (kinda had to post this one):



This one I took at Pompeii on the threshold of a house. If I had to guess it's something like a welcome mat. The bright sunlight would have washed out the white lettering, so I asked my husband to cast a shadow over it. I know all sorts of tricks...



This one was mounted on a wall at Herculaneum. My guess it's about Augustus?



This one is from the forum. The columns are the ruins of the temple of Saturn. If you look closely there's an enscription near the top. The stones in the foreground have fallen from another building.

This was a fountian that I saw as we were leaving town. What
does it say above the arches?

This is the Pantheon in the center of Rome there is a dedication to Agrippa at the top, I think. The orginial building burned down and a later emperor, Hadrian (?) rebuilt it.

Thank You!!! Please leave me comments to help me improve the site!
Amy

WWII-- What was it like to grow up in Nazi Germany?

What was it like to grow up in Nazi Germany?
VA Standard USII.7b
 On April 1, 1933
Nazi Germany placed a boycott on all Jewish shops and business across the country. Here are some photos from the Bundesarchive, part of Germany's government, from the boycott in Berlin:

Photo: Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-14468 / CC-BY-SA

 What do you think the woman on the left is thinking in the above photo?

Photo: Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-14469 / CC-BY-SA

What do you think is happening on the right? (The sign reads Germans! Defend yourselves! Don't buy from Jews!") 

Photo: http://www1.uni-hamburg.de/rz3a035//judenboykott.html

This photo is from Hamburg, what can you infer from the young man holding the sign? What about the bystanders? What do you think they thinking? 

Ten year old Irmgard Marx lived in Frankfurt and she remembers the day when some customers weren't allowed inside her father's store:

       On the day of the boycott, on April 1. 1933, an SA (Nazi)  man stood in uniform before our store and hindered customers from coming inside. A few brave souls came in through the courtyard (backdoor) in order to buy their goods, but the largest share of our customers stayed away. In one case a man, very agitated, came to us in our apartment after he had an exchange of words with the SA man. But this was an exception, and I cannot remember his name. My parents told told us children nothing about the boycott, I myself was shocked when I saw the SA man, but had no inkling of what all this meant for the future. After the boycott, the business went on. The circle of customers had grown smaller, but there was still enough to do. No, in any event, Christian businesses did not shut down for the day out of solidarity [with us]. Things like that that just didn't happen in those days. Later one could see certain Christian-owned stores with signage that said "German or "Aryan". Many were businesses that had formerly belonged to Jewish owners. I can still remember very well the signs which appeared on the restaurants, cafes, and movie theaters--when this I can't remember any more---which said that Jews were not desired there or that entry was forbidden to Jews. These signs were also posted for swimming pools. In one bakery in our neighborhood, there was once a sign that read, "We do not say Gross Gott anymore but Heil Hitler! Even as young as I was I was horrified. Now I can't say "Good day" when I entered a shop or store in order to buy bread or rolls. There was a steady stream of new discriminatory laws which made the daily lives of Jews more difficult. Even my parents and their business were affected. ..[T]here were several "faithful customers" who came to buy from us long after the boycott, but that circle---especially after 1936---became smaller and smaller. My parents closed their business either in late 1937 or 1938. How high their losses were I can't say ...

     Heberer, P. (2011). Children and the holocaust (J. Matthaus, Ed.) Lanham: AltaMira Press.

Questions:

From the context clues what do the words hinder and solidarity mean?

Why do you think the Nazi want to stop Jewish businesses?

Do you know of another time and place where signs like these were used?

Irmgard says that she's shocked and horrified at some of the events, what were they and why do you think that she had this reaction?

Read her account at least twice, when do you think she gave this testimony? Just after this took place or long afterwards? Cite specific passages to support your answer.

Why do you think that the sign reads that Germans should defend themselves? What does this say about the Nazis?

Possible activity: The second photo, can you create a short skit or dialogue between the woman and the SA officer? 

Please give me feedback!

Amy :)

Welcome to my first post!

What would happen if you were a Jew and lived in Prague in 1939?

VA USII.7b

 

  

Possible Questions for exploration:

1. Does the location of Thereienstadt have any significance? (Yesssss, found out why)

2. Take an inventory (a list) of items in your room, then compare it with what was prohibited to Jews after the occupation. How many items would you have to give up? What things would you have trouble parting with?

3. Why would the Germans take away radios?

4. Why would the Germans plan to make a movie about Thereinstadt? Why would the Germans want to show everyone that they were treating the Jews well?

5. How would advise the Red Cross to conduct their investigation?

6. What does Helga's drawings show about real life in the ghetto? Why do you think that she drew a picture that showed bread arriving in hearses?

Please contact me with any feedback about this ppt and questions. Your responses are important!

---Amy