What is liberation?

Survivors at Bergen-Belsen eat with the dead in the background.
Photo courtsey of: www.ushmm.org

What happened to the camps once the Allies came? 

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.

Goals: At the end of this webquest I will be able to:
 1.  Explain what happened when a camp was liberated
 2. Explain the reactions of the Allies, the prisoners, and the Germans

 New history words: liberation, war on two fronts, Yiddish, MPs

Activity #1
Before we begin, write down two to three sentences on what liberty means to you. Or what would your life be like without it?


What is term liberation mean when we're discussing WWII?
 

The US liberation of Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria
Photo courtsey of www. ushmm.org

 

Liberation is when the Allies arrived and freed the population from Nazi power.  Liberation can apply to a city, town or to a concentration camp. In the winter and spring of 1945, the Allies (the combined armies of the British, the US, the French, and the Soviets) were closing in on Nazi Germany. The Soviets were gaining terrority in the East and the rest of the Allies were coming in from the West like a sandwich.  For Germany, this meant a war fought on two fronts (one in the east and one in the west).  It was clear to the fighting men that the war Europe would be over soon.  Meanwhile, as the Allies pushed nearer to Germany, they found and freed the concentration camps. 

     Unfortunately, for Anne Frank she died sometime in March or April 1945, just before Bergen-Belsen was liberated by British troops on April 15, 1945.  When Bergen-Belsen was liberated, the camp had no running water, little food and no toliets. Anne probably died from typhus, a infectious disease spread by body lice. It causes a high fever, coughing, nausea, and vomiting. Without any medical assistance, death is possible. Typhus is easily prevented with bathing and access to clean clothes. (Don't worry typhus is rare and only spread by body lice). 

 Activity #2 

Watch a movie on how the Allies discovered the concentration camps here.

The Soviets liberated Auschwitz on January 27, 1945.

The SS evacuated most prisoners before the Soviets arrived .

  Those too ill or weak were accidently left

 behind including these children
Photo: www.ushmm.org

Activity #3

 Watch and read testimonies of inmates, liberators, and perpetrators of the Holocaust. (Don't worry all of these are short!)

Some vocabulary before you start Activity #3:

MPs are military police  (Hint: when on base don't make them mad)

Yiddish is a Jewish language. Offically, Jews use Hebrew, but in Europe Yiddish developed. It's a mix between Hebrew, Russian, and German. Since the Holocaust fewer people speak it, but it is language that was spoken in Jewish communities in Europe. In English,  you might be familiar with several words that are Yiddish:

mishmash: mixed up bunch of something

klutz: a clumsy person

nosh: to eat a snack.  I'd nosh when I came home from school. You know some cookies and milk, crackers and cheese, ya know.

schmooze: to chat,  to make contacts. Hopefully this person might do you a favor in the future.


Read about Hans Friedrich and Oskar Groning here.

Watch and listen to Fela Warschau here  and Alan  Zimm here.

Watch and listen to James Rose here and Ross Snowden here

Then complete the following IN COMPLETE SENTENCES!

Thanks for reading! I hope you learned something new! Amy

Works Cited

 

Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State. Public Broadcasting Service, 2004-2005.
        Web. July 8, 2013.



 

CDC gov. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013.
       Web. July 26, 2013.

 

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States
        Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2013. Web. July 11, 2013.