Understanding the history and culture that is the setting for the literature we read is very important if we are to understand what we read. I want you to ask yourself the following questions:

 

1. How does learning about the historical period help you understand what you read?

2. Can you decide your own destiny?

3. Can one person really make a difference?

 

The time period when Hitler was in power in Germany was a time filled with heartache and many terrible events. There were many reasons why things happened the way they did, and why Hitler and the Nazi party was not stopped sooner. I want you to discover some of the historical setting of the play we are going to read together about Anne Frank.

 

Visit the following sites, and answer all the questions in complete sentences on a separate piece of paper.

 

What is genocide?

1. Define "genocide" in your own words.

2. When we refer to the "holocaust", what time period are we talking about?

 

Hitler Comes to Power

3. What levels of German society were most drawn to Hitler and the Nazi Party?

 

Nazi Racism

4. What was Hitler's term for the "master race"? Describe this type of person.

5. What types of German citizens were victims of the Nazi Party?

 

Antisemitism

6. Define antisemitism.

7. When did it begin?

8. What other nations treated Jews as scapegoats (blamed them for some trouble)?

 

The Nuremberg Laws

9. According to the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, how did the German government decide if someone was Jewish?

10. What did the German government require of Jews in German society?

 

Kristallnacht: The Night of Broken Glass

11. What happened on November 9, 1938? What caused the violence?

 

Refugee Map

12. Many Jews escaped Germany during this time. What countries accepted the most Jewish refugees?

 

Evian Conference

13. Why did the US not allow entrance to more refugees before WWII?

 

The Final Solution

14. What was the goal of the "Final Solution?"

 

Ghettos

15. How many ghettos existed in German occupied territories?

16. Describe the largest ghetto.

 

Abe's Story: Kutno Ghetto

17. Describe the picture and say how people are treated.

 

Abe's Story: Conditions Worsen

18. Describe how the conditions worsened.

19. What does Abe do? Where does he go? Why?

 

Concentration Camps

20. What were the first Nazi concentration camps? 
21.  What was the primary purpose of these camps?

 

Forced Labor Camps

22. Describe what happens to most "workers".

 

Death Camps

23. What happened at most of these camps?

 

Death Marches

24. Why were people forced to go on "death marches"?

 

Family Photograph

25. Create your own caption for this photo. Describe what the family is doing and where they are going.

 

Remember

26. Choose two images from this site. Include their title and a description of each picture.

 

Liberation

27. When the Soviet soldiers liberated Auschwitz Death Camp, how many shoes did they find?

 

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