A Holocaust Diary

Introduction

"Our many Jewish friends and acquaintances are being taken away in droves. The Gestapo is treating them very roughly and transporting them in cattle cars to Westerbork, the big camp in Drenthe to which they're sending all the Jews....If it's that bad in Holland, what must it be like in those faraway and uncivilized places where the Germans are sending them? We assume that most of them are being murdered. The English radio says they're being gassed."

- October 9, 1942

Excerpt from "The Diary of Anne Frank"

Task

You will pretend you are alive during World War II, and you will write a 10 passage diary from the point of view from one of the following:

-German Nazi Soldier

-Nazi Soldier, hiding that he is Jewish

-Jewish Prisoner in a concentration camp

-Jew in hiding

-German bystander keeping Jews in hiding

Your diary will be written in a "Dear Journal" format. You will be describing your day to day life in 10 written passages. Each diary passage will include the following

-Date

-Greeting (Dear Diary, Dear Journal, etc)

-Minimum of 2 paragraphs

-Closing (Sincerely, Until next time, etc)

Entry 1: Explain/Introduce your role during this time (soldier, Jew, etc) and describe your current situation

Entries 2-9: Your story and day to day life in your living situation.

Entry 10: Must give us an idea of what happened to you.

Examples: Did you survive and escape from the camps?

Did you stay in hiding until the war was over?

Did you become one of Hitlers lead soldiers?

Did you get caught hiding the Jews?

Process

The task you need to complete today is to choose whose perspective you will write about. Below are links to help you investigate each role to make a final decision. This investigation will help you to gain background information on each type of person that lived during World War II. Complete the graphic organizer given to you on each role, once this is complete, you will complete the back of the organizer on the role you choose to write from.

-German Nazi Soldier

-Perpetrator Information

-Perpetrators in the War

-Jewish Prisoner in a concentration camp

-Victims of the Holocaust

-Treatment of Victims

-Jew in hiding

-Jews in Hiding

-Hidden Children

-German bystander keeping Jews in hiding

-Hiding the Jews

-Holocaust Heroes

Evaluation

Category	1	2	3	4
Sentences & Paragraphs	Sentences and paragraphs are complete, well-constructed and of varied structure.	All sentences are complete and well-constructed (no fragments, no run-ons). Paragraphing is generally done well.	Most sentences are complete and well-constructed. Paragraphing needs some work.	Many sentence fragments or run-on sentences OR paragraphing needs lots of work.
Ideas	Ideas were expressed in a clear and organized fashion. It was easy to figure out what the letter was about.	Ideas were expressed in a pretty clear manner, but the organization could have been better.	Ideas were somewhat organized, but were not very clear. It took more than one reading to figure out what the letter was about	The letter seemed to be a collection of unrelated sentences. It was very difficult to figure out what the letter was about.
Historical accuracy	The letter contains at least 5 accurate facts about the topic	The letter contains 3-4 accurate facts about the topic	The letter contains 1-2 accurate facts about the topic.	The letter contains no accurate facts about the topic.
Grammar & spelling (conventions)	Writer makes no errors in grammar or spelling.	Writer makes 1-2 errors in grammar and/or spelling	Writer makes 3-4 errors in grammar and/or spelling	Writer makes more than 4 errors in grammar and/or spelling
Checklist	Completed all items on the task checklist for the letter	Completed most items on the task checklist for the letter.	Completed some items on the task checklist for the letter	Completed few items on the task checklist for the letter.
Format	Complies with all the requirements for a friendly letter	Complies with almost all the requirements for a friendly letter	Complies with several of the requirements for a friendly letter	Complies with less than 75% of the requirements for a friendly letter.
Creativity/Writing Style	Diary contains descriptions which keeps the reader's interest the entire time.	Diary contains descriptions which keeps the reader's interest most of the time	Diary contains descriptions which keeps the reader's interest half of the time	Diary contains descriptions which barely keeps the reader's interest.

Conclusion

The Holocaust was a horrific event in History that truly effected the entire world in the past and present. It will continue to impact our future lives as well. This webquest is to assist you in gaining a new perspective on the Holocaust and what life was like for people during that time.

In concluding this project you will write a reflection on how writing this diary helped you in understanding this terrible time and how it effected you personally. Each of you will share your favorite diary with the class and will be graded on your presentation.

Credits

A variety of websites and books were used in creating this project, however, these 2 websites were the core of where information for this project has come from.

1) A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust - http://fcit.usf.edu/HOLOCAUST/

2) The United States Holocaust museum - http://www.ushmm.org/

Permissions
We all benefit by being generous with our work. Permission is granted for others to use and modify this WebQuest for educational, non-commercial purposes as long as the original authorship is credited. The modified WebQuest may be shared only under the same conditions. See the Creative Commons Attribution • Non-Commercial• Share-Alike license for details

Teacher Page

Created by: Julie Vincenti

This WebQuest was created for an 8th Grade Social Studies class. Through this webquest they create a Diary written from the view point of someone who lived during World War II (German soldier, Jewish prisoner, Jew in hiding, or German hiding a Jew). This particular project ties in with the 8th Grade cross-curricular unit in that the students will be reading the Diary of Anne Frank as well.

In addition to writing the diary, they will also write a reflection of how they felt in creating this and how it helped them to understand more about the Holocaust. They will also present a diary passage of their choice.