Unit 2: “The Diary of Anne Frank”

1. Unit 2:“The Diary of Anne Frank” Literature Connections 8 Miss Tangas

2. Pre-reading Journal If you were forced to leave your home quickly, within a few hours, to go to an unknown place what would you bring with you and why? You can bring only what you can carry! Confine your choices to a backpack.

3. Part 1: Nazi Germany

4. Jewish Life in Europe Before the Holocaust • Before the Nazis came into power in Germany • in 1933, Jews were living in every country in • Europe. • Before the Holocaust, there were roughly 9 • million Jews occupying 21 European • countries. By the end of WWII, 2 out of 3 Jews • would be dead.

5. Jewish Life in Europe Before the Holocaust

6. Hitler Comes to Power • Germany was defeated and humiliated 15 • years earlier during WWI. • The country was in a poor economic state. • Adolf Hitler and his party, the National • Socialist German Workers Party, or Nazi for • short, and promised a new and “glorious” • Germany.

7. The Nazi Terror Begins • Hitler called a state of emergency to end all • individual freedoms including: • The freedom of press, speech, and • assembly • Right to privacy: officials could read mail • and listen to phone conversations • Those who spoke in opposition of the Nazi • party were arrested or killed.

8. Antisemitism • Antisemitism is prejudice and discrimination • against Jews. • Rulers placed restrictions on Jews holding • certain jobs or owning land. • Jews also became scapegoats and were • blamed for causing the “Black Death” (plague).

9. Nazi Racism • To be Aryan was to be perfect—blond hair, • blue eyes, and tall. • Beginning in 1933, German doctors were • allowed to perform sterilizations on Gypsies, • the handicapped, mentally ill, deaf, or blind, to • prevent them from having children.    

10. The Boycott of Jewish Business • On April 1, 1933, the Nazis carried out the first • nationwide, planned action: a boycott of • Jewish businesses. • The boycott lasted • just a day, but it • marked the • beginning of wave of • discrimination.

11. The Downfall • Nazi propaganda & censorship: viewpoints in • any way threatening to Nazi beliefs or to the • regime were censored or eliminated from all • media • The Nuremberg Race • Laws: new laws that • made Jews second-class • citizens by taking away • voting and other rights

12. Locating the Victims • In 1939 the German government conducted a • census to record each person’s age, sex, • residence, profession, religion, and marital • status. The information from the census helped • Nazi officials create a Jewish Registry to • indentify and locate all the Jews.

13. Part 2: The “Final Solution”

14. Ghettos in Eastern Europe • Ghettos were sections of towns and cities marked-off for residency by Jews only. • The largest ghetto was in Warsaw, the Polish • capital, where almost half a million Jews were • confined. • Many of the ghettos • were enclosed by • barbed wire fences • or walls.

15. Concentration Camps • Surviving the train ride to • the concentration camp was • half the battle. • Once at a concentration • camp, there were 2 lines for “life” and “death”. • Many people were tricked into taking showers • to rid their hair of lice only to be gassed once • inside. • Bodies were burned in crematoria or buried in • mass graves.