Jewish Girls Living In The Ghetto
(February 1944)
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Introduction
The Holocaust (also called Shoah in Hebrew) refers to the period from January 30, 1933 when Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany, to May 8, 1945 (VE Day), when the war in Europe ended. During this time, Jews in Europe were subjected to progressively harsh persecution that ultimately led to the murder of 6,000,000 Jews (1.5 million of these being children) and the destruction of 5,000 Jewish communities. The Jews who died were not casualties of the fighting like so many soldiers were during WWI .Rather, they were the victims of Germany's deliberate and systematic attempt to annihilate the entire Jewish population of Europe, a plan Hitler called the “Final Solution". Hitler blamed the Jews for all of the problems Germany faced after WWI. Was this fair? Why did this happen?
What would it have been like to be Jewish in Europe during this time? Would you be able to go to school? Would you be forced to move and live in horrible conditions away from your home? Would you even survive?
These are some ideas that you should keep in mind for this project. Are there lessons that all of us can learn from the Holocaust? Are there any stories of Heroism and even beauty during this bleak time? Why is the event in history too important to be forgotten?
Also, many people do not know that other groups faced the same persecution as the Jewish people did. These groups included Poles and Catholics. Why were these groups included? Could something like this happen again?