Activity Overview
Multiple forms of written and artistic expression provide students with a window into the thoughts and feelings of children during the Holocaust. Anne Frank, Ruth Laskier, and Yitskhok Rudashevski kept journals and diaries during their time in hiding and while living in a ghetto. Heinz Geiringer wrote poetry and painted while in hiding, as did the children held in Theresienstadt. The historical narratives listed can be used by the teacher to gain and share knowledge about each person or group or given to students to read for great context before analyzing the primary sources.
Grade Level
7-12
ELA Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies:
RH1: Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
RH2: Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate, objective summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.
RH7: Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.
RH8: Distinguish among fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment in a text. Identify and distinguish between a primary and secondary source on the same topic.
WHST3: Write narratives to understand an event or topic, appropriate to discipline-specific norms, conventions, and tasks.
WHST4: Write responses to texts and to events (past and present), ideas, and theories that include personal, cultural, and thematic connections.
WHST7: Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
Social Studies Framework:
10.5 UNRESOLVED GLOBAL CONFLICT (1914–1945): World War I and World War II led to geopolitical changes, human and environmental devastation, and attempts to bring stability and peace.
10.5d Nationalism and ideology played a significant role in shaping the period between the world wars.
10.5e Human atrocities and mass murders occurred in this time period.
SEL Benchmarks
2A. Recognize and build empathy for the feelings and perspectives of others.
2B. Recognize and affirm individual identities as well as individual and group similarities and differences, including those rooted in culture, ethnicity, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, ability, etc.
3A: Consider individual and collective social, emotional, and physical safety and well-being, as well as social context in making decisions.
Objectives
Students will explore the voices of children of the Holocaust through journals, poetry, and art and explain the role literature and art play in resiliency and resistance.
Students will explore the lived experiences of children during the Holocaust by examining the writings and artwork of Anne Frank, Ruth Laskier, Yitskhok Rudashevski, Heinz Geiringer, and children from Theresienstadt.
Students will analyze diaries, poems, and artworks as primary sources to understand how children expressed their emotions, documented their experiences, and preserved their identities under Nazi persecution.
Students will reflect on the emotional and psychological impact of the Holocaust on children, gaining insight into how young people coped with fear, hope, loss, and resilience through creative expression.
Students will interpret how different forms of expression—writing, poetry, and art—can serve both as personal coping mechanisms and as historical testimony.
Students will recognize the importance of preserving and honoring the voices of young people from the Holocaust as vital contributions to our understanding of history and humanity.
