By Kaitlyn Pekarski

By Kaitlyn Pekarski

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Table of Contents:

Introduction………………………………………..page 2

Supportive Books………………………………….page 3

Supportive Songs………………………………….page 6

Supportive Articles……………………………….page 8

Supportive Websites……………………………..page10

Supportive Movies………………………………..page12

Small Group Activities…………………………..page14

Large Group Activities…………………………..page15

Independent Assignments……………………...page16

Conclusion…………………………………………page18

Bibliography………………………………………page19

Introduction

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This chapter is dedicated to the enhancement of student learning and understanding of the life of the well-known 14 year old girl, Anne Frank, and the diary she wrote while hidden in an attic of an old office building. Included in this chapter are supplemental materials for educators to use to provide to their students.

The Holocaust and the genocide of nearly 6 million Jewish citizens during World War II are very big concepts, and sometimes a bit overwhelming for students to understand. However, the contents and the activities planned in this chapter will hopefully give students a closer glimpse into the life of a teenage girl, not much younger or older than them. After listening to the songs about genocide, or completing the independent activities where they get to create their own piece of history, perhaps students will comprehend the terror and horror that was the Holocaust, and leave Anne Frank’s diary behind with a sincere appreciation for her courageousness.

Within this chapter, you will find suggestions for young adult novels, songs, news articles, websites, and movies that can be incorporated into the teaching of the diary of Anne Frank. Included is also suggestions for small group, large group, and independent activities that can be completed to enhance student comprehension of the time period, the extremity of the situation, and the boldness of the young girl who documented it all in a cardboard covered notebook.

Supportive Books

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Supportive young adult novels are a great way to get students interested in the canonical text your class is reading. An even greater way to grab students’ attention prior to reading your novel is to read aloud a children’s book pertaining to the topic discussed in the text. A great children’s book that can be read alongside Anne Frank is titled The Terrible Things: An Allegory of the Holocaust by Eve Bunting.

This children’s book tells the tale of a forest full of happily cohabitating animals. However, one day, the “terrible things” come and take over the forest. One by one, the different groups of animals are taken away by the terrible things according to the different features they have. For example, the birds are taken away because they have feathers on their backs. The only forest creature to survive is a little rabbit, who hopes that the other survivors believe his story of the terrible things.

This book is an excellent supplement to your students’ reading of Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl because it portrays the horror of the Holocaust in such an innocent way. I believe that students will understand the message the author is trying to relay to the reader. This book should also spark students’ interest levels in reading about the Holocaust because they will want to find out more about these “terrible things.” This children’s book also has great illustrations that will captivate your students’ attention while you read it aloud or they each read a copy silently at their desks.

Supportive Books (Cont’d)

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The young adult novel I Have Lived a Thousand Years is an extraordinary fictional account of a young girl growing up during the Holocaust. This novel is exceptionally valuable for your students to read because it depicts, Elli Friedmann, a thirteen year old girl from Hungary, as she fights for survival in a Nazi concentration camp.

This powerful novel allows readers to peer into the life of a Jewish citizen in a concentration camp. The author herself is a survivor of a Nazi concentration camp, and the depictions are therefore horribly accurate and tragic. Elli manages to adjust to life in this crowded ghetto, although food and privacy prove themselves to be no longer existent. She narrates the book with a conviction as if this fictional character really experienced the despair and cruelty of the Holocaust.

This young adult novel is so great to pair with your students’ reading of Anne Frank: A Diary of a Young Girl because unlike Anne, Elli tells her tale from the confines of a concentration camp. The emotion portrayed in this book is very different from the emotion Anne writes about in her diary. Although there are similar themes in both girls’ accounts, the emotion is much more outspoken in I Have Lived a Thousand Years.

The title of this novel is also very significant itself. I would strongly suggest facilitating a class-wide discussion on the meaning and significance behind the title of this text.

Supportive Books (Cont’d)

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Rose Zar’s young adult novel, In the Mouth of the Wolf is a superb text for your students to read as a supplement to Anne Frank’s diary. This novel is a non-fiction text based on the actual occurrences of the author, Rose Zar’s, life. The story is written and narrated as her 19 year old self and the horrors she faced during the Holocaust as a young Jewish woman on the confines of escape.

This book has many parallels to Anne Frank’s diary. Not only are the two texts non-fiction, but they also depict a major part of the Holocaust that many people do not hear much about: hiding. Although Anne and her family hid in the Secret Annex for nearly two year, Rose also hid from the Nazi officer and their awful threat of containment in a concentration camp. Instead, Rose hid from the Nazis by maintaining a false identity. She travelled alone and posed as a non-Jewish citizen for the many jobs she worked. Along her path, she discovered many obstacles. Many of her obstacles consisted of people suspecting she was Jewish.

This book is such a wonderful supplement to your teaching of the diary of Anne Frank because it tells the tale of a girl whose experience during the Holocaust was similar to Anne’s, but also in a sense entirely different. I believe that this novel will be a great option for your students who only enjoy reading non-fiction because it is as realistic as a book can get.

Supportive Books (Cont’d)

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Anne Frank and Me is a young adult novel written by Cherie Bennett and Jeff Gottesfeld, and it is a perfect complement to your students’ reading of Anne Frank’s diary.

This novel, originally adapted from a play, is about a young girl, Nicole Burns, who believes that the Holocaust is old news and does not understand why she and her classmates have to learn about it in school. Nicole, who is not Jewish herself, goes on a field trip to the Anne Frank exhibit and finds herself transported back in time, living as the eldest daughter of a Jewish family in Paris, France during the Holocaust. Nicole and her new family are taken to a concentration camp, and she meets Anne Frank in the back of a cattle car. Nicole finally learns to appreciate the horrors and tragedies that were the Holocaust.

This novel is targeted for young adult readers. I think that middle school students will most likely benefit from reading this novel, but high school students will certainly enjoy reading it.

This novel is so great to read as a supplement to Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl because there are accurate historical references to the life of Anne Frank. This novel will allow students to experience the Holocaust through the eyes of a modern-day teenager, which will certainly capture their attention.

Supportive Songs

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Music is a great way to grab your students’ attention when teaching on a particular subject! Although music played an important role in the citizens’ lives contained in concentration camps during the Holocaust, nearly all of the music is naturally written in a foreign language.

There are, however, countless amounts of songs written about parallel topics to the Holocaust, such as genocide in general. A great song to play for your students in the hopes to capture their attention and turn their interest to the diary of Anne Frank and the horror of the Holocaust is Bob Dylan’s “With God on Our Side” off his album, The Times They are A-Changin’. This song, about genocide in our world, depicts the glorification of murder by the claim that “God was on their side.” The powerful music and the deeply emotional lyrics will certainly captivate the student listeners. Dylan, in regard to the Holocaust, sings, “When the Second World War Came to an end, we forgave the Germans and we were friends. Though they murdered six million, in the ovens they fried, the Germans now too, have God on their side.”

Your students will certainly have an overwhelmingly emotional response upon listening to the music and the lyrics of this song. I suggest printing out a copy of the lyrics for each student in your class to read along to as the song plays aloud in your classroom. There are also many great YouTube videos that people have created about the Holocaust that this song practically narrates the awful horror.

Supportive Songs (Cont’d)

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Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song” is another wonderful song to have your students listen to before or during they read the diary of Anne Frank. In this song, Marley sings about the importance and preciousness of one’s own freedom. This song is extraordinarily liberating, something that was certainly stolen from the 6 million Jewish citizens killed murdered during the Holocaust.

I believe that this song is a good supplement to the teaching of Anne Frank’s diary because it puts a momentous emphasis on something that all Jews lost during the Holocaust: their freedom. The word “redemption” is synonymous with freedom, liberation, emancipation, and rescue. These are all things I am certainly sure the victims of the Holocaust wish they could have had while they waited their turn to be killed in whichever concentration camp they were thrown into. For me, the Holocaust is such an emotional learning experience, and I feel as if your students will get so much more out of reading the diary of Anne Frank if they realize how significant of a tragedy this historical event was.

Bob Marley uses deeply moving lyrics mixed with a soft hint of background music to express his feelings of redemption in this song. If you wish to have your students listen to this song prior to reading the young adult novel, I would suggest you map out the clear connections between this song and the events of the Holocaust. However, if your students happen to listen to this song during their reading of Anne Frank’s diary, I would advise that they attempt to make the connection themselves using the feelings Anne exposes in her diary and any additional background they have of the events and tragedies of the Holocaust.

Supportive Articles

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Current events are a great way to relate the topic studied in class to students’ lives. Students might automatically associate the Holocaust with the past and think that no similar event would ever occur in today’s world. However, if they assume this, they are incorrect, and this is important information to bring to a student’s attention. I strongly suggest using the internet to search for current events at popular news websites, such as CNN.com. It is advised to not search for articles that are too outdated because they will consequently lose their relevance. Therefore, I suggest searching for articles that are no more than five years old.

One great current event article that I found with relative ease was published on the CBS News website (CBSNews.com). The article is titled, “Malnutrition a Growing Concern in Darfur,” and was written on September 1st, 2007. The article discusses the issue of malnutrition of children in the region of Darfur.

Darfur is, unfortunately, a great way to make the Holocaust relevant to students. It is unfortunate because the events in Darfur are horribly tragic and because of this, relatable to the events of the Holocaust. I believe that this article, along with any other current event article (and there are many) about Darfur, will open students eyes to a world of genocide parallel to the Holocaust. This is especially significant because it is occurring in our world presently. I believe that this is a great way to get students interested in reading the diary of Anne Frank, and will hopefully encourage students to further research the collapsing society of Darfur. Perhaps your students will feel so strongly about this region that they will want to take action, such as collecting money or spreading awareness.

Supportive Articles (Cont’d)

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Another great idea for a current event article that will supplement your students’ reading of Anne Frank is the idea of Holocaust deniers.

I found an article on Foxnews.com, another excellent source for current events, titled, “Bishop Convicted for Denying Holocaust” published in April of 2010. The article describes the conviction of British Bishop Richard Williamson for denying the Holocaust in a television interview in Sweden in 2008. Williamson was ordered a hefty fine and was frowned upon by viewers all over the globe. In many countries, such as Germany, it is considered a criminal offense to deny the events of the Holocaust.

I believe that this article will be most effective and eye-opening to students if it is presented to them after they have read Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl and learned about the history of the Holocaust. I think that your students will be absolutely outraged to learn that there are people who are self-proclaimed, “Holocaust deniers.” I think that this article, or a similar current event, will certainly strike up a great discussion in your class about the reality of the Holocaust. If you have any students in your class who were raised to be Holocaust deniers, perhaps you should let them speak to the class and explain their reasoning.