Anne Frank in the World, 1929 - 1945 Teacher Workbook

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Enrichment/Self study Activities

5-8 Enrichment Activities

These questions/projects can be used as pre- or post- visit activities by students who will be going to the Exhibit. They can be used by any student wishing to expand knowledge about the life and times of Anne Frank. Students should negotiate the format in which they will present their answers/projects. Creativity is encouraged!

  1. Define scapegoat. Whom did the Nazis use as scapegoats? Why did the Nazis need scapegoats? Are there scapegoats today? Explain.

  2. List the groups that the Nazis considered racially impure and/or unhealthy. Do you know people today who have been included in these groups? How would the Nazis have viewed persons with HIV/AIDS?

  3. Research why the Nazis kept meticulous photographic records and documentation of their atrocities/war crimes.

  4. Define propaganda. How did the Nazi party use propaganda? Who uses propaganda today?

  5. Kristallnacht was a terrorizing experience for the Jewish people. Research the causes, the events, and the results of this famous night.

  6. Knowing the consequences if you were caught hiding someone from the Nazis, would you have done it? Imagine what it would have been like. What plan would you have used?

  7. Define stereotype. Describe a time when you were affected by stereotyping or when you falsely stereotyped another person.

  8. Interview someone who remembers the years of World War II. Report their story; memories, feelings, and what hindsight and history has taught.

5-8 Challenge Activities

  1. Research Jewish life in Germany from 1933 - 1945. What changes occurred for the Jews?

  2. Research and report on daily life in a concentration camp. Consider these questions: What emotional and physical challenges did an inmate face? What qualities or characteristics describe a survivor of a camp?

  3. Research and report on resistance movements during World War II.

  4. Research and report on the role of Christian churches during the Third Reich.

  5. Research and report on the Nuremberg Trials that prosecuted German war criminals.

  6. Research and report on the "Euthanasia Project" during the Nazi era. Describe the euthanasia controversy today. Form an opinion with evidence to support it.

  7. Research Nazi medical experimentation and recent controversy surrounding this information. Should results from the Nazi experiments be used for medical research today? Support your opinion.

  8. Research and report on Hitler's rise to power in Germany. How did he begin and build his career and his control? Research and report on other "charismatic leaders" in the past or present. Describe similarities and differences with Hitler.

  9. Research and report on neo-Nazi activities today. How are they similar and different from the Third Reich?

  10. Genocides and massacres such as the Holocaust occurred in the past and are occurring today. Research and report on events in one or more of these places:
  • Armenia
  • Australia
  • Bosnia
  • Cambodia
  • Central/South America
  • East Timor
  • Iraq
  • My Lai
  • Nanking
  • Native America
  • Shanghai
  • Singapore
  • South Africa
  • Yugoslavia (former)