Eva Rosenfeld was born in East Prussia, which was part of Germany prior to WW II. It was 1937, and terrible events were happening in Italy and in Germany. There were more and more restrictions for the Jews: yellow stars they had to wear, schools they could not attend, and many things they were forbidden to do. The Nazis were in power and many families sought to escape.
In 1937 Eva and her parents emigrated to Genova, Italy because of the increasing persecution of the Jews in Germany. Her father was arrested in Genova and told he had to leave Italy. He went at night on a fishing boat to France where he was eventually caught by the Nazis and died on the train headed for the concentration camp in Auschwitz.
During the nights of November 9-10, 1938, a massive pogrom (state-sponsored anti-Jewish violence) was orchestrated by the Nazi government throughout Germany and the recently annexed state of Austria. A total of 815 shops, 29 department stores, 171 residences, and 267 synagogues were burned and destroyed. Ninety-one Jews were killed. The shattered panes of beveled glass that littered sidewalks, most of it coming from the shop windows of Jewish stores, gave the pogrom its name: Kristallnacht, or "Night of Broken Glass." In the days that followed, 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and taken to Germany's concentration camps.
Kristallnacht marked the Nazis' first centrally organized operation of large-scale, anti-Jewish violence. It signaled the fateful transfer of responsibility for "solving" the "Jewish Question" to the SS and served as a prelude to the coming Holocaust.
Eva was taken in by a young Jewish couple, but soon all of them were placed in internment camps in southern Italy (by Italian fascists) from 1940-1944. They lived in hardship none of them could ever have imagined.
As horrendous and infamous as the genocides were, the Jews are still the only group whose fate was the end product of an intentional process specifically designed for their complete extermination. With ruthless efficiency, the victims dehumanized and were gathered, transported, catalogued, sorted, selected, destroyed, and eliminated.
After the liberation of Italy in 1944 and with both her parents now dead,
she became one of 982 refugees from many countries, mostly Jews, who were able to come to the USA.
These European-Jewish Holocaust refugees from war-torn Europe were approved for immigration to the United States as “guests” of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt for the duration of the war.
President Roosevelt “invited” 982 refugees to enter the USA outside the strict immigration quota. These were the ONLY refugees of the Holocaust offered haven in America during World War II.
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OBJECTIVES:
Students will :
- Learn more about the culture and religion of the Jewish people.
- Describe in detail the harsh conditions that the Jews were faced with.
- Research print and online resources.
- Create a time line.
- Work in collaborative groups.
ACTIVITIES:
TIMELINE
Students will learn about the events that occurred before, during, and after the Holocaust and create a time line showing how those events are connected.
Students will need materials for creating a time line and display, such as string, letters and numbers cut from construction paper, images of the Holocaust, index cards.
1) Arrange students into seven groups and assign each group one of these periods related to the Holocaust:
- · Rise of the Nazi Party
- · Nazification
- · Ghettos
- · Camps
- · Resistance
- · Rescue and Liberation
- · Aftermath
2) Using this online resource http://fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/timeline/timeline.htm, have students learn about their assigned periods by exploring the time line.
3) Ask students in each group to choose four of the most significant events of their assigned period and briefly describe each event on an index card.
4) Create a time line on the bulletin board, and have students attach their index cards in the correct order. As students attach the cards, encourage them to describe each event and explain its significance.
5) Ask students to connect each event to preceding events on the time line.
National Standards
Social Sciences:
NSS-WH.5-12.8
Language Arts:
NL-ENG.K-12.1
NL-ENG.K-12.2
NL-ENG.K-12.6
NL-ENG.K-12.7
NL-ENG.K-12.8
NL-ENG.K-12.9
- History of Human Civilization: 7a. Understand the development and role of religion in early civilization. They will be able to discuss how religion established a code of conduct for the people and influences it had in different societies.
- Government/Civics: 1a. Acquire critical thinking and analytical skills; that is, they will use visual and mathematical data presented in various forms to assist in interpreting historical events. Students will chronologically organize significant events and people who form the foundation of early history.
- Geography: 4a. Understand that geography enables people to comprehend the relationships between people, places, and environments over time.
- Economics: 2b. Understand there are many influences on economic systems all over the world and the importance of their functions.
