Eric Rosenfeld was born near Frankfurt, Germany. Eric's father had died at home in December 1938 after being beaten and having his store ransacked by German soldiers. . . all because he was Jewish . "Kristallnacht" was known as the “Night of the Broken Glass”. The Nazi propaganda machine had declared that "Jews cause all the problems in the world!"
More and more restrictions were handed down for the Jews: yellow stars they had to wear, schools they could not attend, and places they were forbidden to go, and things they were forbidden to do. After suffering increased persecution, Eric fled to Frankfurt to an orphanage so he could attend school.
Eric knew what it meant to be isolated, persecuted, and faced with almost certain death at the hands of the Nazis. His mother’s last-ditch attempt to save the life of her son was the “Children’s Transports”. Following Kristallnacht, “Night of the Broken Glass”, on November 9, 1938, groups of children were transported for sanctuary via a program called "Kindertransport." The children had to be between the ages of 3 and 17, and they had to leave Germany alone, without their parents.
Through the efforts of the Hebrew Immigration Aid Society who facilitated the "Children's Transports", Eric Rosenfeld was able to immigrate to the United States in August 1941. Eric waved to his mother for the last time as she waited on the train platform; later that year, his mother was sent to the concentration camp in Auschwitz where she died.
Eric sailed with 900 other refugees on a converted 8,000 ton Portuguese coal ship, after traveling by train with seven other teenagers from Berlin to Lisbon, Portugal. This was four months BEFORE Pearl Harbor.
About one thousand children were rescued from the threats of Nazi persecution and genocide during the Holocaust. These children were part of one of the most triumphant and tragic stories of the 20th century. Yet these 1,000 children were a very small number indeed. More than 1.5 million children along with eleven million people perished in the Holocaust.
Eric, now sixteen, believed many of his family had been wiped out in the Holocaust. Why did Eric survive? Grateful for America as a country of refuge, Eric joined the United States Army and risked his life on a daring journey across the sea using secret documents and serving in military intelligence. Eric’s story is an unforgettable story. . . .full of courage and passion and the rediscovery of hope.
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OBJECTIVES:
1) Students will learn the political, economic, and social reasons why the Holocaust was possible.
2) Students will explore the environment in which this happened.
ACTIVITIES:
Losing Freedoms
Encourage students to think of the freedom these rights allow you and your family, and think of the ways you and your family would be affected if these rights were revoked. Remember that if they were revoked, this would mean giving up things you already have. Rank these rights independently.
- Rank these rights from 1 to 6 --- 1 being MOST important to you.
The right to...
_____own or use a public telephone
_____date/marry whomever you choose
_____own a radio, CD player, Nintendo...
_____own a pet
_____leave your house whenever you choose (You would still be able to leave the house, but there would be strict limitation on when you could go out.)
- Discuss your decisions and work to come to a class consensus to re-rank the rights as a group. Be ready to share the individual and group responses and support with reasons.
- Create a time line of what happened to the Jewish people's rights during Hitler's reign.
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.
