Teacher Resources
Hitler
Calling himself der Führer (‘the Leader’), Adolf Hitler ruled Germany from 1933 until his death. He believed that Germans were born to rule over other peoples and that there was no place for Jewish people in society. The first belief was a major cause of World War II (1939–45). The second led to the mass killings that are known as the Holocaust.
From: Encyclopædia Britannica. (2023). Adolf Hitler. Britannica School. https://school.eb.com.au/levels/middle/article/Adolf-Hitler/440642
Auschwitz
The concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz (also called Auschwitz-Birkenau) was the largest to be set up by Nazi Germany. It was located near the industrial town of Oswiecim in southern Poland in a portion of the country that was annexed by Germany at the beginning of World War II. Auschwitz was actually three camps in one: a prison camp, an extermination camp, and a slave-labor camp. It was the most lethal of the Nazi extermination camps and came to represent the “final solution,” or the extermination of the Jews.
From: Encyclopædia Britannica. (2023). Auschwitz. Britannica School. https://school.eb.com.au/levels/middle/article/Auschwitz/585301
Videos
The Holocaust
"2016-11 Auschwitz- 01-20161111" by Daniel BRIOT is marked with CC0 1.0.
The killing of millions of people by Nazi Germany during World War II is referred to as the Holocaust, though the term is most commonly used to describe the fate of Europe’s Jews. The Nazis’ various policies for exterminating the Jews were deliberate and calculated. The primary goal of the Nazi regime was the extermination of all the Jews in Europe. This purpose was nearly fulfilled—out of an estimated 9.5 million Jews living in Europe before the war, about 6 million were killed. In addition, millions of Poles and Russians were also killed.
Adapted from: Encyclopædia Britannica. (2023). Holocaust. Britannica School. https://school.eb.com.au/levels/middle/article/Holocaust/274919
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More Holocaust Fiction
If you liked Once, you might be interested in these titles about the Holocaust:
The Puppet Boy of Warsaw by
Mika is a Jewish boy who inherits a coat from his grandfather and discovers a puppet in one of its many secret pockets. He becomes a puppeteer in the Warsaw ghetto, during the Second World War, but when his talent is discovered, Mika is forced to entertain the occupying German troops instead of his countrymen. It is also the story of Max, a German soldier stationed in Warsaw, whose experiences in Poland and later in Siberia's Gulag show a different side to the Second World War. As one of Mika's puppets is passed to the soldier, a war-torn legacy is handed from one generation to another.
Call Number: F WEA War StoriesPublication Date: 2013
