Contextualizing Memoirs with Anne Frank

Kelly A. Watson2012 Arthur and Rochelle Belfer National Conference for

Educators kwatson@hse.k12.in.us

FJH Holocaust Memorial Garden

Wearing Save Darfur Bands at FJH

Indiana Voices Book Signing

Darfur Rally with Eowyn, 2007

Student-Directed Presentations

Teaching History through the Memoirs You Teach

WWII/Frank Timeline

Arrange photographs in order

Hitler Becomes German ChancellorJanuary 30,1933

Otto Frank decides to relocate his family to the Netherlands.

Germany Invades Poland, Beginning WWII, September

1939

Germany Invades the Netherlands, May 1940

Anne receives a diary for her 13th birthday June 12, 1942

German Anti-Jewish Laws are Passed in Amsterdam

“…Jews must wear a yellow star. Jews must hand in their bicycles. Jews are banned from trams and are forbidden to drive…Jews must be indoors by eight…and cannot even sit in their own gardens after that hour. Jews are forbidden to visit theaters, cinemas, and other places of entertainment…Our freedom was strictly limited. Yet things were still bearable.” Anne Frank

June 20, 1942

Bombing of Pearl HarborDecember 7, 1941

Anne and Margot removed from public school and begin at the Jewish Lyceum.

Frank and van Pels Families Move into the AnnexJuly 1942

D-Day, June 6, 1944

Hope is revived within us; it gives us fresh courage, and makes us strong again…I may yet be able to go back to school in September or October. Yours, Anne Tuesday, June 6, 1944

Discovery of the AnnexAugust 4, 1944

“It was around ten-thirty. I was upstairs with the van Pelses in Peter’s room and I was helping him

with his schoolwork. I was showing him the mistake in the dictation when suddenly someone came

running up the stairs. The stairs were squeaking, I stood up, because it was still early in the morning and everyone was supposed to be quiet - then the door opened and a man was standing right in front of us with a gun in his hand and it was pointed at

us.”

Otto Frank

Liberation of AuschwitzJanuary 1945

Otto Frank is liberated by the Russians on January 27th.

Death of Margot and Anne FrankMarch 1945

Bergen-Belsen Liberated, April 1945

VE-DayMay 8, 1945

Otto Frank returns to Amsterdam, June 1945, the only survivor

Dropping of the Atomic BombsAugust 6 and 9, 1945

The Diary of Anne Frank First Published, 1947