Teaching the Diary of Anne Frank: A Review and a Giveaway!

The first thing I noticed about Susan Moger’s book, Teaching the Diary of Anne Frank: An In-Depth Resource for Learning About the Holocaust Through the Writings of Anne Frank was her personal connection to Anne’s story. Here are the opening words to the preface:

I was born the day Anne Frank went into hiding-July 6, 1942. When I first read The Diary of a Young Girl, I was 13, the same age as Anne when she started her diary. That combination of events, and the fact that I, too, kept a diary, forged a connection between Anne and me. (p. 5)

The second thing I noticed was the book’s superb organization. Beginning with a lengthy note to teachers on how to use the book and  ending with “Resources and References” which is divided by grade level, the author has created a classroom resource which will make reading A Diary of a Young Girl not only memorable, but also a starting point for a learning unit with historical and sociological implications. 

Ms. Moger worked hard to show the historical context of Anne Frank’s life. But that broad worldview is balanced with personal snapshots showing how Anne was a “normal” teenager in an abnormal time. The book's timeline reflects this by showing what was going on in the Frank family in correspondence with world events.

Each of the five chapters incorporate resource pages amplifying the author's mission: to teach young people about the Holocaust so that Anne Frank's legacy will influence present and future generations.

You'll have to get the book to appreciate the depth of resources which Susan assembled in this curriculum resource. I can't begin to showcase her project suggestions, response journal topics, thought provoking discussion questions, and excerpts from Holocaust survivors. Here are just a few examples which spoke to me.

MAPS

http://www.theholocaustexplained.org/ks3/the-final-solution/german-expansionism/german-occupation-of-europe/#.VSbb0UvJ46I

This map is similar to the one reproduced in the book. If you click on this website you can see a succession of maps showing the progression of German occupation.

PHOTOGRAPHS

http://www.annefrank.ch/diary.html

This photograph captures Anne and her dream of one day becoming a journalist or a writer.

DOCUMENTS

National-Socialist German Workers' Party

Party Secretariat

Head of the Party Secretariat  Fuehrer Headquarters,                         July 11, 1943 

Circular No. 33/43 g.

Re: Treatment of the Jewish Question

On instructions from the Fuehrer I make known the following:

Where the Jewish Question is brought up in public, there may be no discussion of a future overall solution.

It may, however, be mentioned that the Jews are taken in groups for appropriate labor purposes.

signed M. Bormann

Distribution: Reichsleiter

Gauleiter

Group leaders

File Reference: Treatment/Jews

Source: Documents on the Holocaust, Selected Sources on the

Destruction of the Jews of Germany and Austria, Poland and the Soviet

Union, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, 1981, Document no.160. p.342.

This is one of several documents used in the prosecution of Nazi war criminals during the Nuremberg trials. Ms. Moger also devotes several resource pages and discussion questions on the topic of doublespeak and euphemisms.

LITERATURE

            A Dead Child Speaks
                         by Nelly Sachs

My mother held me by my hand.

Then someone raised the knife of parting:

So that it should not strike me,

My mother loosed her hand from mine.

But she lightly touched my thighs once more

And her hand was bleeding –

After that the knife of parting

Cut in two each bite I swallowed –

It rose before me with the sun at dawn

And began to sharpen itself in my eyes –

Wind and water ground in my ear

And every voice of comfort pierced my heart –

As I was led to death

I still felt in the last moment

The unsheathing of the great knife of parting.

(Translated by Ruth &Matthew Mead)

Holocaust Poetry: Compiled and Introduced by Hilda Schiff.

PRIMARY RESOURCES

from http://www.annefrank.ch/diary.html

I read the Diary of Anne Frank over fifty years ago and I still remember some of the feelings it evoked in me. Photocopies of actual pages from the diary startled me. Of course I knew that her journal was a hand-written account and not a typed paperback. But seeing her handwriting and the photos she inserted with her comments, connected me to my younger self who kept a diary because that’s what Anne Frank did. It made me wonder: how many other young women and writers have been inspired by Anne’s example?

The Diary of a Young Girl is a classic book appreciated by readers young and old.  Hopefully this curriculum supplement will continue to facilitate Anne’s purpose: to document a piece of history that the world can’t afford to forget.  

Ms. Moger is giving away an autographed copy of this award-winning book. A perfect addition to any school or home school library, I hope my faithful blog readers will share this post with teachers and/or enter on behalf of a local school. To enter, please leave me a comment by April 23. Make sure you leave me your email address if you are new to this blog.

*******

If your class is studying the Holocaust, here are several other books on the topic which I have reviewed on this blog:

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Rose Under Fire
Liesl's Ocean Rescue
Prisoner of Night and Fog 

*******

MORE RESOURCES:

Visit Anne Frank Foundation for more pictures of Anne and her family.

Visit Biography.com for interviews about Anne's diary.

Read Annexed by Sharon Doger for a fictionalized story about Peter Van Pels.