Could the Jews of
An
Exploration
A Web Quest
When
confronted with the facts of the Holocaust many people want to know if the Jews
of Europe could have been saved. Your
job is to explore the ways most people believe
Task:
Can you change History?
Investigate the sources
available to you, study the pro’s and con’s of each issue, and determine the
best course of action.
Some ideas to
consider:
For diplomatic
methods:
- investigate creating or finding
loopholes in
- using diplomatic means to find other
countries to take in the refugee Jews,
- go with the Nazi’s plan and buy the
Jews free.
Military options:
- bombing the camps,
- bombing the railroad lines,
- advancing toward the camps instead of
toward major cities as military objectives,
- do nothing and save those resources to
defeat the Nazi’s quicker and hopefully save more Jews.
For
- consider all other assassination
attempts
- consult with the recommendations of
the British, they are our closet allies in this war
- review the first psychological profile
ever done, and determine if it is worth killing Hitler
Liaison:
·
study
one to two of the sites for each of your advisors, come to a general conclusion
about possible to save the European Jews from destruction. Use all the information you find to make your
decision. Your’s is the opinion that
will be presented last to the president.
So you can take into consideration the recommendations of your advisors
or you can make your own choice that is up to you.
When you have done your research compile your
recommendations into a report for the President.
Diplomatic Means to save Jews:
Diplomats who saved Jews—From around the
world
Visas for Life
http://www.chgs.umn.edu/Visual___Artistic_Resources/Visas_For_Life/visas_for_life
Diplomatic Rescue: Shanghai as a means of escape
One US diplomat that saved Jews
http://pages.cthome.net/WWIIHERO/hbhero.html
Evian Conference—to decide the fate of the
Jews
http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/evian.htm
World closes its doors to Jews
http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/evichr.htm
Immigration Crisis, the
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/index.php?ModuleId=10007094&Type=normal+article
Immigration Crisis – go down to the heading
“the
http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/stlouis/teach/supread.htm
Voyage of the
http://www.ushmm.org/stlouis/story/voyage/index.htm
Murder and Intrigue, exchanging trucks for
Jews (go to the bottom of the first page of article to find your information)
http://www.pbs.org/auschwitz/40-45/murder/
How much blame did people in
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/genocide/guilt_identity_01.shtml
The
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/genocide/guilt_identity_01.shtml
Ordinary people that saved Jews using fake
passports
Military Means to save Jews 
An aerial reconnaissance photo of
the main camp at
feet by members of the 15th U.S. Army Air Force, September 13,
1944
We Knew in time to Save Lives
Could the Allies have bombed
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/bombau.html
Why didn’t they bomb
http://www1.yadvashem.org/about_holocaust/faqs/answers/faq_29.html
Why didn’t the allies bomb
BBC.com, why didn’t the
allies bomb Auschwitz
Winston Churchill’s opinion of the
Holocaust
George Mc Govern said we should have bombed
Auschwitz
http://judaism.about.com/od/holocaust/a/aush_nobomb.htm
Bombing railways and
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/holocaust/filmmore/reference/primary/index.html#bomb
(Click on words) Link to a map of all railroads and concentration camps in
Europe
Information was available to know how,
where and when Jews were being taken to their deaths
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/hungary1.html
Yad Vashem on The
http://www1.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%205903.pdf
Interactive Map of
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/genocide/launch_ani_auschwitz_map.shtml
Page of Aerial photos of Auschwitz and
OSS options for saving Jews
British Plan to Kill Hitler, the Foxley
Report ]
Killing
Hitler, BBC.co.uk
Killing Hitler-click on all pages
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/killing_hitler_01.shtml
Lists of plots against Hitler
http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=2972
Attempts to kill Hitler, another list
http://members.iinet.net.au/~gduncan/assassination_attempts.html
The British had plans to end Nazism not
Hitler
http://members.tripod.com/~american_almanac/britsww2.htm
http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/people/h/hitler-adolf/oss-papers/text/oss-profile-06.html
Eleven Minutes, a story from 1939 about an
assassination attempt against Hitler
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,762808-1,00.html
ALL Advisors
review these articles about how the Media was treating the Holocaust during
WWII
Cartoonists
against the Holocaust
The American Press and the
Holocaust
You are assigned one of the
following roles for your part in this WebQuest.
Diplomat -- You work in the State Department,
use your skills to investigate all possible ways to save lives with diplomatic
methods, be sure to account for current laws, the current environment in the
state department regarding allowing Jews to immigrate, and the opinion of the
American people to large numbers of Jews coming into the country. Use intelligence on how other nations are
using such means to save Jews to help you make your recommendation. Use
the proper format for your proposal.
Military strategist -- You work in the pentagon. No one knows you are on this commission, as
many in the military do not want to alter the goal winning the war, saving the
Jews is not high on the pentagons priority list. Put together military attack plans for
bombing the railroads the Nazi’s were using to transporting the Jews to the
death camps, bombing the camps themselves, or changing military objectives to
work for the liberation of the camps over the capture of enemy cities. Use the proper format for your proposal.
Liaison to the president -- You are the only
contact between your group and to President Roosevelt himself. You will take the proposals of the military
and diplomatic advisors and prepare a comprehensive proposal for the
President. Research 1-2 of each of your
advisors websites. You will take the
proposals of the prosecuting and your research to a comprehensive proposal for
the President. Your final proposal can
be different that the suggestions than your prosecutors. Your report will be presented to the
president last. Use the proper format
for your proposal.
Evaluation
Ø
You
will be evaluated on the writing quality of your final report, your use of
sources, depth of your analysis, internet use, and how well you worked together
as a group.
Ø
Your
report must be at least one page long.
Ø
You
will also be graded on your notes, so you must turn those in with your report
Ø
Click
here for the Rubric for this assignment.
Conclusion
In this WebQuest, you have explored only
two of the most often mentioned ways Jews could have been saved during the
holocaust. Other ways Jews were saved is
by private citizens hiding friends, neighbors, or even strangers in their
homes, partisans who did what they could to disrupt the work of the Nazi’s, and
the religious groups not targeted by the Nazi’s specifically the Catholic
Church. Those that were able to save
Jews were later honored by the