ENGLISH 10 – Holocaust Museum Webquest

Name ______Date ______Period _____

This webquest is a virtual tour of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. You will visit several online exhibitions and be asked to respond to the passages you read and the pictures you see. Elie Wiesel, the author of Night, experienced many of these horrors. Answer the questions IN YOUR OWN WORDS!

 Go to the main page of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: www.ushmm.org  On the left side under “Holocaust History,” click on “Online Exhibitions”  This will take you to the “Online Exhibition” page. There are links to a variety of topics connected to the Holocaust. You will be returning to this page often.

 Click on “Ghettos”  Now click on “Hidden History of the Kovno Ghetto”  This will take you to the website that tells the story of the people who lived in this ghetto.  Click on “Introduction” o Read the introduction. What was the purpose of ghettos?

o How did the people in the Kovno Ghetto rebel against their captors?

 Now click on “Invasion” o Why were pro-Nazi Lithuanians upset with the Jewish population?  Now click on “Secret Archives” o Why did the people in the Kovno Ghetto keep an archive?

 Click on some of the picture thumbnails on the different pages. o Describe the picture you think is the most powerful. EXPLAIN your answer!

 Go back to the “Online Exhibition” page of the USHMM website.  Click on “Camps”  Click on the link for “Buchenwald Concentration Camp” o Read the statement by Dwight Eisenhower. Why was it so important for him to visit Buchenwald after it was liberated?

 Scroll down and click on the link that says “Photos.” You can then click on the thumbnails to make each picture larger. o After you have looked at several photos, describe the picture you think is the most powerful. EXPLAIN your answer!  Go back to the “Online Exhibition” page of the USHMM website.  Click on “General Reference”  Next click on “Holocaust Encyclopedia”  Click on the link titled “Introduction to the Holocaust.” READ the whole article! o Give a brief definition of “holocaust” IN YOUR OWN WORDS!

o What other groups did the Nazis aim to eliminate besides those of the Jewish religion?

o What did the Nazis call their goal to eliminate the Jewish population?

 Go back to the main page and click on the link entitled “Ghettos.” READ the whole article! o Describe the ghettos.

o Describe the living conditions of the ghetto.  Go back to the main page and click on the link entitled “Nazi Camps.” READ the whole article! o What was the purpose of the Nazi concentration camps?

o Why was Poland the country selected to establish extermination camps?

 If you have time at the end of class, spend some time exploring other resources on the museum’s website (pictures, maps, articles, etc.)