Boas, Jacob, ed. (1996). We Are Witnesses: Five Diaries of Teenagers Who Died in the Holocaust. Foreword by Patricia C. McKissack. New York: Scholastic Inc. 196 pages.

Grade Range: 6-12

Genre: nonfiction

Summary and Critique

Compiled in this book are five diaries of teenagers who died in the Holocaust: David, Yitzhak, Moshe, Eva, and Anne. Highlighted throughout the diaries are the gripping yet compelling experiences of these teenagers growing up in different parts of Europe. Each teenager writes about the everyday life before and during the Holocaust, prejudices, anti-Semitic views, and being Jewish.

Their diaries survived and are living testimonies to the atrocities they experienced as teenagers during the Holocaust. In the Anne Frank section of the book, the author seems to offer more commentary (sometimes comparisons of each memoir with Anne Frank's). Whereas Frank's writing style attests to the quasi-normalcy of daily life as the family hid in their attic, the other four diaries present painful and tragic perspectives, from leaving their homes in transport to the ghettos then to concentration/death camps.

Awards

1996 Best Books for Young Adults

Themes/Topics

Families

Friends and Enemies

Race, Ethnicity, and Culture

Challenges and Triumphs

War and Peace

The Holocaust

The Individual vs. Society

Author Information

Jacob Boas was born in transit concentration camp in Holland in 1943. As a child survivor of the Holocaust, he spent much of his adult life immersing himself in the study of the Holocaust. An award-winning writer, Boas received his Ph.D. in Modern European History from the University of California, Riverside in 1977 and spent ten years as the Education and Research Director of the Northern California Holocaust Center.

Media Connections

Movies

The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) Film adaptation of Anne Frank's diary that she kept while she, her family, and their friends hid in a secret room during part of World War II.

Mighty Times: The Legacy of Rosa Parks (2002) Documentary about Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

The Shadow of Hate: History of Intolerance in America (1995) Explores the history of prejudice in America.

The Joy Luck Club (1993) Explores the lives of four Chinese women and their relationships with their four Chinese-American daughters.

4 Little Girls (1997) A Spike Lee production documenting the tragedy of the Alabama Church bombing on September 15, 1963.

Finding Nemo (2003) An animated tale about a meek clown fish determined to find his son, Nemo, after Nemo disappears from his school of fish.

Antz (1998) Z, a worker ant, tires of living within the rigid and controlling confines of the ant colony and, as a result, becomes involved in preventing the extermination of the worker ants.

Long Walk Home (1990) During the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a Caucasian woman is exposed to the tragedy and reality of racism when she must drive across town to pick up her maid every day.

Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993) Martial arts film superstar Bruce Lee had to overcome many obstacles before becoming successful.

Online Resources

http://www.ushmm.org The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Web site offers online versions of many of the Museum's exhibits and educational materials.

http://www.tolerance.org A website dedicated to fighting hate and promoting tolerance.

http://www.hmh.org An extensive site giving background on the Holocaust, a glossary of Holocaust terms, information on the Museum's education programs and teacher training, a list of books available at the Museum's bookstore, a calendar of events, descriptions of the changing exhibits, links, and general contact information.

http://socialstudies.com/holo.html Highlights books, videos, posters, and other materials that are available in their excellent Holocaust resources and materials catalogue, as well as Internet-based lesson plans and classroom activities, book reviews, and links to other Holocaust-related Web sites.

Related Texts

Bachrach, Susan D. (1994). Tell Them We Remember: The Story of the Holocaust. Boston: Little, Brown. 109pp. Pictorial exploration of various aspects of the Holocaust. Contains pictures of many artifacts from the United States National Holocaust Museum.

Cisneros, Sandra. (1983). House on Mango Street. Houston: Arte Publico Press. 103pp. Esperanza describes her life in a poor Latino neighborhood in Chicago.

Frank, Anne. (1958). The Diary of a Young Girl. New York: Globe Books. 323 pp. While in hiding during part of World War II, Anne Frank kept a diary.

Hinton, S.E. (1967). The Outsiders. New York: Viking Press, 188pp. After witnessing his best friend kill a wealthy teenager, Ponyboy Curtis, a teenager from the wrong side of the tracks, learns the true meanings of family, friendship, and bravery.

Lowry, Lois. (1993). The Giver. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. 180 pp. A companion novel to Gathering Blue. Jonas, a young boy with a special gift, experiences the negative side of life in a seemingly perfect society.

Taylor, Mildred. (1976). Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry New York: Dial Press. 276pp. Cassie, a twelve-year old girl, comes of age in a small 1930's Mississippi town filled with racism, hatred, injustice, and poverty.

Courtenay, Bryce. (1989). The Power of One. New York: Random House. 518pp. A South African teenage boy discovers courage and just how powerful and influential an individual can be.

Gandhi, Mahatma. (1927). An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth. Translated by Mahadev Desai. Ahmedabad: Navajivan Publishing. In his autobiography, Gandhi describes and explores his life and the struggles he and his fellow Indian citizens experienced using nonviolent resistance to help India gain its independence from Britain.

King, Martin Luther, Jr. (1998). The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. New York: Intellectual Properties Management. 400pp. King's life is explored through his letters, speeches, diaries, video footage, and audio recordings.

Mandela, Nelson. (1994). Long Walk to Freedom: Autobiography of Nelson Mandela. Boston: Little, Brown. 558pp. Mandela describes his life from his childhood is a rural area through his twenty-seven year prison sentence to the personal struggles he experienced because of his desire to help others.

Teaching Ideas

(1) "A Lesson on Compassion" This lesson focuses on a unit on aging and death. Students take notes and discuss aspects of a text or chapter that deals with these issues. They keep a journal and reflect on the unit. For example, the students went on a field trip to a local nursing home and spent time talking with the residents. Before going into the nursing home, students write about their thoughts and concerns. The culmination of the unit is a reflective paper. They write in a first-person perspective and their voice must show throughout the writing. Students are not graded on whether they liked or enjoyed the assignment, but rather on how much thought they put into their reflection.

[Summarized/adapted from "Teaching Compassion" by Brenna Autrey in Classroom Notes Plus. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English. April 2003, p. 8.]

(2) "Emotional Intelligence in Poetry" Students think about qualities in themselves and their friends that they would describe as "smart." They are divided into teams of two or three students and given five minutes to come up with definitions of "smart." Then, they discuss their findings to the class. The teacher shares with students the dimensions of emotional intelligence as identified by Daniel Goleman (self-awareness, handling emotions, motivation, empathy, and social skills). Students compare these dimensions with their findings. There would be some responses that would not fit Goleman's categories. After this introduction to Goleman's ideas, the teacher explains to the students that they are going to connect the ideas of emotional intelligence to their reading of poetry. Students write commentaries on their selected poems.

[Summarized/adapted from "Students Explore Emotional Intelligences and Poetry" by Rose Reissman in Classroom Notes Plus. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English. January 2003, pp. 11-13.]

(3) "Color Connotation" Students use imagery as a warm-up writing. The teacher passes out different colored sheets of construction paper. Then, students brainstorm images/connotations that come to mind as they look at the color and its name. Afterwards, the teacher writes an abstract term on the chalkboard (i.e. honesty, friendship). Students list all connotations that come to mind as they think of the term. Then, students share their findings to the class. Most students seem interested in the similarities and differences between their responses and those of previous classes. As a follow-up to this exercise, teachers might want to assign a theme paper based on students'preliminary brainstorming about a color or an abstract term.

[Summarized/adapted from "Exploring Connotation through Colors" by Elizabeth Sipe in NOTES Plus. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English. April 1989. p. 4.]

(Review written by Abby Estillore and Jennifer E. Moore and edited by Jennifer E. Moore)