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HOLOCAUST

Death Camps

Introduction

Did you ever wonder what it would feel like to be in a death camp when the Holocaust took place. Probably not, but now you can. With the information I am going to provide to you and with the tasks and processes you are going to complete, you are going to have a sense of what a death camp was during the Holocaust.
The Holocaust which occurred from January 30, 1933 till May 8, 1945 involved many peoples' lives inside Europe and outside of Europe. During the Holocaust approximately 5,860,000 Jews were killed for just believing in what they are. The Holocaust is a tragic event that occurred in America's History and has affected many people.

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Task

In this Web Quest, you will be asked to identify the death camps, and learn information about the death camps, when, how, and why they were established during the Holocaust and any other information pertaining to death camps and the Holocaust. You will complete this task by stating your groups position, either for or against the death camps, and displaying your groups position through presentations.

You will do this through:

*forming collaborative groups
*extensive research with the resources provided
*extensive research with your own resources
*deciding which position to take- for or against death camps
*more extensive research with many different resources related to your position
*presentation of your position and research using a variety of different formats

Standards

Map of Concentration Camps in Europe

Map of Death Camps

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Resources

These are the death camps you should look up. You can also use other resources such as other Websites, books, and encyclopedias to find the information to complete your task and process.
Map of Death Camps

bodies Death Camps - Includes links to death camps established during the Holocaust

Auschwitz-Birkenau - Includes pictures, timelines and information about Auschwitz-Birkenau death camps.
Auschwitz-Birkenau Death Camp Additional Sites

belzec Belzec - Includes pictures and links to information about the so called Belzec death camp.
Belzec Death Camp Additional Sites

chelmno Chelmno - Includes information about Chelmno extermination camp which was the first death camp in Poland.
Chelmno Death Camp Additional Sites

floss Majdanek - Includes text and information relating to Majdanek and its existence.
Majdanek Death Camp Additional Sites

sobibor Sobibor - Includes pictures, information and text about Sobibor and some of its survivors.
Sobibor Death Camp Additional Sites

Treblinka - Includes maps, photos and information about Treblinka death camp.
Treblinka Death Camp Additional Sites

Map of Death Camps

Other Internet Resources

The Camps

Death Camps of the Holocaust Period

A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust

Australian Memories of the Holocaust

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Process

For this Web Quest you will be working in groups of four or five students over a two week period. You will need to follow these basic steps to help guide you from the beginning of your knowledge about death camps until your presentation.

Death Camp Steps

Form groups according to date of birth. Oldest five will be in a group, next oldest five will be in a group and so on.
After groups are formed determine who is going to do what . Two people might do all the research, two people might read all the information and put it together and the other person might work on creating a presentation. Or all five members can research, then read and put all the information together and then form your presentation. Do whatever you think will be the best for your group to divide up the work appropriately.
Research basic facts about the Holocaust and about death camps using the resources provided. Understand why they were created and if they were created for the right purposes.
Determine a position to take either for or against death camps. Stick with this position and try your hardest to be able to defend your position.
Research more extensive facts related to your position either for or against death camps using the resources provided along with your own resources. Find information to provide to students so you are able to defend why death camps were necessary or why death camps were not necessary.
Think about- What is a death camp? Why did they need to be created? Who was in charge of them? How did the survivors react to them? Was their main goal to kill or did they have some other main goal? Could they have been stopped? What is your whole thought about death camps and the Holocaust? Think about these questions and let them lead you into being able to defend your position.
Make a presentation based on your position either for or against death camps and be able to defend why you took this position. Presentations can be in the form of:

Newspaper

Play

News channel reporter

Skit

Poster boards

Choral reading

Puppet show

Any other presentation form that is suitable to get your point across and defend your position

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Evaluation

The evaluation will be based on:

Presentation- Be creative and confident. Know your content, provide examples with or without using resources and display visual aids to help the audience understand.
Content Knowledge- Know your information and be able to defend your position to the rest of the class. Understand the resources you used and be able to provide examples.
Resources- Use the resources provided as a starting point, but then also find other resources not directly related to the Internet.
Group Work- Work and participate in your group even if you do not like someone in the group. You all need to provide an effort or else you will not be able to work sufficiently.

Task and Process Rubric

	5 Exemplary	3 Accomplished	1 Developing	0 Beginning	Weight	Actual Score
Presentation	Able to speak freely with great information, great visuals and great knowledge of content.	Able to speak with good information, good visuals and good knowledge of content.	Able to speak with descent information, descent visuals, and descent knowledge of content.	Not able to speak because does not know information, does not have visuals, and no good knowledge of content.	2*
Content Knowledge	Has read through and provided many resources, and understands their position in many different view points.	Has read through and provided resources, and understands their position in different view points.	Has read through and understands their position.	Has not read through, did not provide resources, and does not understand their view point.	3*
Resources	Used more than 7 resources to achieve understanding content knowledge and used the resources provided along with their own resources.	Used between 4 and 7 resources to understand content knowledge and used the resources provided.	Used less than 4 resources and used only the resources provided.	Did not use any resources of their own or of the resources provided and did not understand content knowledge.	2*
Group Work	Works well with their group and does not complain during any situation. Does work above and beyond what is expected of them.	Works with their group during any situation. Does what is expected of them.	Works with their group and does what is told to them.	Does not work with their group and does nothing with the group to help them out.	3*
						Total___/50

*After the presentation you will also need to self assess yourself and your group according to:

-10 pts for going above and beyond their individual effort
-5 pts for providing an individual effort
-0 pts for no individual effort at all

*You can give them pts in between 0 and 5 or 5 and 10 if you think they are on the edge of some areas.

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Conclusion

During your task, looking up your resources, and going through your processes you should have learned a little bit more about the Holocaust as a whole, and what actually happened in the death camps and why they were created. The Holocaust is a tragic event that occurred in Americas History and affected many people world wide.

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Created by Brandon Morton

Email: morty_44@hotmail.com

Last Update - May 1, 2003