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Activities for Families: Survivors, Liberation and Rebuilding Lives

In learning about the past it is always best to start in an environment that is familiar. All children have some understanding of the world of today, which they can use as a point of reference to compare against historical events. It is important for children to view the world in which they live as a continuation of society in the 1940s, not as completely detached from it.

The activities below will help children consider the impact of the Holocaust on the people of Britain. These activities should supplement formal education by giving a sense of what life was like in the 1940s, rather than a detailed factual knowledge of it. They are meant to be engaging - both for children and for the adults helping them - but not to appear to be part of a structured curriculum. You can do one or all of the activities, depending upon time.

For these activities in particular you should think carefully about the age and maturity of your child. It is important that both you and the child feel capable of coping with the difficult issues that arise when considering this topic. You also may need to give your child some background to this topic, or wait until they have covered the basics at school.

Liberators

Activity 1

Read out loud the following extracts with your child, and be prepared to answer questions.

• 'Ich Habe Kranke!' (I Am Sick!)
• Letter from Lubeck: After Belsen

These stories are available on the Story extracts page. Afterwards, discuss the questions below.

Go through the printed extracts with your child. Use highlighter pens to pick out phrases that indicate that:

Suggested answers

The Liberation of Belsen Concentration Camp 'At the time, some politicians and religious leaders criticized the British Army for not doing enough to relieve the suffering of the prisoners. As one who was there, the task before us was the like of which nobody had any knowledge or experience. Neither had we the slightest idea of what we were to discover. All of us were in a state of utter shock - young soldiers (most were in their teens or early twenties) as well as senior officers. What should you do when faced by 60,000 sick, dead and dying people? We were in the army to fight a war and to beat the enemy. What we were suddenly thrust into was beyond anyone's comprehension, let alone a situation that could have been effectively planned for.'

D-Day and Belsen Concentration Camp 'It was so terrible we cried ourselves to sleep for many nights in our tents two miles away. We had been through the war but this was something so terrible that it took some time for us to come to terms with what we saw...'

Letter from Lubeck:After Belsen 'I shall make no excuse for saying something about our experiences there. I feel it is the duty of those who have actually witnessed these places to say out loud what they have seen - all the more necessary because the facts are almost incredible to those who have not witnessed them.'

'I could go on, but to describe the place properly would demand great detail. Let me say simply that Belsen is the most horrible thing I have seen and I hope that we shall see this thing can never happen again. I cannot help feeling that we bear a share of responsibility for these happenings. Remember the complacencies of the pre-war years?'

'The job of helping to clean up the mess was perhaps the best job we have done since we came out here; certainly our most constructive job. It was very interesting and many-sided. One little job BHQ had to do was to mass-produce about 100 babies' cots! I had to switch the equipment repairer from mending vehicle canopies to producing little mattresses for these cots!'

Discuss the questions below with your child.

Suggested answers for the final question could include the UN, the Red Cross and/or Red Crescent, and M茅dicins Sans Fronti猫res. You could look up details about these groups on the internet and link to humanitarian disasters they are dealing with in today's society. You and your child could email or write to the organisations, to find out more about their work.

Rebuilding Lives

Activity 2

Discuss the meaning of the word 'refuge' and then what the word 'refugee' means. Explain how the two words are linked. Discuss the reasons why people become refugees and come to live in the UK. Discuss which of these reasons might have been more prominent in World War Two.

Read with your child the extract Fleeing from East Germany to England, available on the Story extracts page.

As you are reading discuss the questions below.

Tell your child about the Kindertransport, based on the information below.

Kristallnacht

In November 1938, following the night known as Kristallnacht ('night of broken glass'), during which there were many brutal attacks on Jewish homes across Germany, British refugee organisations persuaded the British Government to permit German Jewish children under 17 to come, temporarily, to Britain. Each child's keep, education and eventual emigration had to be paid for by private individuals.

In return, the Government agreed to permit refugee children to enter the country on travel visas. Parents were not allowed to accompany their children. Between December 1938 and September 1939, when war began, the Kindertransport ('child transport') trains brought around 10,000 children to Britain. Many would never see their parents again.

Discuss the problems that refugees faced - for example, separation from parents, language problems and memories of previous persecution.

Consider creating a Charter for Tolerance and Peace, by listing the things that your child/children could do to ensure that society remembers and learns from the past.

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