assignment
Read the following questions and answer them in the text box at the bottom, along with the other text boxes provided.
CONNECTING POLITICAL ACTIVISTS TO “THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS”
Take a moment to recall the conversation between Bruno’s father and Lieutenant Kotler at the dinner table in Chapter 13 (pages 144-149).
IMAGINE THIS SITUATION:
Lieutenant Kotler’s father, Claus Ascher, was born in 1900 and had a childhood friend named Alexander Weinreich. Weinreich was a Jewish citizen of Germany and was finally sent to a concentration camp in 1938. Ascher began protesting and got sent to a concentration camp later that year, being classified then as a political activist. The Nazis wanted to try and "brainwash" him into ceasing to oppose them because, since he was Aryan, they thought he would be a good candidate for preserving the Aryan race. However, he refused to comply and never saw his son, Luka, again, who was twelve at the time.
A young Luka Ascher was then sent to a group home in Munich and lived there until he was eighteen. He then knew that it was only a matter of time before he was drafted into the army and went off to live on his own and make his own choices. He changed his name to Kurt Kotler to avoid being associated with his missing father, for fear the Nazis may think he shared his father's rebellious thoughts. A year later, he was drafted by the Nazis to fight in World War II and was promoted to Lieutenant, being involved with many concentration camps in Poland. It hurts him to see all the Jewish people suffer in the camps and does share his father's views, but he hides them and just follows orders.
IMAGINE THIS SITUATION:
Lieutenant Kotler’s father, Claus Ascher, was born in 1900 and had a childhood friend named Alexander Weinreich. Weinreich was a Jewish citizen of Germany and was finally sent to a concentration camp in 1938. Ascher began protesting and got sent to a concentration camp later that year, being classified then as a political activist. The Nazis wanted to try and "brainwash" him into ceasing to oppose them because, since he was Aryan, they thought he would be a good candidate for preserving the Aryan race. However, he refused to comply and never saw his son, Luka, again, who was twelve at the time.
A young Luka Ascher was then sent to a group home in Munich and lived there until he was eighteen. He then knew that it was only a matter of time before he was drafted into the army and went off to live on his own and make his own choices. He changed his name to Kurt Kotler to avoid being associated with his missing father, for fear the Nazis may think he shared his father's rebellious thoughts. A year later, he was drafted by the Nazis to fight in World War II and was promoted to Lieutenant, being involved with many concentration camps in Poland. It hurts him to see all the Jewish people suffer in the camps and does share his father's views, but he hides them and just follows orders.
QUESTIONS
1. Why do you think Kotler hides his true identity?
2. What would happen if his commanding Nazi officer discovered his secret?
3. What is a political activist?
A. someone who does not agree with the current government and tries to speak out against it
B. someone who does not like Jews
C. someone who supports Hitler and the Nazis
4. Why did Hitler and the Nazis target political activists as well as Jews?
A. they were not Aryan
B. they were seen as political opponents
C. they were of lesser intelligence
5. What ethnicity of political activists was Hitler reluctant to punish?
A. Jewish
B. Aryan
C. African-American
6. How many political activists died during the Holocaust?
A. 120.000,000
B. 12,000,000
C. 1,200,000
7. Which of the following quotes would be from a political activist during WWII?
A. "I respect Hitler and where he is leading this country."
B. "I am afraid of what will happen to my family, but I would never rebel against our leader."
C. "What Hitler is doing is wrong and he needs to be stopped."
8. What concentration camp held the most political activists during the Holocaust?
A. Auschwitz
B. Oranienburg
C. Theresienstadt
9. What did Theresienstadt do to their prisoners?
A. made them do physical labor
B. executed them
C. both
10. Theresienstadt was originally a ghetto. What is a ghetto?
A. a restricted are that contained a certatin group by force
B. a place of execution
C. a concentration camp
11. What did Raoul Wallenberg do during the Holocaust that made him a political activist?
A. he was a supported of the Nazi party
B. he helped save thousands of Jews from going to concentration camps
C. he helped the Nazis perform house raids on Jewish homes
12. What organization did Wallenberg join?
A. the War Refugee Board
B. the Nazi Party
C. the Red Cross
13. Wallenberg was sent to Lubyanka prison after the Holocaust and was secretly executed there. Where was this prison?
A. Russia
B. Germany
C. Poland
14. When was the Klu Klux Klan founded?
A. 1889
B. 1935
C. 1866
15. In the KKK's symbol, what does the blood drop in the center represent?
A. the blood shed by the African Americans during lynchings
B. the blood shed by Jesus Christ for the white Aryan race
C. the blood shed by their first leader in honor of their clan
16. Klu Klux Klan:African Americans::
A. Nazi Party:Political Activists
B. Hitler:Nazi Party
C. Political Activists:Nazi Party
17. Who were the Black Panthers?
A. a group of KKK members that patrolled for possible lynching targets
B. a group of police officers who treated African Americans very unfairly
C. a group of African Americans who fought back against the KKK and unfair police officers
18. What was segregation?
A. a method of lynching by the KKK
B. the introduction of new members into the KKK
C. the act of separating races from each other in public places
19. Do you think peaceful protests are effective? Why or why not?
20. In your own words, explain why America is a hypocritical nation throughout history.
2. What would happen if his commanding Nazi officer discovered his secret?
3. What is a political activist?
A. someone who does not agree with the current government and tries to speak out against it
B. someone who does not like Jews
C. someone who supports Hitler and the Nazis
4. Why did Hitler and the Nazis target political activists as well as Jews?
A. they were not Aryan
B. they were seen as political opponents
C. they were of lesser intelligence
5. What ethnicity of political activists was Hitler reluctant to punish?
A. Jewish
B. Aryan
C. African-American
6. How many political activists died during the Holocaust?
A. 120.000,000
B. 12,000,000
C. 1,200,000
7. Which of the following quotes would be from a political activist during WWII?
A. "I respect Hitler and where he is leading this country."
B. "I am afraid of what will happen to my family, but I would never rebel against our leader."
C. "What Hitler is doing is wrong and he needs to be stopped."
8. What concentration camp held the most political activists during the Holocaust?
A. Auschwitz
B. Oranienburg
C. Theresienstadt
9. What did Theresienstadt do to their prisoners?
A. made them do physical labor
B. executed them
C. both
10. Theresienstadt was originally a ghetto. What is a ghetto?
A. a restricted are that contained a certatin group by force
B. a place of execution
C. a concentration camp
11. What did Raoul Wallenberg do during the Holocaust that made him a political activist?
A. he was a supported of the Nazi party
B. he helped save thousands of Jews from going to concentration camps
C. he helped the Nazis perform house raids on Jewish homes
12. What organization did Wallenberg join?
A. the War Refugee Board
B. the Nazi Party
C. the Red Cross
13. Wallenberg was sent to Lubyanka prison after the Holocaust and was secretly executed there. Where was this prison?
A. Russia
B. Germany
C. Poland
14. When was the Klu Klux Klan founded?
A. 1889
B. 1935
C. 1866
15. In the KKK's symbol, what does the blood drop in the center represent?
A. the blood shed by the African Americans during lynchings
B. the blood shed by Jesus Christ for the white Aryan race
C. the blood shed by their first leader in honor of their clan
16. Klu Klux Klan:African Americans::
A. Nazi Party:Political Activists
B. Hitler:Nazi Party
C. Political Activists:Nazi Party
17. Who were the Black Panthers?
A. a group of KKK members that patrolled for possible lynching targets
B. a group of police officers who treated African Americans very unfairly
C. a group of African Americans who fought back against the KKK and unfair police officers
18. What was segregation?
A. a method of lynching by the KKK
B. the introduction of new members into the KKK
C. the act of separating races from each other in public places
19. Do you think peaceful protests are effective? Why or why not?
20. In your own words, explain why America is a hypocritical nation throughout history.