Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. German Nazi forces invaded the Netherlands on May 10th, 1940, despite the Netherland’s neutrality in World War II. What do you know about the Nazis and their ideology, in general? What did it mean for cities to be “occupied” by the German Nazis? What, if anything, do you know specifically about the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam?

Teaching Suggestion: Students will likely have a general understanding of the Nazis and their guiding philosophy: That Adolf Hitler was their leader until he committed suicide at the end of World War II in 1945, and that they believed the Aryans (Caucasians) were the superior race, that the Holocaust refers to the Nazi’s genocidal, systematic killing of Jews between 1941 and 1945. While students will have a basic understanding of Nazism and World War II, this prompt will deepen their understanding specifically of the Netherlands’ Transformation During Wartime.

• The Anne Frank Museum, based in Amsterdam, gives an overview in this article of how the Nazis came to occupy the Netherlands. The Anne Frank Museum also explains
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

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