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* Sample of educational modules. Full access available upon purchase.*

Chapter 2: “Leaving Everything Behind”

Topics Covered

Becoming a refugee, fleeing, and tactics of oppressors

Quote From The Film

We woke up at 5:00 AM... Everybody ran out into the streets. We were still in our nightclothes. There were hundreds of planes overhead! “

.. And then my father turned around and said get back in the house and start packing... My dad said that each of us could only pack one bag per person.

That's it? How do I choose what to leave behind?”.

​

 — Simone, 13 years old in 1940

Put Yourself in Their Shoes:

  •  Like Simone, if you had to flee your home at a moment's notice and could only pack one suitcase, what would you bring? What practical and sentimental items would you include?

  • How do you think Simone, Malvina and Irving felt about leaving at a moment's notice, never to return? How would you have felt?

Personal connection...

  • Do you have any family who quickly left their home due to religious, racial, ethnic, or political persecution?

Dig a little deeper...

In the film, Simone says: "We knew that the Germans were bad, but we didn’t have any idea how bad it was going to get.” At that point, the film flashes forward to footage taken in 1944 of people in the Auschwitz Concentration Camp.  

  • How did the the Nazi restrictions evolve for Jews? For others?

  • What's the difference between a Nazi concentration camp and a death camp? Name one of each. 

  • Did the United States ever create concentration/internment camps/reservations? If so, when and where?

What's happening now?

  • How is the plight of these Jewish refugees similar to modern day oppressed minorities?

What Can I Do?

  • Facebook

More Information

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