Unit+Plan-Night

Unit Plan Outline: **//Night//** by Elie Wiesel Holly Dobrynski Wiesel, E. //Night//. 2006 (Revised Edition) Narrated by Death, //The Book Thief// follows Liesel through her experiences during WWII, including the hiding and befriending of a Jew and the loss of her loved ones.
 * Time Period:** WWII/Holocaust
 * Canonical Text**
 * Bridge Texts:**
 * //The Book Thief//** by Markus Zusak

**//The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness//** by Simon Wiesenthal
Simon Wiesenthal, a Holocaust survivor, writes about his experience after the war, when a German soldier begs him for forgiveness for the atrocities of the Holocaust. A young German boy is forced to move with his parents when his father gets a promotion. They live near a concentration camp, where the boy sees people walking around in striped pajamas. He meets a boy from the camp and begins a friendship, knowing somehow that his father must never know of this. The purpose of this unit plan is to expose the students to various viewpoints of World War II and the Holocaust. There were many types of people involved in the war and the Holocaust and most students don’t know much outside of the death camps. I would start the unit by giving a bit of detail, including showing pictures and the book //We Remember the Holocaust,// which includes pictures and survivors’ accounts. I would also discuss the liberators of the camps and perhaps introduce the book //Dachau 29 April 1945: The Rainbow Liberation Memoirs.// This would give yet another view into the Holocaust.
 * //The Boy in the Striped Pajamas//** by John Boyne
 * Concept**

In //Night,// Elie Wiesel writes of his memories of the Holocaust and his feeling of extreme guilt at surviving when so many others died. In //The Book Thief//, the reader is introduced to a different viewpoint of the Holocaust and WWII as we learn about Liesel and her experiences during this time. She suffers through loss, anger, guilt, sadness, etc. In //The Sunflower//, we are introduced to yet another viewpoint of this time period. After the war, Wiesenthal is approached by a German soldier and asked for forgiveness. Wiesenthal could not bring himself to forgive this soldier, and the book discusses his reasons for this as well as his experiences during the war. The main character in //The Boy in the Striped Pajamas// is young but not necessarily naïve. While he doesn’t know the extent of what is going on in the camps, he knows it makes him feel cold and unsafe. He also senses danger and feels that he must never let his father know of the friendship he has established with the boy.

1. **Group Debate—**students are arranged into two groups. One side takes the stance to forgive the German soldier from //The Sunflower//, and the other side takes the stance to not forgive. Using what they’ve learned about the Holocaust from the readings and class discussion, students are to argue their side, one at a time, in a friendly debate. 2. **Eulogy—**using what they have learned about the characters in //The Book Thief// and //The Sunflower//, students are to create a eulogy of Papa, Liesel, Mama, or Max from //The Book Thief// or Simon from //The Sunflower//. Students will present these in front of the class. 3. **Sketchbook**—using Max’s illustrated sketchbook as a guide, students may create a “lost” sketchbook from //The Book Thief// that Max may have created while he was hidden or before he was caught by the Nazis. 4. **Body Biography**—using words, illustrations, and photos, students may create a body biography of one of the characters from the four novels and draft a presentation for the class.
 * Activities**
 * Recommended Resources**: //We Remember the Holocaust// by David A. Adler and //Dachau 29 April 1945: The Rainbow Liberation Memoirs//