124holocaust.docx - Sara Paige Young JS 211 Professor...

Sara Paige Young
JS 211
Professor Gillerman
December 2018
Final Writing Assignment
Part I: Primary Sources
For this section choose any two primary sources, preferably two that can be easily contrasted and
outline how you would answer a question on the final. For the outline ensure you hit the main
points such as the basic information: author, purpose, date and historical context. Then outline
how they shed light on the historical period in which they were written and the phenomena they
represent.
Warsaw Diary of Chaim Kaplan
a. Written by Chaim Kaplan, a school teacher who founded a Hebrew elementary school,
where he was principal for forty years.
b. Purpose
d. Historical context:
e. How the dairy shed light on the historical period/ phenomena

ii. Kaplan describes how the ghetto was first separated by guards posting at the
border and eventually walls were built to make ghetto a closed community
iii. He describes everyday life in the ghetto-- people first were fearful and panicked,
but later became accustomed to the cruelty and discrimination of life in the ghetto
iv. He talks about the effect the ghetto had on Polish Jews- with only each other to
rely on, inhabitants of the ghetto felt like they were responsible to take care of
each other. Social action was diffused through all levels of the community in the
ghetto.
v. The Jews formed a functioning community in the ghetto--everyone took upon
public duty in their courtyard. Each courtyard committee was divided into
reporting subcommittees and each subcommittee was again divided so that
everyone had a role
vi. In the ghettos schooling of children was forbidden, however Kaplan details how
Jewish children are still secretly learning. Inhabitants often used children to
smuggle food from the outside world.