Dedicated to the Armenians, Bosnians, Cambodians,
Chechens, Christians, Darfuris, Jews, Muslims, Tibetans,
Timorese, Tutsis, Ukranians and all other victims of genocide
Sadly, racial, ethnic, and cultural hatred and intolerance are not just history: they are current events.
Steven Spielberg, Film Director
This WebQuest was created specifically for youth who have read Hidden Letters. This book is built around eighteen-year-old Philip “Flip” Slier’s letters to his family written while he was imprisoned in a Nazi labor camp. The book’s annotators support Flip’s letters with hundreds of other primary source documents. Flip’s poignant writing shows the human side of war and reminds readers of the horrors of persecution and genocide. Young adults can learn from this WebQuest whether or not they have read Hidden Letters.
Some people believe that young adults lack both a knowledge of history and of current events.
This WebQuest has been created to question this myth and to help you use what you have learned about the Holocaust from reading Hidden Letters (history) to further an investigation into the crime of genocide (history and current events).
Through your interaction with the information in this WebQuest, you will form an opinion based on your knowledge, gleaned from your understanding of Flip’s experiences in Nazi-occupied Holland and the information found here related to the criminal practice of genocide.
The term genocide was coined in 1944. The concept was first used in the Nuremberg War Crime Trials in 1946. In 1948, the international community came together to propose and ratify the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in which genocide was defined as a punishable crime against humanity.
Before you begin this WebQuest, define genocide, discuss it with your classmates, and record your definition and the punishment for genocide in your notes.