Mapping Assignment

Assignment Goals
 Analyze the work of writers and scholars who engage with the Holocaust
 Connect different types of artifacts to create a coherent narrative
 Develop skill in mapping and storytelling
 Consider the ethics of different manners of representation of the past

Description
In this assignment, you will use our discussions regarding different representations of Auschwitz to
develop your own research project on a concentration camp, death camp, or ghetto of your choice.
Drawing from different types of media and artifacts, you will craft a coherent narrative of life in that
location adapted into website form. You will then create 3 points on a shared class map that will be
attached to the website. Remember, the focus should be on a narrative of a place—think of the map as
an outline for the story developed over the course of the website. Also remember that websites are non-
linear, so the story created by the website should be able to be viewed in any order.

Basics
 Uses 2-3 major questions regarding Holocaust representation to guide research and
development that clearly frame the project
 Draws from at least 5 different kinds of sources (image, video, article, historical analysis, literary
analysis, testimony, maps, etc.)
 Draws from at least 5 different scholarly or archival sources
 Website exploring daily life and location of camp or ghetto that is less well-represented in the
American popular consciousness
 3 points on shared class map
 Some argument about contemporary significance of this disavowed, ignored, or
unremembered history

Possible Topics
 Sachenhausen, the “model” camp placed outside of Berlin
 Dachau, the first concentration camp
 Warsaw Ghetto, site of a major Jewish uprising
 Łódź Ghetto, the last ghetto in Poland
 Treblinka, a death camp where the Sonderkommando revolted
 Belzec or Chelmno, death camps with only two survivors each

Suggested Sites
 Yad Vashem
 United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
 Jewish Virtual Library
 Anti-Defamation League resources
Possible Artifacts/Material to Include
 Photographs of survivors or victims
 Images of perpetrators
 Photographs of daily life
 Artists’ renderings of daily life/aspects of location
 Maps, either manufactured or hand-drawn
 Images of important aspects of location
 Images of objects significant to location
 Survivor stories/testimonials in various forms
 Testimony by perpetrators
 Accounts by prosecuting lawyers or others involved in bringing Nazis to justice
 Music
 Videos
 Documentation