The Scene: It's 1945, and World War II has finally ended. It's time for you to put your memories, good and/or bad, together. Many of your most vivid memories will be captured for your children and grandchildren to look at in the years to come.
The Task: Your assignment is to create an authentic looking scrapbook to share with your children & grandchildren. As you design your scrapbook, consider these factors:
- World War II had an enormous impact on the culture and society of the United States.
- Why was there a second world war?
- Why and how did Americans sacrifice for World War II?
Choose a character: select from the list below, or develop your own character.
In the war: Choose a theater of war, a branch of the military, and a particular period of two years. You can be a soldier, nurse, officer, liberator of a specific concentration camp, aide to a general, etc…
· The Pacific (many of the soldiers here were in the Army Air Force)
· Western Europe
· North Africa (you'll probably need to include events relating to both the US and British campaigns)
· Italy (again, you'll probably need to include events relating to both the US and British campaigns)
· A WAVE (Woman Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service)
· A WAAC (WAC) (Women's Army Auxiliary Corps)
· A WASP ( Women Air Force Service Pilot)
On the home front:
· A soldier's sweetheart following him in a specific theater of war through his letters and the news media
· A Japanese-American about to be "relocated"
· A Rosie-the-Riveter type female worker
· A scientist (or other worker) on a top secret project at Los Alamos
· A teen whose older brother signed up to fight in the war
· Air raid warden
· USO entertainer or volunteer
Rise and Reign of Dictatorships: How did dictatorships rise to power in the 1930's? Once in power, how did they rule?
- Benito Mussolini & Fascism
- Adolf Hitler & the Rise of the Nazi Party
- Josef Stalin & Life in Soviet Russia
- Japanese Imperialism & the Co-Prosperity Sphere
Warfare During WWII:
- Blitzkrieg & Germany Conquers Europe
- Advances in Technology During WWII
- The Battle of Britain and The London Blitz
- Operation Barbarossa & The Invasion of the Soviet Union
- The Pearl Harbor Attack & The End of American Isolationism
- The War in the Pacific (Island-Hopping, Okinawa, Iwo Jima)
- D-Day (The Allied Invasion of Normandy)
Controversy in War:
- The Internment of Japanese Americans in the United States
- The Allied Bombing of Dresden
- Japan's Treatment of Enemy Soldiers (Bataan Death March)
- The Decision to use the atomic bomb on Hiroshima & Nagasaki
The Holocaust
- Anti-Semitism & Propaganda in Nazi Germany
- Dr. Josef Mengele & Nazi Medical Experiments
- Jewish Resistance & The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
- Did the U.S. do enough to help the Jews?
- Hitler's final solution: Why did he almost succeed?
- The Nuremburg Trials: Was Justice Served?
- Nazi' Concentration Camps
- People that helped Jewish people escape Nazi concentration camps
- Famous stories from the Holocaust (Anne Frank, etc.)
The Process:
Make sure your scrapbook includes the following:
· A description or timeline of the major events of the years you are following (minimum 2 years and at least ten major events)
· 5 authentic and relevant historic photographs (can check American Memory, Life, Time, etc.)
· 3 actual news clippings.
· 1 personal letter – created & written by you, based on historical fact
· 1 document relevant to your experience during the period (speech, legislation, poster, etc.)
· 3 artifacts with explanations. These might include: images of your weapons (s), drawings, political cartoons, an invitation, medals, images, mock ups of draft notices, representations of clothing, badges, posters, currency, your ship, your tank, your factory, your buddies, etc.
· Every item in your scrapbook should be dated and annotated with at least a paragraph explaining its importance…made relevant to you whenever possible/appropriate.
· Your works cited page should appear in the back of your scrapbook.
Though your stories should be historically accurate, feel free to be creative!
Your scrapbook can be done by hand (preferrable) but it can also be done using online scrapbooking sites
Here are some sources to get you started!
