1940s Setting Creative Writing

Life in Amsterdam Setting Creative Writing Piece

Due: Monday, December 9 (Writing grade)

Task: Integrate the station information about the historical context of Amsterdam.  Include four of the six elements of setting in your piece. Highlight or underline exact examples.  Some of the elements may be implied, which the teachers will pick up on.

Perspective:  Assume the identity of an individual living in the time of World War II/Jewish Holocaust in Amsterdam. 

Time Frame: Encompass one of the periods: life before, rumblings of danger/subtle changes, life in ghetto or hiding, transition to camps.

Options:  Your creative writing piece can be in the style of:

·         Diary entry from the perspective of a child or teen

·         Select a picture of one of the shoes confiscated from victims of Auschwitz and Mjadanek.  Write about the person who wore them and their journey to the concentration camp.

·         Select a picture of one of the children or adults pictured in the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum display.  Write about their life in the months leading up to Holland’s occupation by Nazi Germany.

·         Write a narrative about a person involved in the Dutch Resistance who houses and hides Jewish citizens during Nazi occupation.

·         Write from the perspective of a British, American, Dutch, or Belgian soldier as they liberate the people of the Netherlands.

·         Write from the perspective of a Nazi soldier who has to make a tough decision to save a child or person that they discover in hiding.  

·         Write a narrative in which a symbol of hope occurs throughout (butterfly, bird, first flower of spring, a tree with its first fall colors, the changing of seasons, sunrise, etc).

·         Write a narrative about being a bystander and the confusion or shame that the person may feel during the Holocaust.

·         Write a narrative about a Christian child who sees what is happening around him/her.

·         Most people admire those who take risks to help others. They consider them to be heroes.  Write a story about a hero.