Number the Stars

A book about Danish life during World War II.

Setting

• Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1943 during WWII

• German forces have invaded the lands around Germany.

• Great Britain and France have joined forces to stop Germany.

• Germany has invaded Denmark and now the Jewish people fear for their lives!

The Germans

• Adolph Hitler was the leader of the Germans.

• He believed that German people were members of a master race that should take over the world.

• He led the Nazis party of Germany.

The Nazis

• The Nazis believed that Jewish people were the most dangerous race alive.

• They wanted to rid the world of all Jewish people.

• In 1938, over 1,000 synagogues were burned and 30,000 Jews people were arrested.

• The Jewish people began to flee Germany.

The Nazi Takeover in Europe

• The Nazi party created Concentration Camps (work camps with horrific conditions for Jewish people).

• As the Nazi party became more powerful, they captured more and more countries and more and more Jewish people.

• Jewish deaths by country.

Denmark and the Germans

• In 1940, the country of Denmark was captured by the German Nazis.

• There were 8,000 Jewish people living here at this time!

• There were also about 1,500 Jewish people who had fled to Denmark in the early 1930s.

The Arrest of the Danish Jews

• In 1943 when the Danish people heard that the Germans had decided to arrest and imprison Jewish people, they formed the Danish Resistance.

• Finally many of the Danish Jews decide to flee Denmark.

More history behind the story!

Denmark’s Flee

How bad was life for the Jewish People under Nazi rule?

• The following were rules for Jewish residents of areas controlled by the Nazis. These rules affected everyone who had at least one Jewish grandparent.

• In many places, Jews had to wear a yellow 6-pointed star. • They were limited in the use of public transportation. • They had to hand in their bicycles. • Attendance was prohibited at theaters, movies, and sporting

events. • They could shop only at Jewish stores and only between 3-5 pm. • Children had to attend Jewish schools and couldn't visit Christian

friends. • All Jews had to be indoors by 8 pm. • They could not hold government jobs. • Non-Jewish citizens were ordered not to go to Jewish doctors or

hire Jewish lawyers. • Jewish teachers were fired. • Jews who owned stores had to mark windows with the word Jew

and eventually had to sell their businesses to non-Jews. • Jewish residents had no political rights

The Holocaust

• The word Holocaust, which means "burn" was first used in the late 1950's to refer to the death of Jews at the hands the Nazis.

• Today we honor and remember the victims of Nazi torture through special museums, documentaries, and stories.

More information on the Holocaust…..