Chapter 1 (pp. 1-2): Introduction

To the teacher:

Pages 1 and 2 give Hannah's identity card: her name and her parents' names, her childhood pet name, the town where she was born in Poland and the fact that during her childhood Jews and Poles lived together in the town. This document represents the introduction to the book, the introduction to the figure of Hannah who accompanies the student throughout the story, and the background to the world she lost in the war.

This unit can also be started by reading the last page and introducing Hannah the grandmother, who lives in Tel Aviv and has two grandchildren. This way is more protective: the students will know clearly right from the beginnning that the story has a safe and familiar end, from which we can go back in time to the grueling story itself. Starting on the first page, with the world before the war, when the ending is not yet evident, is likely to offer less protection for the students.

The teacher should ask the students to open the book at page 1 and 2, and tell them about Hannah, who was born in the town of Biala Ravska in Poland to parents named Hershel and Zisel Hershkowitz. There were both Jews and Poles living in the town, and as a child she was called Hanechka.

The information on this page should be given in such a way as to make the students curious to continue the story.

Chapter 1 (pp. 2-4): Childhood before the war

This chapter presents Hannah and her life in the Polish town where she lived before the war. There are four important principles in the chapter:

1. The world before - Hannah grew up in an entire world which existed before the Holocaust and no longer exists. The names of the people and places that Hannah tells in the story are not familiar to us today. They are an important element: through becoming familiar with them we begin to become familiar with Hannah's world, in which these names were part of the language of the people who lived there.
2. The town - through this chapter the students will get a sense of the town, its picturesque character and its scents, from Hannah's description.
3. An ordinary childhood - the students will understand that Hannah, despite the title of "Holocaust survivor,” had an ordinary childhood until the outbreak of the war.
4. The outbreak of war and the loss of childhood - the last sentence of the chapter is important for understanding that the war abruptly ended Hannah's happy childhood, as it did for many other Holocaust.

Q: What kind of child was Hannah?
A: She was an ordinary, loving, talented, and happy child.

Q: Was Hannah's childhood similar to yours?
A: There are certain similarities in the games, songs and other childhood activities that Hannah describes. At the same time, Hannah grew up in Poland among a non-Jewish population. The language and climate of her town were also different from Hebrew and the Israeli climate.

Q: How does she describe life in the town?
A: Family life, a picturesque town with a river and a market, and a mixed Polish and Jewish population.

Q: How does she describe relations with the Polish neighbors?
A: Poles and Jews living side by side are part of the life that Hannah describes. Her best friend Marisha is Polish.

Q: How does Hannah describe the outbreak of war?
A: War brought her childhood to an abrupt end. From that moment on, her situation changed completely. In the rest of the book we will understand why.

Chapter 2 (pp. 5-6): Nazi conquest and marking the Jews with a star

To the teacher:

In the previous chapter, Hannah says that her world collapsed. The outbreak of the war was a point of crisis in her childhood. This description is characteristic of many testimonies by children, for whom there was a split between their normal childhood and the war that shattered it.

In this chapter, Hannah discovers for the first time the concept of "the yellow star,” which her mother sews on her coat and on Hannah's father's coat. Curious, Hannah asks her mother about the star, a new concept in her life, but receives an impatient and short tempered response, and in fact does not get an answer to her questions. From the tense dialogue between Hannah and her mother, the students do not yet understand the significance of the decree regarding the star, its meaning, the reason that the Germans ordered the Jews to wear it and so on. This will become clear to the students later. At this stage of the story, all that they need to understand is that the term "yellow star" creates tension and uncertainty and is "bad news" for Hannah and her family. Something has changed, decrees and restrictions are imposed on the Jews, and the situation that Hannah was familiar with previously has changed. Hannah has to start coping with a complex reality, and the picture at the end of the chapter makes it clear that there are facts that cannot be argued with, and that Hannah will not receive an answer to every question. Although we do not understand a lot of what is happening to Hannah, through the dialogue between her and her mother we begin to understand why Hannah feels that her childhood has fallen apart.

According to the age-oriented approach, the atmosphere emerging from the dialogue between Hannah and her mother about the yellow star is sufficient and there is no need give any additional historical background. This will be studied in a higher grade.

Q: Why does Hannah's mother get annoyed at Hannah's questions?
A: Hannah's mother is anxious about the war, the star, and the future in general. She doesn't understand the exact significance of these decrees, but it is obvious to her that they are "bad news." Therefore she doesn't have any good answers to Hannah's questions, and so she reacts impatiently.

Chapter 3 (pp. 7-9): Transferring the Jews to the ghetto

This chapter relates to the subject of the ghettos. It covers three main points:

1. From the story of the individual to the story of the Holocaust - so far, the main discussion has concerned Hannah and her family, but this chapter deviates somewhat from the main story because the Hershkowitz family did not live in the ghetto. This deviation is in order to familiarize the students with the concept of the ghetto. The life of the majority of Jews living in the ghetto is illustrated through the story of Hannah's extended family.
2. This chapter also presents the subject gradually: first, it tells how the Jews of the ghetto were forced to sell their belongings for far less than their real worth, and later it is noted that there is very little food in the ghetto, and only at the end of the chapter does it say explicitly that "mother distributed the soup to the hungry Jews". This graduality helps the students cope with the subject of the ghetto and the difficulties of life there.
3. Hannah's story expands the concept of the ghetto and the students begin to understand its significance: the difficult conditions of most of the Jews, as well as the existence of mutual aid. The unique fate of Hannah's family also becomes clear through the story, and by means of the exception we can learn about the general rule.

Q: How does Hannah describe the situation in the ghetto?
A: It is forbidden to leave the ghetto, there is hunger, and a "black market" has developed. On the other hand, we see that Hannah's family, which enjoyed better conditions than most of the Jews in the town, was scrupulous about giving aid to needy Jews.

Q: Why did Hannah's family not live in the ghetto?
A: The Nazis exploited the mother's sewing skills for their own purposes, and therefore permitted the family to live outside the ghetto.

Chapter 4 (pp. 10-11)

To the teacher:

This chapter and chapter 10 are not discussed in this lesson plan because they deal with subjects (the synagogue, Yom Kippur, etc) that may not be relevant to non-Jewish educators and students. Feel free to skip or use these chapters accordingly.

Chapter 5 (pp. 12-13): Hannah's banishment from school

This chapter again puts Hannah's story in the center. Hannah reaches the age of six and goes to school on the first day of 1st grade with her Polish friend Marisha. However, as a Jew she is not permitted to enter the school and is banished in a public and humiliating manner.

The chapter has four main points:

Q: How does Hannah feel when the janitor prevents her from going in?
A: Hannah feels betrayed: in a normal world, the adults are supposed to protect the children, but here the janitor humiliates her in front of her friends.

Q: How does she feel when the children and Marisha run off to class?
A: Even her friends, whom she perhaps expected to stand by her, ignore her and leave her humiliated and alone.

Q: Why does Hannah not tell her parents the truth?
A: Hannah does not want to make them unhappy. Again, the world is turned upside down: instead of her parents protecting her, she protects them…

Q: What is the significance of Hannah's declaration that "I didn't cry!"?
A: Hannah, at the age of 6, is already much less of a child. She protects her parents, she does not cry when she is hurt. At the same time, her parents still give her a "normal" framework and she begins to learn in a festive manner at home.

Chapter 6 (pp. 14-15): Expulsion of the Jews from the town

This chapter again deviates from the story of Hannah's family to the general story of Polish Jewry. In the chapter there are two main points:

1. The chapter tells of the expulsion of the Jews to the Treblinka death camp. Hannah and her parents lose their extended family, while the Polish wagon drivers watch indifferently, collaborating with the Germans. However, this chapter does not go into details and descriptions of the death camp and the killing of the Jews. We mention the concept and do not expand on it, in a way that suits the students' ability to take in the distressing story. Some teachers may feel that it is too early to mention the killings, and they can skip this chapter and continue reading the story from the next chapter. Other teachers may consider it important to give this information. We recommend that each teacher give due consideration in advance to the difficulty of teaching this chapter, and consider whether to present it to the class.
2. The memory of the world that has been lost - Hannah describes how photographs of the Jews who had been sent to their death flew out of the photography store. This line leads us to discuss with our students the memory of the Holocaust and of the world that has been lost. How can we commemorate the Jews who died and whose photographs blew away in the wind?

Q: How do you think Hannah feels when she sees both her parents crying? Is it normal to see your parents crying?
A: It is a difficult sight for a child, and not a common one, which we usually see only at very traumatic points in a family's history.

Q: In the first chapter we saw that the Jews and the Poles had a good neighborly relationship. What does this chapter describe?
A: The Polish wagon drivers brought their Jewish neighbors to an unknown place. In Hannah's description we see anger and disappointment in these carters.

Q: Why does Hannah tell us about the photographs from the photography store?
A: The pictures that were lost emphasize the loss of the Jewish world. The people were murdered and no trace was left behind - no grave, no headstone, not even their photographs.

Chapter 7 (pp. 16-19) - Escape and concealment

This chapter returns to the story of Hannah's family. It has three main points:

1. The story of the Holocaust begins to affect Hannah cruelly - until now Hannah has remained relatively protected and the story of the Holocaust hardly affected her personally, but now the situation is different. Although she is still with her parents, their ability to protect her is very limited and they themselves are dependent on the kindness of strangers.
2. In this chapter the situation of the Hershkowitz family begins to deteriorate. Hannah makes use of a technique used by many children coping with distress: her imagination. She does this when she is hiding in the sack of potatoes. Hannah encourages herself: "I am a potato, I am a potato. I mustn't move, potatoes don't move. Don't make a sound - potatoes don't speak. You must even breath silently so that they don't hear. If the Germans come - you mustn't yell. Potatoes don't talk." We see that although the situation is serious, she draws on her mental strength to help cope with her fear and the danger of the situation.
3. Regarding the issues of the bystanders and the rescuers, it is important to emphasize that there were different responses to the predicament of the Jews among the Polish population. Previously, we met the janitor and the carters, from whom it can be seen that the Polish population did not help the Jews. But here we meet a woman who helps them despite the danger to herself. She goes from being a bystander watching indifferently to extending her hand and offering help, at risk to herself and her children. It is important to emphasize to the students that the punishment that this woman will face if she is caught is death. It is also important to emphasize in the discussion with the students that not many people saved Jews during the Holocaust. At the same time, every Jew who was hidden during the Holocaust was helped by a number of non-Jews, righteous Gentiles, who put themselves in danger in order to help.

Q: Hannah tells how, at the height of the war, she receives a new dress from her mother, which makes her very happy. How can you explain this?
A: Hannah is still a child, despite the terrible reality of the war. Therefore, the dress makes her very happy and perhaps even enables her to escape for a few moments from the difficulties of her everyday life during the war.

Q: So far, we have met Poles who didn't make any attempt to help Hannah and the Jews: the school janitor and the carters who transported the Jews to the east. Here, for the first time, we meet two people who try to help Hannah's family. What will happen to them if they are caught?
A: The Polish woman doesn't say so explicitly, but the punishment for hiding Jews is death.

Q: What is the significance of helping Jews in a society in which not everyone is prepared to help?
A: On the practical level, saving Jews requires enlisting resources, people who will be prepared to cooperate and keep the secret. Beyond that, not everyone is capable of going against the tide and extending a hand to people in need when the norm is indifference to the fate of the Jews.

Q: Hannah describes how she was forced to part from her parents and hide in a sack of potatoes. How did she feel when she was hiding in the sack? What did she do to deal with her fear?
A: Hannah was very scared. To overcome her fear, she imagined that she was a potato and in this way withstood the nerve-wracking experience until she returned to her family.

Chapter 8 (pp. 20-23): Parting from Daddy

1. Separation from the father - the situation becomes increasingly serious and the family's situation becomes more and more dangerous. In an attempt to find a way out, they are forced to make a decision whether it is better to try and stay together at any price, or whether there’s a better chance of surviving if they split up. Hannah's parents disagree and in the end the decision is made by her father.
   
   This is the place to note that an important way of teaching about the Holocaust is through discussing the dilemmas of the period. The discussion of these dilemmas is not intended to decide which decision is more correct, and it is necessary to avoid any note of judgment. The use of dilemmas is intended to bring the students closer to the people about whom they are learning and create an understanding and empathy towards them. The younger the students, the more caution is needed when discussing dilemmas in the classroom and the discussion must be adapted to the students' cognitive level.
2. Rescuers - we meet more people who are prepared to put themselves at risk in order to help Hannah and her family.
3. Reversal of roles between Hannah and her father - Hannah tries to persuade her father to stay with her and her mother, and even warns him of the dangers in the forest… We have here a further expression of the reversal of roles between parents and children that was characteristic of the world of the Holocaust - Hannah tries to protect her father.

Q: Why does Hannah's father insist on leaving his wife and daughter and joining the Partisans in the forest?
A: Over and above the reason he gives to his wife, Hannah's father understands that they can no longer wait in hiding and that time is working against them. He also does not think that they will succeed in acquiring another false document, and therefore he decides that he has no other choice but to leave his family and try and join the partisans.

Q: How does Hannah react to the idea that her father will join the Partisans?
A: She tries to dissuade him from the idea on the grounds that it is dangerous. She tries to protect her father and look out for him.

Chapter 9 (pp. 24-25): Hiding in Warsaw

The chapter deals with the life of Hannah and her mother in hiding in Warsaw - the big city.

1. The rescuers - the chapter describes the everyday price paid by the family which rescued Hannah and her mother. In addition to living in constant danger that they will be caught and pay with their lives for helping Jews, they pay a heavy daily price: not inviting guests to their home, not revealing the secret to anyone, and sharing their home and their food with strangers. This should be discussed with students.
2. Hiding in Warsaw - Hannah describes the difficulty of living in concealment: not seeing the sun or breathing fresh air for two whole years, feeling like a guest in a stranger's home, and constantly being on guard in case an uninvited guest should turn up and discover Hannah and her mother.

Q: How does Hannah describe life in hiding in Warsaw?
A: Fear of being caught, many restrictions, a feeling of strangeness at home (only reading books when the girls are not there, not giving the answers to questions so as not to annoy them).

Q: How do you think the daughters in the Skovroneck family feel about the fact that Hannah and her mother are living in their home?
A: On the one hand, it is not easy to "host" strangers in your home, share your books with them, and be careful not to reveal your secret. On the other hand, there is the knowledge that you and your family are doing something very important and saving human lives. In the next chapter we will see towards which direction the girls tend.

Chapter 10 (pp. 26-27)

To the teacher:

This chapter and chapter 4 are not discussed in this lesson plan because they deal with subjects (the synagogue, Yom Kippur, etc.) that may not be relevant to non-Jewish educators and students. Feel free to skip or use these chapters accordingly.

Chapter 11 (pp. 28-29): A hiding place within a hiding place

The chapter deals with the life of Hannah and her mother in hiding in Warsaw - the big city.

1. The rescuers - the chapter describes the everyday price paid by the family which rescued Hannah and her mother. In addition to living in constant danger that they will be caught and pay with their lives for helping Jews, they pay a heavy daily price: not inviting guests to their home, not revealing the secret to anyone, and sharing their home and their food with strangers. This should be discussed with students.
2. Hiding in Warsaw - Hannah describes the difficulty of living in concealment: not seeing the sun or breathing fresh air for two whole years, feeling like a guest in a stranger's home, and constantly being on guard in case an uninvited guest should turn up and discover Hannah and her mother.

Q: How does Hannah describe life in hiding in Warsaw?
A: Fear of being caught, many restrictions, a feeling of strangeness at home (only reading books when the girls are not there, not giving the answers to questions so as not to annoy them).

Q: How do you think the daughters in the Skovroneck family feel about the fact that Hannah and her mother are living in their home?
A: On the one hand, it is not easy to "host" strangers in your home, share your books with them, and be careful not to reveal your secret. On the other hand, there is the knowledge that you and your family are doing something very important and saving human lives. In the next chapter we will see towards which direction the girls tend.

Chapter 12 (pp. 30-31): The end of the war

1. The end of the war - the moment that Hannah and her mother waited for throughout the war arrives - the war ends and they are free. They return to their town of Biala Ravska, in the hope of finding family and friends there. But when they arrive, they discover the magnitude of the loss: the father has not survived the war, all the members of their extended family have been killed, and only a few individuals from the entire town remain alive. Their property has also been stolen and relations with the Polish population have collapsed. It is important to emphasize that the end of the war did not bring relief and joy as might have been expected, but instead made clear to them that they had lost their entire world. Nonetheless, they continue to try and find their place in the world.
2. The place of Hannah and her mother - their brief stay in Biala Ravska makes it clear to them that this is no longer their place. They leave the town and search for a new place.

Q: How do you think Hannah and her mother feel after the war ends and they return to their home in Biala Ravska?
A: Hannah and her mother feel very bad - their entire world is lost and they remain without a place in the world. They try to find a new life.

Chapter 13 (pp. 32-33): The return to life

The chapter deals with returning to life.

1. Zionism - Hannah and her mother try to rehabilitate their lives in another town in Poland, and live there as Christians. But Hannah misses Judaism and even joins a Zionist youth movement. Zionism gives new meaning to the lives of Hannah and her mother.
2. Establishing a family - Hannah's mother remarries and Hannah has a new brother.

Chapter 14 (pp. 34-36): Epilogue

Hannah tells us in brief about her life after she came to Israel: she acquired a profession, in which she worked for many years, married and had a son, and today she has two grandchildren. In this short chapter she tells about the Skovroneck family and the fact that they were recognized as Righteous Gentiles. This detail that Hannah adds is of great significance - it is a kind of recognition and appreciation of the family which saved her life and thanks to whom she was able to survive the war. From the fact that it appears in this very brief chapter, we can see the depth of Hannah's feeling of gratitude towards the family.

Q: Why does Hannah tell us in this final chapter about the Skovroneck family? What can we learn from this about her feelings towards them?
A: Hannah admires the family's act of charity towards her and her mother, and is grateful to them for it. She emphasizes this fact as part of the most basic details of her life.