Synergy: OPERATION VALKYRIE

OPERATION VALKYRIE was a German World War II emergency plan modified by a secret network of officers and civilians to assassinate Adolph Hitler and retake control of Germany. The failure of the coup caused serious repercussions for the families of the resistance leaders.

Read the recently nonfiction work for youth, then learn more at the websites:

ENSNARING IN THE WOLF’S LAIR by Ann Bausum tells the true story of the 1944 plot to kill Adolf Hitler and the ghost children of this revenge. This well-research children’s book uses a compelling narrative along with primary source documents to engage readers in the devastating aftermath of Operation Valkyrie. After the failed assassination attempt, Hitler relentlessly sought revenge on the children and relatives of a secretive network of Germans who were conspiring against Hitler’s regime. Weaving in excerpts from the diary of Christa von Hofacker and other accounts, the story comes alive through the trauma of the children of the resistance. The book concludes with a helpful timeline, family information, list of resources, and author’s note.

THE GERMAN RESISTANCE MEMORIAL CENTER contains primary source documents, biographies, and exhibitions related to the German Resistance. To visit the website, go to https://www.gdw-berlin.de/en/home/.

INTRODUCING THE WARTIME DIARY OF CHRISTA VON HOFACKER shares an interview with the author about her connection to Christa’s diary that inspired the book. To view the video, go to https://bit.ly/31P39co.

ANN BAUSUM’s website contains behind-the-scenes information and classroom activities. To explore the website, go to https://bit.ly/3mkjsrb.

ARC courtesy of National Geographic.

Digital Collections: NINES

NINES: Nineteenth-Century Scholarship Online

Contents: This collection contains nearly 900,000 digital objects from 139 federated sites. It includes well-known materials by Jane Austen along with books, letters, diaries, and other fascinating primary sources. Tags are used to explore areas of interest.

Classroom Connections: The NINES Classroom area allows teachers to set up accounts for classes to create exhibits and discuss objects. Although it’s used primarily by colleges, any educator can set up an account.

Featured Digital Objects:
Costume resources - https://goo.gl/Qe1Qfu
Frankenstein resources - https://goo.gl/V8Gpjg
American Civil War resources - https://goo.gl/vKlCqc

To visit the collection, go to http://www.nines.org/.

Website Review Europeana 1914-1918

EUROPEANA 1914-1918 is a huge website sharing both the official histories as well as the untold stories of World War I.

Co-funded by the European Union, the website brings together three major European projects focusing on different materials including documents from the public, national collections, and film archives.

Users can browse materials by type, subject, or front. Within each section, participants can explore sources from Europe as well as New Zealand, United States, Australia, and Canada. In addition, related items are presented that might be of interest. The interface is easy-to-use and presents high-quality digital representations that can be embedded, shared, or downloaded. Copyright information is provided for those who would like to share the resource. Users are encouraged to re-use the materials in projects.

The TYPES section provides access to letters, diaries, photographs, films, documents, and postcards. Of particular interest are the thousands of videos included in the collection.

The SUBJECTS section explores remembrance, propaganda, prisoners of war, trench life, aerial warfare, navel warfare, and women. Youth will be particularly interested in the wide range of propaganda posters, cartoons, and other materials.

The FRONT section features the Italian front, home front, Eastern front, and Western front. Break your high school history class into four groups. Each team can dive into the resources related to one of the four fronts.

The ADD YOUR STORY section is collecting Great War era stories from website visitors.

Brimming with easy-to-access primary source documents, this website provides excellent resources to address Common Core standards related to primary source documents. With commemorations being planned around the world during the next few years, this digital collection is likely to grow.

Many other excellent websites are emerging that focus on the World War I era from 1914 through 1918. Be sure to check out the International Encyclopedia of the First World War at http://www.1914-1918-online.net/.

The World War One area of the British Library contains over 500 historical sources and more than 50 original articles and lessons for teachers to use in their classrooms. To learn more about this source, go to http://bl.uk/world-war-one.

To visit the EUROPEANA 1914-1918 website, go to http://www.europeana1914-1918.eu/en.