Another Pile of Shoes An Experience to Personalize Numbers

Day One Assignment

A pair of shoes might have meant the difference between survival and death during the Holocaust. Of all the shoes you have at home, which pair would you choose to wear if given only a few minutes to gather all of your possessions? Tomorrow, wear that pair of shoes to school.

Day Two Assignments

TAKE OFF YOUR SHOES! Put your shoes in one big pile Take a picture of the pile with the digital camera Note: You may increase awareness by asking others in the school (principal, secretary, etc.) to participate by adding their shoes to the stack. Be sure to include your teacher. Print the picture(s) and place it on the world map (located at the front of the room) where we are right now

Write a Short Descriptive Paragraph About Your Shoes Include statements about WHERE, WHEN and WHY you got them Reflect on WHAT they mean to you, specifically

Pause here while writing the Short Descriptive Paragraph Remember to include – where, when, why and what!

Day Two Continued Assignment

The Diary of Anne Frank Over the next couple of weeks, we will be studying a time in history that is difficult to comprehend for some – The play is set during the time period of and is based on the actual diary of a young girl named Anne Frank NEED MORE INFORMATION/EVEN MORE SLIDES BEFORE CONTINUING

What are Nazi Death Camps? Of the approximately 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust, more than half were systematically exterminated in the highly rationalized gas chamber/crematorium system of the Nazi Death Camps between 1942 and 1945.

Locate Majdanek on a map or an atlas Reflect on the picture located on the next slide…then complete the inference question about the slide following the picture at Majdanek

The Pile at Majdanek A pile of the victims shoes at Majdanek. Website:

On a piece of paper, infer from the previous picture at Majdanek the answers to the following questions: How many pairs of shoes could possibly be in this picture? How many victims wore these shoes into this particular death camp? Various places that the Holocaust victims wore these shoes before they came to the camp Reasons why they got these shoes in the first place

Shoes at Auschwitz Website Consider the picture on this website: (located on next slide) Also, consider the picture following concerning shoes at Auschwitz Then locate Auschwitz on a map or atlas

AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU Taken inside a huge glass case in the Auschwitz Museum. This represents one day's collection at the peak of the gassings, about twenty five thousand pairs.

Shoes at Auschwitz

On your piece of paper answer the following questions: What do you think is happening in this last picture? Why would people be sorting this enormous pile of shoes? How many victims wore these shoes? Where did they wear them before being transferred to the death camp?

Shoes at Belzec Consider the picture on the next slide at Belzec death camp Notice the ladder leaning against the pile of shoes Locate Belzec on a map or atlas.

SHOES at BELZEC Pile of the victims shoes at the Belzec extermination camp. Website:

Shoes at Belzec On your piece of paper, write a final paragraph answering the following questions: How many shoes do you think are in this picture at Belzec? How would you feel if a pair of the shoes in the picture belonged to you or someone you loved?