Writing Prompt:What lessons can we learn from the Holocaust and the Japanese Internment Camps during World War II? Why was it important for witnesses of history to tell their stories?

Write a synthesis essay about the textual connections between the Holocaust, the Japanese Internment and their lessons for our world today. Cite at least three of the texts listed below from the World War II unit to support your ideas.

Writing Criteria:

• Well-organized multiple-paragraph essay.
• A clear thesis statement (main argument).
• Textual evidence from three or more sources, with analysis (cited in MLA Format).
• Checked for spelling/grammar/mechanics.
• Typed in MLA Format (Times New Roman, 12 point, Double Spaced) in Google Classroom (classroom.google.com).
• Works Cited page: easybib.com, bibme.org, citationmachine.net
• Editing/Revision websites: paperrater.com, grammarly.com, hemingwayapp.com

Possible Texts:

• Night (Elie Wiesel)
• “Wiesel offers students first-hand account” (Louis Sahagun)
• “Proudly Bearing Elder’s Scars…” (Jodi Rudoren)
• Selected Holocaust Poetry
• Oprah Winfrey and Elie Wiesel: Auschwitz Death Camp
• “A Night at the Garden” (PBS POV 2018)
• American Pastime (2007)
• “Silence No More” (Kiku Funabiki)
• “Remembering the No-No Boys” (Nadra Nittle)
• “Manzanar” (Eddie Sakamoto)
• Excerpt from Farewell to Manzanar (Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston)
• “Pilgrimage” (2003)

Editing/Revision Resources:

• AVID Transitions
• Easybib.com (Works Cited)
• Purdue Online Writing Lab (MLA Formatting and Style Guide)
• Persuasion Map (readwritethink)

Presentations Resources: WWII Presentation LT Criteria

Post-September 11th and the Muslim Ban:

• Talk of registry for Muslims has Japanese internment survivors asking: ‘Can’t they see what’s wrong?’ (LATimes)
• Pearl Harbor Lessons: Trump’s Muslim Ban same ‘prejudice’ Japanese Americans faced during WWII, ACLU Lawyer warns (Newsweek)
• What Makes Today’s America Different From the Country That Incarcerated the Japanese? (The Atlantic)
• Japanese American internment is ‘precedent’ for national Muslim registry, prominent Trump backer says (Washington Post)
• “After Words: September 11, 2001” (AAAJ)
• “Why children did not knock at my door on Halloween this year” (AAAJ)
• “Who took the rap? A call to action” (AAAJ)
• “Pilgrimage” (2003)
• Learning from History: The Japanese Internment and Reactions to Muslim Americans (USC)
• Lessons to Remember From Japanese Internment (Huffington Post)

Anti-Religious Terrorism:

• Time for non-Muslims everywhere to take a stand (Qantara)
• New Zealand Jews ‘sickened’ by mosque shootings that killed 49 (JTA)
• Security experts say houses of worship vulnerable to attacks (NBC News)
• Muslims embraced us Jews when we were slain at worship. Now we must support them. (Washington Post)
• ‘Terror will not win,’ says Rabbi Injured in Synagogue Shooting (NYTimes)

U.S. Immigrant Detainment/Family Separation:

• What We Know: Family Separation And ‘Zero Tolerance’ At The Border (NPR)
• How the Trump Administration Is Normalizing Immigrant Internment Camps (The Nation)
• Is it fair to call the US’s migrant child detention centers “concentration camps”? (Quartz)
• Detention at border has caused psychological damage. Families need help. The government should pay for it. (USA Today)
• ‘Like I am trash’: Migrant children reveal stories of detention, separation (NBC News)

Genocides since the Holocaust:

• Four genocides we should also remember on Holocaust Memorial Day (Independent)
• The rise of genocide memorials (BBC News)
• LAUSD to consider excusing absences on Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day (LA Daily News)

Chinese internment camps:

• I’ve fought China’s slow-motion genocide of Uighur Muslims. Now, my family are victims. (USA Today)
• US accuses China of using ‘concentration camps’ against Muslim minority (The Guardian)
• China putting minority Muslims in ‘concentration camps,’ U.S. says (Reuters)
• China’s Uyghur detention camps may be the largest mass incarceration since the Holocaust (New Statesman)