My Heart in a Suitcase
ArtsPower
Tuesday, March 24, 10 a.m. & 12:30 p.m.
Grades 5-8

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Based on actual events chronicled by Anne Lehmann Fox in her book, My Heart in a Suitcase.

Anne Lehmann and her family no longer feel safe in their 1930s Berlin home; life in Germany is deteriorating quickly. After the Kristallnacht (“Night of the Broken Glass”), Mr. and Mrs. Lehmann realize that in order to protect their daughter, they may have to say goodbye to her forever. Now Anne must struggle to bring meaning out of despair, to cling to love and hope even in a world that seems to be filled with hatred and violence.

Kristallnacht, a violent pogrom that occurred throughout Nazi Germany on November 9-10, 1938, saw the destruction in a single night of more than a thousand Synagogues, the ransacking of thousands of Jewish businesses and homes, and the gathering of more than 30,000 Jewish men for internment into concentration camps.  Through the Kindertransport program, though, children like Anne were able to travel lout of Nazi-occupied territories to safety in England.

Post-show Discussion – Dr. Heini Halberstam, retired faculty at the University of Illinois Chamapign-Urbana, traveled out of the former Czechoslovakia to England on the Kinderstransport, an organized movement of nearly 10,000 Jewish children from Nazi territories before World War II.  Dr. Halberstam will answer questions from students in the audience as part of an informative post-show discussion.

Curriculum Connections

History & Social Studies
Social/Emotional Learning
Fine Arts

Program Length: 60 minutes

Teaching materials available - Coming soon!

Study Guide - Click to download
Teacher Survey - Click to fill out Teacher Survey online.