Project Overview

This memoir-style book was created by a 5^th/6^th grade student at Shutesbury Elementary School in Shutesbury, Massachusetts, and tells the life story of a Holocaust survivor. This book was created as part of a biography project that also included a large-scale timeline and a museum.

As part of this expedition, students created a “living history museum” in which students represented a historical figure by dressing up as that person and answering questions as if they were that person. Most students chose well-known historical figures. The student whose work is shown here, selected a friend of her grandmother – a woman who was a holocaust survivor. This student was the only one to interview the actual person represented in the living history museum. Blanca, the subject of this slim book, was also the author of a memoir about her experiences, which the student read in researching Blanca’s life.

Blanca Rosenberg is the biography of Blanca written in first person narrative, as told to the student via an extensive interview. This narrative tells the life story of a Jewish woman from Poland who survived the holocaust though many around her did not. This deeply personalized account of World War II is a unique means for understanding the human impact of war.