Name: ______

Period: _____

Directions: While you read the following passage, underline parts of the passage and take notes in the margin. Specifically, you should:

  • Circle vocabulary words you don’t understand
  • Write any questions you might have as you read
  • Write your personal reactions or opinions to what you are reading
  • Underline or write summaries of key ideas
  • Identify connections you can make with things outside of the reading (personal or historical)

After reading you will answer the questions at the end.

“The Ovens Were Still Hot”

A Jewish-American Witness at Buchenwald

By Phillip Lief

Background: In December 1944, a massive German attack in the Ardennes Forest of Belgium succeeded in pushing back the Allied forces after they had liberated France. Known as the Battle of the Bulge, it was the last German counteroffensive of the war. As Allied troops advanced into Germany in 1945, they liberated concentration camps in which Jews and political prisoners were being exterminated in massive numbers. Nearly 12 million people, half of them Jews were systematically murdered. Phillip Lief, a surgeon and captain in the US Army witnessed the horror at the Buchenwald camp.

Margin Notes:

Margin Notes:

Margin Notes:

Margin Notes:

Margin Notes:

  1. The words below are underlined in the reading. Re-read the parts around the underlined words and try to explain the meaning of the words (Try your best!)

Emaciated:

Crematorium:

Conditioned Reflex:

Commandant:

Repress:

  1. Identify two pieces of specific evidence that Lief encountered that proved to him that many Jews were in fact killed at Buchenwald.

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  1. Lief found that many of the inmates tried to look out for their own survival rather than the interests of the group? Why? Do you think most people would act this way? Explain.

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  1. Do you believe that the German civilians were telling the truth when they claimed that they didn’t know what was happening in the camps or couldn’t do anything about it? Do you think the Germans working at the camp were all evil people, or do you think they were just following orders, or can normal people do things like this? Do you think any of them deserve to be forgiven? Explain.

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  1. We know two important things about Lief from the reading. He was a Jew and he was a doctor. How do you think each of these factors impacted him when he arrived at Buchenwald?

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  1. Lief writes, “I myself didn’t believe what I had seen. And yet, there it was.” Do you think that “not believing” what you see is natural when you see images that are so haunting? How do you think people who see such terrible images deal with it? Do you think their memories are accurate? Do you think talking about it (if you’ve seen terrible things) is a good idea or a bad idea? Explain.

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