World War II

With Germany upset about how WWI ended and Japan upset about a lack-of-access to much-needed natural resources, another war sent the world into chaos between 1939-1945. Stories in this collection are about some of those events.

World War II Chapters

Jacobo was both directly and indirectly affected by the war.

You will know why Japan attacked Hawaii.

Although Raoul Wallenberg disappeared without a trace, the world remembers all he did to save many people from certain death at the hands of the Nazis...

When the Soviets liberated Budapest, Raoul Wallenberg thought they could also free 70,000 Jewish people who were still at risk. After discussing the i...

Working with the Swedish Embassy, in Hungary, Raoul Wallenberg continues with his plan to save Hungarian Jews.

World War II Learning Tasks

Identifying Common Character Traits from Several Sources

Character Traits of Heros

Self-Esteem and Courage as Character Traits

Complex Characters

Textual Evidence

World War II Audios

Anne Frank, a Jewish girl living with her family in Amsterdam, was thirteen years old during the summer of 1942.  At the time, German forces were...

On the 8th of December, 1941 - the day after Pearl Harbor was bombed - Americans received their up-to-date news from the radio.

Churchill tried repeatedly to convince FDR to enter the war.

Winston Churchill became Prime Minister on the 10th of May, 1940.

On the 4th of June, 1940, Winston Churchill addressed Parliament.

World War II Audio Narrations

Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., was an African-American hero who was also a leader in wartime aviation history.

The Ardennes Offensive initially favors Germany, leading to the Americans in trouble at Bastogne.

During the Blitz, German warplanes devastate Coventry on November 14, 1940.

Germany's Federal Archives contain SS photos from Auschwitz-Birkenau.

World War II Documents

An American Marine found a briefcase on Saipan containing nothing but information regarding Amelia Earhart. Was it her briefcase? If so, how did it ge...

In February of 1945, the military intelligence section of the Southwest Pacific Area of General Headquarters prepared a detailed report on the "Destru...

Did people around the world know what the Nazis were doing in Poland before the end of the war? In 1942, the Polish government-in-exile sent a pamphle...

On the 21st of October, 1941, Alan Turing and three of his Station X colleagues wrote a secret letter to Prime Minister Winston Churchill. It caused a...

James Forrestal, Secretary of the Navy, disagreed with the Naval Court of Inquiry's opinion.  He issued his own assessment in two differing forma...

Show tooltips