Writing Prompts - Eva Rosenfeld

Prompt 1

When the United States accepted 982 refugees from occupied Italy, Eva boarded an army ship with other guests of President Franklin Roosevelt. They were the only Jewish refugees allowed to enter the United States during wartime. Eva says, “I hardly ever spoke. I didn't realize it then, but I was totally traumatized by what happened to me." Eva completed high school, learned English, and graduated from nursing school. “At my graduation in December 1948, I was finally independent.” After viewing Eva’s documentary, summarize and analyze her feelings about being orphaned at an early age.

Prompt 2

Click on the link below and consider Eva’s story in comparison with that of another Survivor on the website who lived in a concentration camp outside of Italy. How were their experiences different? Write an essay that compares and contrasts these experiences and support your answer with evidence from one or more interviews and other appropriate sources, and be sure to cite specific evidence to support your argument.

Excerpt from: It Happened in Italy - by Elizabeth Bettina

Bettina, E. (2011). It happened in Italy: untold stories of how the people of Italy defied the horrors of the Holocaust. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.