Critical Thinking/Discussion Questions - Olga Borochina

1. Think about the events (causes) and the outcomes (effects) of Olga’s experiences after listening to the interview and reading her biography, timeline, and the transcript of her story. Using the Cause and Effect graphic organizer below, describe and discuss how the human, environmental, and political events during Olga’s war-time experience affected her life in the short-term (immediate) and long-term (ultimate).

CAUSE AND EFFECT GRAPHIC ORGANIZER

Cause                                                     Effect

2. Use art materials to illustrate the quote below. Share your illustrations and compare and contrast the representations.

"The Germans created a ghetto by walling off a third of the city, forcing Jews to live in farm buildings." Olga says, “I lived there with my mother, sister, and grandparents in an open barn with goats. We had no walls and the snow would pile up inside. We burned anything we could find.” They lived there for three years. Her grandparents died from the cold. Olga recalls, “One day my sister and I heard that a mobile extermination squad was headed in our direction. We dug a hole and hid in it. We were there for three days.” They were still in the hole when liberation came.