The Freedom Writers Diary

The Freedom Writers Diary

by

Erin Gruwell

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on The Freedom Writers Diary makes teaching easy.
Like Anne Frank, Gerda Seifer is Jewish and is forced to hide from the Nazis during the Holocaust. Like Anne, when faced with the violent hatred of the Nazis, she soon loses her childish innocence. She becomes the only member of her family to survive the war. When she visits the Holocaust museum with the Freedom Writers, she sheds tears at seeing the cattle cars where Nazis put people on their way to concentration camps, revealing the deep scars that the past has left within her.
Get the entire The Freedom Writers Diary LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Freedom Writers Diary PDF

Gerda Seifer Character Timeline in The Freedom Writers Diary

The timeline below shows where the character Gerda Seifer appears in The Freedom Writers Diary. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Entry 4: Ms. Gruwell
Education and Healing Theme Icon
Violence, War, and Death  Theme Icon
...for finding Anne’s diary. To prepare for this visit, Ms. Gruwell invites another Holocaust survivor, Gerda Seifer, to come speak to her class. (full context)
Part IV: Diary 41
Race, Ethnicity, and Tolerance Theme Icon
Violence, War, and Death  Theme Icon
...feels that Ms. Gruwell’s lesson plan on racial tolerance has changed her life. After hearing Gerda Seifer speak about World War II, during which she was forced to hide in a... (full context)
Race, Ethnicity, and Tolerance Theme Icon
Violence, War, and Death  Theme Icon
...belongs there, so that s/he will not be attacked. S/he learns directly from Anne and Gerda’s survival strategies, as well as from their deep messages of tolerance. (full context)
Part VI: Diary 85
Race, Ethnicity, and Tolerance Theme Icon
Violence, War, and Death  Theme Icon
When the students visit the Holocaust museum, accompanied by Renee Firestone and Gerda Seifer, this student is horrified to see images of thousands of bodies buried in a... (full context)
Race, Ethnicity, and Tolerance Theme Icon
When she and Gerda see the cattle cars, Gerda starts to cry, as she remembers the impossible quantities of... (full context)