2.1 Read About Positive Personal and Cultural Identity Through Stories

2.1C Bronia and the Bowls of Soup - Cultural Identity

A narrative is a story about something that happened in the writer's life. Sometimes, narratives give clues about a person's cultural identity. 

Everyone has a cultural identity. Knowing where you come from can give you a sense of belonging and a sense of self. People are shaped by certain aspects of each of the cultures they belong to or come from. Often, cultural identity comes from family background and beliefs. For some people, culture is more about the families they create or grow up in rather than birth heritage.

You can learn a lot about your cultural identity by speaking with your own family - whether it is birth family or another form of family that you live with and spend time with. Culture, like kindness, can spread from one generation to the next. 

Bronia and the Bowls of Soup

The following story is about a piece of the author's history and based on a real event that happened in history - World War II and the holocaust. It has some really sad parts, but the person telling the story, Bronia, has some happy things happen in her life when the holocaust is over. 

The Holocaust is one of the most terrible events in human history. It occurred during World War II when Hitler was leader of Germany. Six million Jewish people were murdered by the Nazis. This included as many as 1 million Jewish children. Millions of other people that Hitler didn't like were killed as well. This included well-educated people, Polish people, Catholics, Serbs, gay people, and handicapped people. It is thought that the Nazis murdered as many as 17 million innocent people.

CLICK HERE for the narrative.   After you read the text, complete the activity in your Learning Guide.