How can a photograph help us to imagine life during the Blitz?
This photograph was taken in 1942. It shows bomb damage in Exeter during the Blitz. This building front is all that remains of a terrace of houses, the rest has been destroyed by the bombing. Exeter and a number of other cities were targeted by Hitler in revenge for Air Marshal Harris's bombing campaign against German cities in 1942.
Teaching idea
Using the information given within the Teacher's Notes above discuss what the Blitz was and why it happened. Ask them to suggest reasons why there are no children in the photograph. Ask your pupils to imagine that they are in the photograph of Exeter. What questions would they ask the people in the photograph? What do they think the people are discussing? How do they think the people might be feeling/how would they feel if it was their house in the photograph? In pairs or groups ask them to write (and perform) a short piece of dialogue between themselves and the people in the photograph.
Learning aims and outcomes
- Explain the effects of bomb damage
- List some of the effects of war on everyday life
- Suggest ways in which people suffered
- Suggest why evacuation was used as one strategy to protect children
Prior knowledge
- A concept of what the Blitz was and when it occurred
Extended learning and useful links
- Pupils could be asked to consider if this photograph provides evidence that the government were right to evacuate children during the war
- Image by Theme - World War Two
- Exeter Blitz stories and memories
- BBC Home Front - The Blitz