The Holocaust, A Tragic Legacy: http://library.advanced.org/12663

    From 1933 to 1945, over 6 million European Jews and nearly 5 million other people were executed systematically by Nazi forces, under the order of German dictator Adolph Hitler, in various concentration and work camps across Eastern Europe.  This horrible event has been labeled "The Holocaust." The web site: "The Holocaust: A Tragic Legacy" is dedicated to the proliferation of knowledge about this terrible part of twentieth century history, and is dedicated to those who survived it and to the memory of those who did not.
    Three students created the site for a competition called Think Quest, which encourages students between the ages of 12-19 to use the internet as a teaching and learning tool.  Being either high school students or only in their first two years of college, these three individuals relied heavily on material already available on the Holocaust, many books, interviews, recorded accounts from survivors, images and extensive use of secondary and primary sources.  All of these sources are usually documented and there is even a page dedicated to more material on the subject if the browser desires to do further research.  One of the good qualities of this site is that every page presents factual information with the exception of two that are message boards for opinions from those who visit the site.  It is clear that the designers of the site wanted to broadcast information on the Holocaust where it would be accessible to more people in a format that is easier and more interesting to view than a book.  The main goal of the designers was to not let the facts and realities of the Holocaust get lost in the annals of history only to have the same mistakes made again, and have the sacrifices of so many people forgotten.
    The majority of the information is organized thematically, with an initial table of contents that directs people to different pages pertaining to various aspects of the holocaust, along with interactive quizzes on knowledge about the Holocaust and opportunities to express one's opinions on the more controversial issues that have arisen since the Holocaust, such as the Nuremberg trials and the culpability of the Swiss.  My favorite part of the site was an interactive timeline which guided one through the stages of the Holocaust from its inception as The Final Solution to the liberation of the camps by the Allied forces.  There was a significant amount of information presented for each year along with a very helpful glossary of words and terms that were used to explain and describe the Holocaust.  There was also virtual tours of concentration camps and audio clips from actual survivors along with written accounts.  I feel that the textual information was extensive and not overshadowed by the emphasis on multimedia and graphics.  All of it worked together to present a very interesting and informative site which provides a lot of information in a visually pleasing manner.
    As stated before, the information is well organized and easily accessible from the table of contents.  The one problem is that there is not always a link back to the main table of contents which can lead to someone getting lost or having to hit the back button too many times. One good thing is that each section has a brief description at the table of contents so one can tell what they will view in each section.  The use of frames in much of the site ,especially in the timeline, really enable the site to be readable and informative.  The site could use some more text and scholarly information, but since it is primarily designed for the general public it is a very good site with a lot of information and is easy to access and understand.
    This is a very technically intensive site, with audio, java script, virtual tours, on-line quizzes, and interactive scenarios.  These are very interesting and help the user to understand the information and find it more interesting.  In some places such as the interactive sections on Nuremberg and Swiss gold, as well as the audio files of eye witness accounts information is presented in a manner which engages the user and makes the information come to life.  The virtual reality tour of the concentration camps is a little unnecessary but still very neat since they seemed to design it themselves.  I think this site "marries functionality and design" very well making it a very informative and interesting site even if you are not a history buff.  this site tries to reach out to the general public and make the information about the Holocaust more accessible to non scholars, but I learned a lot from the site and so would recommend this site to anyone who is interested in the Holocaust and its significance.