From Prejudice to Oppression
Students will go through resources on antisemitism in the early modern era as well as a resource on the Nazi book burning of 1933.
Lesson Plan
Artistry of the Mentally Ill
Using the art and experience of one individual, Franz Karl Bühlerthis lesson asks students to examine the connections between culture and ideology using the Nazi staged art exhibition, “Degenerate Art” and the Nazi T4 program.
Enduring Understanding
During the 1930s and 1940s, Nazi leaders sought to control Germany not only politically, but also culturally. The regime restricted the type of art that could be produced, displayed, and sold. In 1937, Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels made plans to show the public the forms of art that the regime deemed unacceptable. He organized the confiscation and exhibition of so-called “degenerate” art.
Essential Questions
- 1How did Nazi ideology influence policies and practices around the idea of dis/ability in Germany during the 1930s and 1940s?
- 2How are individuals with disabilities viewed and treated by society?
- 3How does a society’s treatment of people with disabilities reflect the society’s culture, values, and ideology?
Readiness
Using a think-pair-share discussion, students reflect on the following two questions:
- How are individuals with disabilities viewed and treated by society?
- How does a society’s treatment of people with disabilities reflect the society’s culture, values, and ideology?
Input
Share the following information with students:
Franz Karl Bühler, who was a well-known German artist at the turn of the twentieth century was diagnosed with schizophrenia and institutionalized by the 1920s. He continued to produce art, which was criticized by the Nazis and included in the degenerate art exhibition, as the Nazis tried to show supposed links between modern art and mental illness.
The Nazi T4 program was the systematic murder of institutionalized patients with disabilities in Germany. It started in 1939. The program was one of many radical eugenic measures that aimed to restore the racial “integrity” of the German nation. It aimed to eliminate what eugenicists and their supporters considered “life unworthy of life”: those individuals who—they believed—because of severe psychiatric, neurological, or physical disabilities represented both a genetic and a financial burden on German society and the state. Among those murdered under the T4 Program was Franz Karl Bühler.
Display Self-Portrait by Franz Karl Bühler (pronounced Bueller) from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Display the art piece while your students read through the text individually or in small groups. Encourage students to click through the hyperlinked text to learn more about the “Degenerate Art” exhibition and the T4 program.
As students look through the articles, have them respond to the following questions:
- What was the Degenerate Art exhibition? What purpose did it serve?
- What was the T4 Program? How did it feed into Nazi ideology?
- What happened to Franz Karl Bühler? What is the significance of having his self portrait for review?
Output
In a whole class discussion, students discuss the relationship between culture and ideology, returning to the opening questions:
- How did Nazi ideology influence policies and practices around the idea of dis/ability in Germany during the 1930s and 1940s?
- How are individuals with disabilities viewed and treated by society?
- How does a society’s treatment of people with disabilities reflect the society’s culture, values, and ideology?
Wisconsin Academic Standards
This lessons meets the following Academic Standards required by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
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