Combining a lesson from the UCL Center and the USHMM resources, students will gain an understanding of what concentration camps were like between 1939-42.
Unlike a typical prison system, concentration camps held people with no regard to legal basis for arrest and imprisonment.
Provide students with a blank A5 piece of paper (postcard sized) and a pencil. Give students just 2-3 minutes to sketch what they think a Nazi concentration camp looked like. Assure them that their artistic skills are not the main focus, rather this exercise seeks to visualize their prior knowledge and understanding of concentration camps.
In groups of four, ask students to create a gallery with the images they created. Ask them to talk about the similarities and differences between the sketches.
Direct students to the resource, Concentration Camps, 1939-42 by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Read through the first two sections, “Expansion of the Camp System” and “Establishment of New Camps” as a class.
Direct student attention to the list of camps: Gusen, Neuengamme, Gross-Rosen, Auschwitz, Natzweiler, Stuffhof, and Majdanek. Click on one of the camps on the list to show students what type of information can be found for each one. Scroll to the bottom of the page to show where the discussion questions will be.
In the same groups that they are already working with, assign each group one of the camps from the list. Have students prepare a brief presentation about their assigned camp answering the questions below.
Provide students with the following instructions:
Reconvene as a class. Ask students some new things they learned about concentration camps. Compared to their sketches and what they know now, what would they have changed in their drawing?
Tell students that (as they may now realize) that all camps were different. There is no such thing as a “typical” concentration camp. Different camps had different functions and they changed over time.
This lesson meets the following Academic Standards required by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
Before you teach, use our teacher primer to freshen up on your content knowledge.
Students will analyze primary sources from 1933-1939 during the early usage of the concentration camp system. Students will learn about the different types of prisoners that suffered in the camps.
Early concentration camps tested what the Nazis could get away with. They were also a place where SS and SA officers could be groomed to act out violently towards prisoners.
Ask students what they know about concentration camps. Do they know when they started? What kind of people were imprisoned in them?
Read through the resource, Early Camps by the BBC with the class. Then go back and demonstrate how to get to the primary sources by clicking on the red lettering in the text and then clicking on “Read Document” that comes up.
Dissect the first resource, “mass arrests” as a class. Use the following guidelines to help go through it:
Divide the class into groups of three or five and assign each group one of the eight other primary sources. Some sources are longer than others, so you may decide you want to have larger groups analyze those. The longer resources are the ones labeled: ‘no mercy’, ‘murders’, ‘left-wing prisoners’, and ‘German Jews’.
Have them repeat what you did as a class in their groups with their assigned resource. Ask each group to present their resource to the class verbally. If possible, project each resource for the class as the group goes over it.
This lesson meets the following Academic Standards required by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
Before you teach, use our teacher primer to freshen up on your content knowledge.
Students will learn the history of antisemitism and how it was transformed into Nazi racial antisemitism through the years.
Antisemitism was not invented with the rise of the Nazi party. It had deep roots that were transformed to fit the racist ideology of the time.
Begin by prompting your students to think about forms of intolerance. What kind of ‘isms’ can they think of that separate one group from another in a detrimental way?
Do they believe that certain ‘isms’ are more powerful than others? Why might this be?
This lesson can be found in an expanded form here.
Divide students into groups or pairs.
Distribute the first definition card within this three page bundle, which defines the terms ideology, racists and ethnicity.
In groups, pairs, or individually students work to define the yellow highlighted words. After the group defines the word, they use dictionaries to check their definitions.
After 5 minutes come together and have students briefly share:
Pivot toward the question of pseudoscience: Now that we have definitions of racists and race, let’s examine the pseudo science behind beliefs that human behavior is biologically determined. See if they know what pseudo means.
Distribute and read definition cards two and three which defines pseudo, science and racial antisemitism.
–> Students can repeat the definitional activity used with the first definition cards for the second and third cards as well..
Check for understanding of the concept of pseudoscience and racial antisemitism.
Answer questions or clear misconceptions before proceeding.
Watch this short clip from USHMM about racism in the Nazi party. Then ask students to respond to the following questions either in writing or small groups before opening up for a large group discussion. You may also assign certain questions to groups or individuals to reduce the time for responses.
This lesson meets the following Academic Standards required by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
Before you teach, use our teacher primer to freshen up on your content knowledge.
Read through a translation of the famous text J’Accuse! and answer questions based off of the text. Students will learn about bias, perspective, and the construction of history.
Antisemitic racism was alive and well in Europe well before the Nazis came to power.
Provide students with a brief overview of the Dreyfus Affair. A presentation with important dates and facts can be found here. Go over this with your students if you feel it necessary and time permits.
In brief, explain to students that Alfred Dreyfus was accused of stealing military secrets with weak evidence and was sentenced to prison. Tell students that the document they will be reading is a newspaper article written by a Dreyfus supporter, Emile Zola, who accused the French military of a conspiracy against Dreyfus.
Read through the translation of J’Accuse! provided by the University of Pennsylvania Library as a class.
As you read together collectively, ask students to take notes utilizing the 3Ps Method; taking note of things they find a) Powerful b) Puzzling and c) Propelling.
Once you’ve finished reading, attempt to clarify the sections that students found puzzling.
In order to familiarize yourself, and your class with this model, please look over this guide: 3Ps: A Critical Reading Guide.
Divide students into pairs or groups of three before directing them to the Reading Road Map questions at the bottom of the reading. Give students approximately 10-15 minutes to jot down their answers.
After everyone has had a chance to write down their answers, go over the questions as a class. Finally, address the essential questions directly to the class and open up a class discussion on whether biases still exist in justice systems today.
This lesson meets the following Academic Standards required by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
Before you teach, use our teacher primer to freshen up on your content knowledge.
Students will learn the history of anti-Judaism and its relevance when studying the Holocaust. Open up into a discussion about prejudices in history and how rumors and hatred get carried through generations.
Stereotypes and misinformation of the Jewish people has persisted and changed through the years, with much of it still visible in present day.
Ask students how they define religion. Then, how might they define ‘religious differences’?
Furthermore, can they consider how religious differences have been handled throughout history? Is this a peaceful history or a bloody one?
Divide the class into a maximum of six groups. Have each group elect one person as their recorder. Note that everyone else must read and all members should contribute to the answers.
Direct student to the resource, Anti-Judaism before the Enlightenment by Facing History and Ourselves. Ask students to read through the resource and go over the Connection Questions found at the bottom of the page in their small group. Have groups write down their answers. Give 25 minutes for this exercise.
Come back together as a class and go over the answers to the connection questions. Ask each group to answer one question, selecting them randomly. Tell students they should be adding to their answers with thoughts discussed by the class and answers from other groups.
If time permits, ask students the questions below in an open discussion.
This lesson meets the following Academic Standards required by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
Before you teach, use our teacher primer to freshen up on your content knowledge.
Students will learn about the pre-genocide expulsion of Jews that took place in 1938. This lesson will open a discussion about refugees, statelessness, and international complicity.
Geopolitical crises are often created by powerful countries, not by powerless people.
Ask students how they define the term citizenship.
Then, ask them how they would define the term refugee. What is the difference between someone who is a citizen, and someone who is a refugee? Is the distinction meaningful in terms of their status as a human being? If not, why are they treated so differently?
Read through the resource, The Expulsion of Polish Jews From Germany by holocaust.cz as a class. Ask students to write down any questions they have about the text.
Divide the class into groups of three and provide them with the following instructions:
Discussion Questions:
This lesson meets the following Academic Standards required by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
Before you teach, use our teacher primer to freshen up on your content knowledge.
Create a poem based on letters written by Holocaust victims sent to family members from home, hiding, ghettos, prisons, and concentration camps.
Letters help to tell the individual stories and restore the names and faces of the victims of the Holocaust.
Tell students that the letters that they will look through in this exhibit were sent from the Czech lands, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia, and the Ukraine and that they were written by victims of the Holocaust.
Not all authors of these letters understood their fate. Some letters may depict uncertainty, some optimism, and others may show that the author knew exactly what awaited them. There were also cases when people were coerced to write letters saying all was well, when the reality was far more grim.
Direct students to the handout “Creating a Found Poem” by Facing History and Ourselves. Read over the instructions as a class before directing students to the Yad Vashem exhibit, “Last Letters From the Holocaust:1944”.
Each letter is accompanied by some background information on the sender and receiver; students should read these as well.
Create a poem together as a class in order to give students an idea of what to do. Use the short letter, “Dear Papa” as an example. Ask students to brainstorm ideas on how to write the poem. Remember, you can reuse words to help make the poem longer than the postcard. Be creative!
Have students look through the Yad Vashem exhibit and choose a letter to write their poem from. Allow your students some time to complete their poems. When it appears that everyone is done, get the conversation flowing by asking the following questions:
Let students have the opportunity to take their poems home to keep working on them for the next day or two. Collect the poems at the end of the class (or week if you decide to give more time). Keep them as a class project that you can use as an example in doing this lesson with other classes. Ask for volunteers to read their poems aloud to the class.
This lesson meets the following Academic Standards required by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
Before you teach, use our teacher primer to freshen up on your content knowledge.
Read through an account by survivor Primo Levi on identity in the camps and then take the class through an activity on dehumanization using the Echoes & Reflections Timeline of the Holocaust.
It is easier to commit harsh acts towards someone who is seen as an absolute Other–one whose very existence threatens your own.
Write the term “dehumanization” on the board. As a class, compose a definition. Present and review the definition of dehumanization with students. Students should have a basic understanding of the process of dehumanization.
Dehumanization: As a political or social measure, dehumanization is intended to change the manner in which a person or group of people are perceived, reducing the target group to objects or beings not worthy of human rights.
Direct students to the resource, Identity in the Camps by Facing History and Ourselves. Read the passage by Primo Levi as a class. Explain that Primo Levi is a Holocaust survivor that spent time as a prisoner in Auschwitz concentration camp and has written works about his time there.
According to Primo Levi, what happened to the identities of the prisoners in the camps?
Divide the class into groups of two or three and assign the group a single year, between the years 1933-1945.
Ask students to examine their assigned year using the Timeline of the Holocaust by Echoes & Reflections and find what they believe to be the three most influential events and stories for that year that contributed to the dehumanization of the Jewish people. Identify and be prepared to justify choices.
Have students share the events they identified from their research of the Timeline, and then as a class respond to the following questions:
This lesson meets the following Academic Standards required by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
Before you teach, use our teacher primer to freshen up on your content knowledge.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was one of the most prominent opponents of the Nazi regime. Introduce your students to him by reading a scathing critique of the leadership style of Adolf Hitler.
Certain forms of leadership lend themselves to violence.
Create a collective workspace (chalkboard or online space) that is divided into two sides.
Then, ask your students to reflect on what makes a good leader. Ask them to offer some words or ideas. Write down summations of what was said on one side of the collective work space. Challenge them to move past characteristics and think about the approaches that they think are positive.
Have your students read Excerpt 9 from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s speech (page 3), which happened two days after Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany.
Have them read with the 3Ps method: They should take notes on what they find to be the most a) Powerful b) Puzzling and c) Propelling. Give them 15 minutes to read and record their responses on their own.
In order to familiarize yourself, and your class with this model, please look over this guide: 3Ps: A Critical Reading Guide.
Ask students to share their reflections on the speech by Bonhoeffer. Help clarify any of the puzzling and point (if possible) toward further exploration when students are propelled toward another subject or thought that was sparked by the reading. Spend 15 minutes on the 3Ps.
Then return to the collective workspace and ask them to identify what makes a good leader, specifically prompting them to think about the Bonhoeffer piece. As participation wanes, turn to a comparison of the two sides. Are there any words or ideas that showed up on both sides? Can they conclude anything about what it means to act like a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ leader?
This lesson meets the following Academic Standards required by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
Before you teach, use our teacher primer to freshen up on your content knowledge.
Introduce students to Martin Niemoller, a Protestant clergy member, who exemplifies the complexities of the history of the Church and its relationship to Nazism.
Religious organizations were often swept up in the pull of Nazism, even when their members might have seen the danger.
Collectively read Martin Niemoller’s famous lines, recorded as a poem “First They Came” available from the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust.
Ask students to reflect on the meaning of the poem. What is most striking about it? What message is it sending to its audience?
Place Martin Niemoller in context by watching the video Awakening Conscience from Facing History and Ourselves. Prior to showing the seven-minute video ask your students to take notes on the things they think are most important. What strikes them about the story of Niemoller and the history that surrounds his story?
After the video, ask students to share what they discovered, prompting them to clarify why they felt this information was important.
If missed, ask students what they make of the following issues, in particular and return to these sections of the video if necessary:
Ask students to return to the poem and either ask a student to read it aloud or watch this rendering here.
Given what they now know about Niemoller’s story, ask them to reflect on the lines again in some individual writing. Who is the ‘they’ Niemoller is referring to? What does it mean to ‘speak out’? To whom would Niemoller or any other citizen of Germany ‘speak out’?
This lesson meets the following Academic Standards required by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
Before you teach, use our teacher primer to freshen up on your content knowledge.