Review the concepts of euthanasia and propaganda and allude to the fact that mercy killings had to be sold to the public in order for there not to be widespread resistance. Before initiating conversation about the video, be sure to clarify relevant terms. Other concepts that are important here include Darwinism and heredity.

Watch the first 13 minutes of the video, The Killing Films of the Third Reich. Prepare to stop at various sections to discuss and contemplate the content.

1. Begin by watching the section from 2:15-5:15 which gives a background to the role of propaganda in promoting the need for euthanasia. Pause for a reflection–written or verbal discussion–on the following questions:
   1. Ask your students to consider the phrase ‘life unworthy of life.’ What does this mean? How could this be possible? Do they see anyone portrayed this way in today’s world?
   2. The first two films called ‘What You Inherit’ and ‘Hereditarily Ill’ set the stage for the conversation. What does it mean to be ‘hereditarily ill’? Can one recover from such illness?
   3. Notice that the ‘hereditary diseases’ are also held against people who have fallen on hard times. What does this say about the science that backs up the discrimination?
2. Continue from 5:15 – 8:50
   1. Why were these films ‘required’ to be seen by audiences across Germany?
   2. What do you think about the idea that human life should be dictated by nature exclusively?
   3. What is a ‘genetic threat’? What is ‘sterilization’?
3. Continue again from 8:50 – 13:05
   1. Why do they use the image of a professor or doctor in their propaganda videos?
   2. Hitler ordered the killing of individuals after the war started. Why?
   3. Have you ever heard of any other victims of the Holocaust who were gassed?
   4. Why was evidence destroyed and fictional death reports created?

Now, ask students to generate their own responses to the video. Ask them to write about:

1. What was the most astonishing fact about the video?
2. What section would they like to go back and watch again?
3. What questions do they still have about this era of Nazism?

Then, bring the discussion back to a large group and use student answers to have a large discussion/review sections of the video.

Ask students if they have ever heard of the term euthanasia. If so, ask them to explain their understanding.
Define it for them by providing them with the text–on screen, a chalkboard or other shared space: ‘the act or practice of killing or permitting the death of hopelessly sick or injured individuals (as persons or domestic animals) in a relatively painless way for reasons of mercy.’
Then ask them what ‘mercy’ means and under what conditions must mercy be shown?

Have students read the whole document Unworthy to Live by Facing History and Ourselves. Give 10-15 minutes for this task, prompting students to take note of questions they have about the text.

Then, divide the class into five groups, assigning each group to one of the discussion questions. As they split into groups, give the following instructions:

1. Go through all members’ questions about the text and help one another figure out the message of this document.
2. Then, address your assigned discussion question. Be sure to take notes so that you can share your thoughts with the whole group.
3. Finally, ask an additional question that comes out of your reflections. This question should attempt to generate conversation between you and your classmates.

Lastly, bring it back to the basics. Return to the defnition of Euthanasia. How could the murder of millions of people be couched as ‘merciful’ by the Nazi regime? What does this say about how they feel about what they’re doing?

Explain to students that there was a very distinct process that the Nazis developed to optimize the efficiency of arrivals at the camps. Ask students if any of them are aware of what this was like? Have they heard anything about the selection process before?

Watch this video by Yad Vashem to get an overview of the structure and layout of Auschwitz. Then show students video testimonies from Ellis Lewin and Eva Kor by USC Shoah Foundation iWitness.

Ellis Lewin Questions:

1. How does Ellis describe the experience of arriving at Auschwitz?
2. What does Ellis say about the pace at which things were happening?
3. Why didn’t Ellis’s father want Ellis to hang on to him?

Eva Kor Questions:

1. How does Eva describe her surroundings when she got off the train?
2. Why did Eva’s mother hesitate when she was asked if the girls were twins? Explain to students that, alongside the other horrible things done to people in the camps, some were chosen for medical experiments. Twins were often selected for genetic experimentation.
3. How did Eva react when the SS tried to tattoo her arm?

Survivors often describe their arrival at the killing centers as a chaotic time filled with fear and uncertainty. How did listening to these two testimonies contribute to your understanding of this?

Begin by asking your students, What was Auschwitz? What does it symbolize? What happened there? You may want to show the class a map of the Auschwitz camp by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Ask your students if anyone has visited the site? If someone has, ask them if they would share this experience.
Explain to students that today Auschwitz is a museum and a memorial, therefore when one enters the site today, one will not see the place as it was 60 years ago. Some buildings were preserved and others are gone; there is grass, and so on.

Direct students to the resource by Yad Vashem. Take some time to introduce your class to the site. The numbers in the left sidebar will take you to primary sources accompanying the major phases people went through while in Auschwitz. Click through pages 2-6 to show students what to expect on each page.

Divide the class into groups of three to five and assign each group a number 2-6 (number 1 is the Introduction page) and the resource page that corresponds with that number.

Provide groups with the questions corresponding to their group and give them the instructions below:
Read through the testimonies and look at the photographs for your designated section.
Prepare a presentation answering the questions that accompany your topic.
If possible, project the page for each group as they present so the entire class can see the images and testimonies that are being discussed. Present in order, having the group for Arrivals start off.

If time permits, end the class by showing students this drone footage of Auschwitz 70 years after it was liberated.

Begin by asking students if they have ever heard of Auschwitz. Then ask if they have heard about Dachau. Do they know what they were? What was the difference between the two? You may find it helpful to pull up these maps of Dachau and Auschwitz by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Read through the resource, The Nazi Camp System: Terminology by USHMM with the class. Start at the top of the page with the overview and the three Key Facts before moving on.

After you go through the reading, ask students what is the importance is of using the correct terminology when talking about the Nazi camp system?

Then divide the class into groups of three or five and direct them to the resource, Killing Centers: In Depth by USHMM. Have groups read through it amongst themselves. They can all read silently or they can switch off reading out loud to their group. Once they finish reading, have the groups discuss and record their answers to the Critical Thinking Questions located at the bottom of the page.

Go over the Critical Thinking Questions with the class, giving students an opportunity to ask questions and clear up any confusion.

Finally, ask students why they feel it is important to differentiate and use the appropriate terminology when discussing the Nazi camp system. It may be worth pointing out that the term ‘concentration camp’ is used by some people in the U.S. to describe the Japanese American camps established during World War II, although the term used by the U.S. government was ‘Internment Camps’.

Write down the word, “Deportation” on the board. Ask students what comes to mind when they think of it.
You might expect students to say things such as: separation, returning to their home country, people being sent away unwillingly.
Re-introduce the term scapegoat, noting that deportations are often the result of scapegoating.
→ scapegoat: a person who is blamed for the wrongdoings, mistakes, or faults of others, especially for reasons of expediency.

Ask students if they have ever thought about why someone might get deported and what this might do to them and their family.

Show the class Part 1 (the first 3:34 minutes) of the Yad Vashem video, The Development of the ‘Final Solution’.
Then, ask the class whether they lean toward the perspective of the Intentionalists or the Functionalists and why.

Then, watch Bert Flemming’s testimony from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. The testimony is quite long, the part that will be used in this lesson is starting at 5:45 and ending at 9:33. Before playing the testimony, read through the overview featured at the top of the page to introduce Bert Flemming and provide some background information.

It may be beneficial for students to read the testimony as the video goes along. The transcript for this video can be found here and the portion of video you will watch begins on page 2 right after 1:06:01.

After you watch the video, take a few minutes to ask the students what they thought of Bert Flemming’s testimony. Allow the students to ask some questions, to provide comments about what they heard. If you are having some trouble getting the conversation started, try asking the following questions:

1. What do you think was going through Bert Flemming’s mind when he saw the men with bayonets on both sides?
2. Did it seem like either side, Germany or Poland, had a plan as for what to do with the Jews?
3. How did Bert Flemming help organize once they arrived in Zbasyn?

Finally, return to the question of the scapegoat.
Ask students why they thought Nazi Germany was trying to push the Jews into Poland. Then, dig a little deeper: what is the end game for the Nazis? Would mass expulsion ever really work to meet the interests of the Nazi party?

Finally, prompt them to consider in writing the following question:
Does scapegoating naturally lead to the worst possible outcomes for the targeted group in a given situation?

Have students think about the term “resistance” in the context of the Holocaust. Have them consider and respond to the question, “What are Jews resisting during the Holocaust?”

Explain to your students that despite the risk of harsh and fatal punishments, many Jews still chose to resist in any way they could. Ask students for possible reasons for why some Jews could not resist. (Hunger, sickness, isolation, lack of weapons, care for children, parents, or other family members). Record their answers on the board.

In addition to the term “resistance,” have students think of the term “survival.” Take a few minutes to discuss how these terms are similar and how they are different. Share the official definitions of resistance and survival with the class.

Resistance: the refusal to accept or comply with something: the attempt to prevent something by action or argument.
Survival: the state of continuing to live or exist, typically in spite of an accident, ordeal, or difficult circumstances.

• Is survival a form of resistance?

Write down the heading, “Jewish Resistance during the Holocaust” and below write the subheadings “Cultural/Spiritual Resistance” and “Active/Armed Resistance.” Ask a student volunteer to write down key ideas for each form of resistance under the appropriate heading.

Explain that spiritual resistance can often be seen as an attempt to maintain one’s previous way of life and his or her unique identity. The terrible reality in which Jews lived was expressed by the teacher, Chaim Kaplan who lived in the Warsaw ghetto: “Everything is forbidden to us, but we do everything.”

Play the video testimonies for Roman Kent and Helen Fagin to the class. There will be a few questions specific to each testimony, so you may choose to play one at a time and have the students answer the questions corresponding to the video before moving on to the second one. Ask the questions in an open discussion with the class.

Questions on Roman Kent:

1. What are specific examples of resistance Roman Kent shares in his testimony?
2. Roman wants people to understand that contrary to what some may thing, Jews did resist the Nazis during the Holocaust in a variety of ways. Why do you think he feels it is important for people to understand this?

Questions on Helen Fagin:

1. How would you characterize the activities Helen Fagin initiated in the ghetto?
2. What purpose does the Gone with the Wind story serve for the students in Helen’s “clandestine school”?

Have the students take 10 minutes to reflect and write out how their understanding of resistance has changed over the course of the lesson.

Take the time you have left to ask students to share what they wrote down in response to the prompt.

Begin by telling students that between 1941 and 1943 underground resistance movements began popping up in over 100 ghettos in Nazi-occupied countries. Triggered by the deportations and liquidation of the ghettos, many of these resistance groups staged uprisings in order to fight the Nazis or escape.

Ask students if they can list any ghetto uprisings that they have heard of before. Then explain that you will be taking a closer look at the uprising from the Warsaw ghetto.

Direct students to the resource, Warsaw Ghetto Uprising by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Play the animated map video for the class before diving into the reading. Divide the class into groups of three or four and provide them with the instructions below.

1. Go through the reading with your group. You may switch off reading sections, designate one person to read through, or all read over it silently.
2. As a group, take notes using the 3Ps method, writing down something you find a) Profound b) Puzzling and c) Propelling.
3. Go over the list of critical thinking questions and write down your answers.
   1. What pressures and motivations influenced some of the ghetto residents to join the resistance and fight back?
   2. What factors and conditions might delay a persecuted group from resisting?
   3. What risks might a group or individual face when resisting the actions of government or society?

In order to familiarize yourself, and your class with this model, please look over this guide: 3Ps: A Critical Reading Guide.

Come back together as a class and ask the groups to share what they had written down. Begin by asking groups to share what they found puzzling about the reading, is there anything that still needs to be cleared up?

Ask students to think of  forms of resistance they have participated in or have seen or heard others do. Can they come up with any examples or instances where people took part in resisting, either violently or non-violently?

Start by defining resistance for the class: “The refusal to accept or comply with something; the attempt to prevent something by action or argument.”

Next, ask students to work in groups of three to create a working definition for resistance. A working definition is one that builds in meaning as they receive information and gain clarity on the topic.

In these same groups, have students read through the poem “Resistance Is…” from Facing History and Ourselves. Ask the class if they would want to alter or add to their definitions of resistance after reading it. Give them a few minutes (no more than 5) to add to their working definitions.

Divide the class into groups of three to read through the Pronouncement by Abba Kovner from Echoes & Reflections. Let students know that Abba Kovner wrote this manifesto while at the Vilna ghetto in an attempt to stage an uprising.

Have one student from each group read through the text out loud as the others follow in silence. Then have each group discuss the questions below. Have one student in each group take notes that include the significant points of their discussion.

1. What was the objective of the manifesto? How do you think Kovner wanted people to respond?
2. What is he asking the ghetto’s inhabitants to believe, and what is he asking them not to believe?

Ask the groups to read through the passage once more. This time, having them focus on the language and answer the following questions:

1. What metaphors, words, or phrases does Kovner use to convince people that Ponary is not a labor camp?
2. Which words or phrases have the most impact?

Have each group review the first definition of resistance that they wrote at the beginning of the lesson. Still in their groups, encourage them to discuss whether or not they think they need to make more changes after analyzing Abba Kovner’s call to resistance. Give them a few minutes to do so.

Ask each group to share their definition of resistance and explain what revisions they made and why.

Explain to the students that the end of the war left millions of people homeless; that liberation was difficult for many survivors because of the mental and physical problems that they had to overcome.

Lead a short discussion asking the students what they think Holocaust survivors felt, and some of the problems that they had when they learned the war was over. Take time to list individual answers.

Watch this short video by Yad Vashem with the class, with a short pause between each survivor. Ask students to list different problems and feelings that survivors discuss in their testimonies.

Lead another short discussion, asking the students if there were any problems that survivors faced that they had not thought about before, writing the answers on the board. Ask the students if there is any story/feeling in particular that stuck out to them in these survivor stories.

Discuss the following questions as a class:

1. Why did survivors feel like liberation came too late?
2. What were some of the immediate health issues that survivors had to deal with after the war?
3. How do you think it felt for a survivor to meet liberating soldiers?
4. Why do you think it is something that survivors will remember?