Explain to students that before the Nazi rise to power the Jewish community was well integrated into German society, meaning that many Jews worked, went to school, and were part of the same social scene as their non-Jewish counterparts.

There are two short clips (1:45 and 1:29) that help illustrate this for students. Go to the iWitness website by USC Shoah Foundation and show them the clips from Margaret Lambert. It should be the first two clips on the page. Play the one where Margaret speaks about her childhood in Germany first. Next, play the clip where Margaret speaks about segregation and exclusion from anti-Jewish laws.

Ask students the following questions after they have viewed both clips:

• How did Margaret describe her childhood and her feelings about her being Jewish?
• What changed for Margaret after 1933?
• Do you notice a change in her behavior or attitude from one video to the next?

Explain to students that during the first six years of the Nazi regime, more than 400 legal restrictions were imposed on Jews and other groups. Ask students to pull up the resource on Antisemitic Legislation 1933-1939 from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. This resource will show 29 examples of antisemitic legislation.

In groups of 2 or 3, assign one of the years from the list. Multiple groups can have the same year, especially years that have multiple items under it. In these groups, students will pick a specific law to learn more about. You can either assign them a specific law or let them pick one themselves under their designated year.

Have students go to the digital exhibition, State of Deception, by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Show them the different pages of the exhibition. As a class, go through the “What is Propaganda?” page. Show them how to get to the page showcasing the 1933-1939: Dictatorship section. This is where they will be working for this activity.

Provide this worksheet for students as they navigate the time frame 1933-1939.

Discuss the following questions in your small groups, then come back together as a class and share.

• How did the laws and decrees, paired with the propaganda, pave the way for further violence and persecution during the Holocaust?
• For what purpose did the Nazis control all aspects of media and culture?

Ask students what they know about the other groups persecuted by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust. Can they come up with other examples of groups that were the targets of Nazi violence?

Explain to students that the Nazis’ idea of creating a superior Aryan (white, European descent) race meant that anyone who did not meet these criteria was endangered . Although there was not a specific organized pogrom to eliminate the African Germans, an unknown number were sterilized, incarcerated, or murdered.

Direct students to the resource by The Holocaust Explained from the Wiener Holocaust Library. Scroll down to the section titled, ‘Black People’ or choose it from the list on the left side of the page.

Have students read through this section, taking notes on each of the topics: Employment, Education, Sterilization and Imprisonment, and End of War. When taking notes, students should build a list of acts of social and legal discrimination as well as physical actions and violence against Black people in Germany.

Come together as a class. Ask students to look down at the notes they have written down. Ask students if they are surprised by their list. Did they expect there to be so many actions taken against Black people? What actions stood out the most?

At the end of this resource it implies that Black people could have been targeted for mass murder if Germany had not been defeated. What can you deduce from the parallels between the mistreatment of Jews and Blacks that supports this statement?

If necessary, review the Nuremberg Race Laws or the Law Against Overcrowding in Schools.

Explain to students that a string of anti-Jewish legislation came into effect in Germany in 1933. These laws segregated Jews from Germans and restricted where they could work, who they could marry, and where they could attend school.

Direct students to the resource, Law Limits Jews in Public Schools by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Discuss the following questions in an open discussion:

1. Why did the Nazis call this a law “against overcrowding”?
2. What purpose(s) did it serve to reduce the amount of Jewish students in schools and universities?
3. How might separating Jewish children from their German classmates impact how they will view one another later in life?

Explain to students that World War II involved two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. The main countries making up the Allies were France, Poland, and the United Kingdom. The Axis powers consisted of Germany, Italy, and Japan. Tell students that the video they will watch will help to explain the actions taken by these countries during the war.

Give out the questions below prior to starting the video (6.5 min) by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Answers to the questions can be found in the intervals shown above.

Beginning – 1:30
What groups of people were targeted by Nazis and their allies and collaborators? What was their reasoning?

1:30 – 4:40
Which country did Germany invade first? What did they do there?

End of video
How did the war end?

In small groups, or as a class, ask students if they are able to list the roles in which major countries played in the war? Write a header for ‘Allies’ (those that fought Germany), ‘Occupied Territories’, ‘Allied with Germany’, and ‘Neutral’. You may want to provide the list of the countries. You can tell them to focus on German aggression, not the attacks done by the Soviet Union. Give students 10 minutes for this activity. If you would like, you can return to the video and have students try to correct their answers.

The answer guide can be found here.

It is okay if students can’t remember all of them from the video (most will not be able to), the exercise is meant to show how much was going on at that time. It is important to remind students that the murders of 6 million Jews and 5 million non-Jews were taking place under the cover of war.

When you explain how the Holocaust was perpetrated under the cover of World War II, you should also mention that this is not the first instance of this happening. The genocide against the Armenians took place under the cover of World War I.

Ask students, why do they think atrocities, such as genocide, take place in conjunciton with war?

Explain to students that the Nuremberg Laws were the first official step in systematic persecution of Jews in Germany. Creating this definition was not an easy task, it took years for German officials to agree on what being Jewish meant. This initial step in identifying and separating Jews from society was essential to carry out the persecution that followed.

Take the students through the resource, Nuremberg Race Laws by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. With a partner, ask the students to go through the resource and take notes using the 3Ps method, jotting down what they find a) Profound b) Puzzling and c) Propelling.

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

Have the pairs partner up with another group to form groups of four. As they gather in these groups, provide them with the following instructions:

1. Go over what you and your partner took notes on as part of their 3Ps. Perhaps the new pair can clear up your puzzling section, if not be sure to ask the teacher to go over it.
2. Discuss the three critical thinking questions located at the bottom of the resource.
3. Come up with your own thought-provoking question with your group. The question should attempt to take what we learned from this lesson on the Nuremberg Laws and relate it to something in the present day.

Give students 20 minutes to complete these tasks and use the last 10 minutes to hear what the groups came up with for their questions.

Begin by asking your students if they have heard of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. What does it state? What was the theory applied to?

Show students a YouTube video titled, Key Historical Concepts in Holocaust Education: Race Doctrine by Yad Vashem. Before starting the video, give students the list of questions. Let them know they will have a chance to watch the video a second time.

1. What did the Nazis base the categorization of races from?
2. What did this theory state?
3. How did Hitler alter this theory to fit his preconceived notion of the division of races?
4. Where did Jews fall in his hierarchy of races?
5. What did Hitler say would happen if Aryans were to mix with the lesser races?

Give students a few minutes to finish writing down their answers. Watch the video a second time if needed and then go over the questions as a class.

Divide the class into groups of four. Provide them with this quote by American novelist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, Toni Morrison, “There is no such thing as race. None. There is just a human race – scientifically, anthropologically.”

In their groups, ask students to have a discussion with the questions below:

1. The video placed heavy influence on the importance of race and hierarchy of humans. How does this quote combat that view?
2. In what ways is race still an important part of society today?

Reconvene as a class to open up the discussion. Were there any disagreements within the groups?

Ask students what they might already know about Kristallnacht, “The Night of Broken Glass.”

Provide a brief overview of Kristallnacht with the students. Use the resource, Kristallnacht by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum Holocaust Encyclopedia article as a resource for this. You do not need to go over the entire article, merely use it as a reference to provide some background information.

Divide the class into groups and ask them to watch the video Confessions of a Hitler Youth.
Ask them to answer these questions:

1. Why do you think Alfons Heck believed so strongly in Hitler and the Nazi’s message? Why do you think he continued to believe in this message even after witnessing Kristallnacht?
2. Do you think it would have been possible to prevent the events of Kristallnacht?
3. Based on what Alfons Heck tells us about what he witnessed, why do you think he said, “From now on, not one of us could ever maintain that we did not know what was in store for the Jews”?
4.  What was meant by the comment, “Children are like empty vessels”? What is the danger in this?

Ask students, “What happened on November 10, 1938?”

Show students the video, Kristallnacht: The November 1938 Pogroms by Facing History and Ourselves.

Divide the class into groups of three to five and assign a reading to each group.

Group 1: The Night of the Pogrom
Group 2: Opportunism during Kristallnacht
Group 3: A Family Responds to Kristallnacht
Group 4: Thoroughly Reprehensible Behavior
Group 5: A Visitor’s Perspective on Kristallnacht
Group 6: World Responses to Kristallnacht

Ask students to complete these steps after they read their group assigned reading as outlined in the Facing History lesson:

1. Who was the author of this reading? Who was the audience (if it is stated)? What kind of document is this?When was it created or written?
2. Based on the background information you gather, what was the document’s significance or purpose? What new information does the document contribute to your understanding of this historical moment?
3. Discuss one of the “Connection Questions” found at the bottom of your resource with your group.

Once completed, pose the question again, “What happened on November 10th, 1938?” What can they now add to this question? Where did they get this information?

Ask students what they might already know about Kristallnacht.

For the younger grades, or if the students are newly being introduced to Holocaust education, include some additional information. For example, tell students the name “Kristallnacht” is translated as “Night of Crystal” but is often referred to as the “Night of Broken Glass.” Some may know this name more than the official one. If they are not sure, have them guess what it could be based on the name.

Direct students to the resource, Kristallnacht by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. Read through the document as a class. Start with the three key facts at the top of the page so students understand the main points as they go through the reading.

In a class discussion, go over the following questions:

1. What led up to the event of Kristallnacht?
2. How did the events of Kristallnacht compare to previous anti-Jewish actions and violence in Germany under the Nazis?

Divide the class into groups of three to five and ask them to answer these questions about the reading. Ask students to take notes on their answers.

1. How did Kristallnacht propel the Nazi agenda forward?
2. What steps were taken to help the Jews by the German government and by other countries following that night and the next months?
3. What do you suppose the response from other nations was to Hitler and the Nazi party?

If time permits, come together as a class to go over the answers the groups came up with.

Ask students, what is segregation? Have them come up with some examples of ways in which people can be segregated from one another. Open the class into a brief conversation about segregation by asking the questions below.

1. Can segregation occur naturally? (city lines, areas of ethnic concentration, etc.)
2. What problems can segregation cause?

Pull up the video, From Citizens to Outcasts, by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Introduce the video by reading through the context that can be found directly above the Discussion Question. Provide students with the question below prior to starting the video. While they watch, have students take notes to answer it.

How did Nazi Germany gradually isolate, segregate, impoverish, and incarcerate Jews and persecute other perceived enemies of the state between 1933 and 1939?

Reiterate to students that Nazi Germany took great measurers in order to dehumanize the Jews. Propaganda made them out to be enemies of the state. These tactics made many non-Jewish Germans take little notice or regard for the mistreatment and grave injustice that would continue against the Jews.

Divide the class into groups of five. Provide the groups with the instructions below. Give students the opportunity and time to research if necessary.

1. Answer the question, What lesson does looking back at Nazi Germany’s mistreatment of Jews teach us about present day injustices?
2. Think of a current or recent example where you can see an injustice being done against a particular group.
   1. Who is this group?
   2. Why are they being persecuted against?
   3. What is being said about them?
   4. What injustices are being taken out against them?
   5. Is there potential that things could escalate?
3. Prepare a brief presentation on the group you chose to highlight. Presentations can be done verbally, or if desired, with PowerPoint or Prezi.