Explain to the students that they will be watching a video on Hitler’s rise to power. Start by asking students what they may know already about the rise of Nazism and of the Nazis’ political platform.

Watch the video, Hitler’s Rise to Power: 1918-1933 from Facing History and Ourselves. Provide students with the Viewing Guide to accompany the video. Watch the video a second time.

Questions from the Viewing Guide:

1. How did German soldiers who returned from World War I affect the way German politics was conducted?
2. How did the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (the Nazi Party) explain Germany’s loss in World War I to the public? Who did they blame for the loss?
3. While in prison for his failed attempt at a coup in Munich, Hitler wrote Mein Kampf (My Struggle), a book in which he shares his ideas for how to take control of a people. What is his main idea?
4. What was the Nazis’ primary campaign message in the early 1930s? How was it different from what we now know were the Nazis’ two primary goals for Germany?

As a class, go over the answers the students wrote down from the viewing guide. End the lesson by proposing the following question for discussion:

• What choices did you learn about in this video, made by people other than Hitler, that contributed to the possibility that Hitler and the Nazi Party could eventually rise to power in Germany?

Explain to students that Nazism became increasingly popular during the Great Depression and during a time of political crisis in Germany’s Weimar Republic. Ask your students to think critically about why they think this could be the case. What was it about the struggles of German life during this time that made the extremist views of the Nazis more appealing?

Print out the article by Facing History and Ourselves titled, Hitler in Power. Break people into small groups and have them read the page, underlining and making notes for each paragraph before moving on. After reading through, have students discuss the Connection Questions found at the bottom of the page.

After they go through the first resource, give them the resource, “Restoring” Germany’s Civil Service by Facing History and Ourselves. Let them do the same thing with this reading in their small groups. Have students go through the Connection Questions at the bottom of this page as well.

Devote approximately 15 minutes to each reading.

In an open discussion, ask students what they learned from going through the readings. What surprised them about the relationship between Adolf Hitler and President Paul von Hindenburg?

Begin by asking students, What is the difference between patriotism and nationalism?
After giving them a few minutes to come up with their definitions, you can share the official definitions provided by Dictionary.com.

Patriotism: Devoted love, support, and defense of one’s country; national loyalty.
Nationalism: The policy of doctrine asserting the interests of one’s own nation viewed as separate from the interests of other nations or the common interests of all nations. In short, nationalism is a kind of excessive, aggressive patriotism.

Explain to students that political parties and candidates create platforms that help translate their ideas and goals into actions. Tell the class that during this lesson they will read through the National Socialist German Workers’ Party Platform to read through provisions that Hitler proposed to the party.

Direct students to the Facing History and Ourselves source titled, National Socialist German Workers’ Party Platform and read through it together as a class. After you go through the platform, ask the class what their initial thoughts are. Does any one provision stick out to them?

Ask students to get together in small groups of two or three. Give 10-15 minutes for groups to go over the following questions:

1. Do you notice a general theme in the party platform?
2. The party puts the needs of German’s above all else, belittling other cultures and languages in German society. Do you see this sort of rhetoric happening in today’s environment?

Read the quote below by a German Nationalist in 1810 to help you answer the remaining questions:

“A state without a Volk (a people who share a language and culture) is nothing, a soulless artifice; a Volk without a state is nothing, a bodiless airy phantom, like the Gypsies* and the Jews. Only state and Volk together could forma Reich (great empire), and such a Reich cannot be preserved without Volkdom.” -Taken from Facing History and Ourselves.

1. Does this quote represent patriotism or nationalism? How can you tell?
2. Is nationalism a dangerous concept? Does it always foster an “us versus them” narrative?

Go over the questions as a class, collect answers to the main themes to use in future discussions about nationalism and propaganda.