Begin by asking students what art means to them. Next, ask students to name different types of art and write down these responses in a communal space.

Pull up the Visual Essay: Free Expression in the Weimar Republic by Facing History and Ourselves. Read the Introduction to the Visual Essay as a class and scroll through the different artworks. Prompt students to look at the art and think about what they see, what the piece represents, and whether or not it sheds a positive light on Germany. The brief descriptions accompanying each piece should help.

One of the pieces featured, Hannah Hoch, The Kitchen Knife, 1919, has a video (4.5 minutes) from Smarthistory that takes a deeper dive into the aspects of the piece. Show this video when you come to that piece.

After showing that video, ask students the following:

• Why could an art piece like this only be created in a democracy?
• How does this piece demonstrate art being a form of social criticism?

In pairs or small groups, have students respond to the three questions at the bottom of the visual essay (shown below). Give students approximately 10 minutes to discuss on their own before opening up into a class discussion to go over their answers.

1. Fritz Mackensen’s 1982 painting Der Saeugling (The Baby) is one example of the more traditional art that many Germans were familiar with before World War I. Compare and contrast this painting with the more modern Weimar-era works of art that follow in this visual essay. What differences do you notice? What might those differences reveal about tensions present within German society during the Weimar Republic?
2. What can we learn about history from artwork? How do the works of art here connect to what you have already learned about the Weimar era in Germany? How do they extend your knowledge of this era? How do they challenge your thinking about Weimar Germany?
3. Is freedom of expression important to a democracy? Under what conditions, if any, should such freedom be restricted?

Ask students how they might go about solving a problem under difficult circumstances. (Maybe they want money for a game system that their parents do not want to pay for. Perhaps their parents do not approve of them spending time with a new friend.) How does being faced with a difficult problem help inspire creativity?

Watch the video, Facing History Scholar Reflections: The Weimar Republic by Facing History and Ourselves once through as a class. Watch it a second time pausing after the following sections to discuss. Ask students what questions they have about the clips. Go through the questions that accompany each clip.

Beginning – 1:11 Intro to Weimar and the end of WWI

• How did the end of WWI set the stage for what was to come?
• Do you think the Allies had other options than the terms they set at Versailles?

1:20-2:32 Politics and the arts

• Name some ways German society changed during the early Weimar years?
• What are some of the most interesting developments during this era, in your opinion?

2:32-4:08 Outsiders and Insiders

• What was the event that led to rising popularity for the extremists?
• What is opportunism?

4:09-End Growing popularity with the Nazi party

• How do you think the Nazi party was able to gain so much traction?
• Why did people follow Nazism? Was it because of their anti-Jewish stance or for other reasons?

Open up a discussion about how the Nazi party aimed to solve the problems prevalent during the Weimar years.

1. What problems were people facing?
2. How did the Nazi party benefit from these hard times?
3. How were people convinced by their rhetoric?

Explain to students that they will be reading an overview of the Weimar Republic and how that era helped foster the rise of Nazism. Discuss with students that the creation of the first democracy in Germany seemed to happen overnight, making it a time of confusion and excitement in politics, culture, and society as a whole.

Direct students to the Echoes & Reflections resource, The Weimar Republic and the Rise of the Nazi Party. Have them read through the document using the 3Ps method- taking notes on what they find a) Powerful 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.

Split the class up into groups of four or five. Give students a chance to try to help answer each other’s puzzling reflections and share their more profound insights. Then ask groups to share what remains puzzling to them. Allow 10-15 minutes for group work.

Finally, assign each group one of the discussion questions below. Double up if necessary. Allow the group 5 minutes to formulate a response that they can share with the class in large discussion thereafter.

1. What were some of the main problems that needed to be addressed during this time?
2. This time was defined by new changes and challenges, what were some of these new developments?
3. When reading through the Selections From ‘The Program of the National-Socialist (Nazi) German Workers Party’, which stands out to you the most? Why is this noteworthy?
4. Regarding the Program of the Nazi Party, do any of the demands seem reasonable to you?
5. Look back at the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles. Does it explain why the German people might be open to a more Nationalist view? Why do you think that is?

Ask students what they think Germany was like following the end of World War I. What might they expect it to have been like, after a war that saw them lose a great deal of power? Would they expect that the initial response would be radical democracy? Would they expect that democracy could lead to Nazism?

Pull up the resource, ‘The Weimar Republic: The Fragility of Democracy‘ by Facing History and Ourselves. Scroll to the bottom where all of the readings are located. Point out the different titles of resources that represent all that was happening during this brief period in German history.

Click on the reading titled, ‘Virtual Essay: Free Expression in the Weimar Republic‘ Read through the first paragraph and click through some of the images with the class. They will be assigned different readings from this page.

Divide the class into groups of three to five. Assign each group a reading. You may choose others, but recommendations include ‘Rumors of Betrayal’, ‘When Money Had No Value’, ‘Women in the Weimar Republic’, ‘A New Economic Crisis’ and ‘Voices in the Dark.’

Have students read through their article in groups and prepare to share what they learned from it with the class. Students should be able to answer what contribution it played into the fragile democracy.