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 the class, What is an oath? What purpose does it mean to take an oath?

Direct students to the resource, ‘Pledging Allegiance’ by Facing History and Ourselves. Divide the class into groups of 3-5 and have them read through the resource as a group.

In their groups of 3-5, have students discuss the Connection Questions at the bottom of the resource page.

Explain to students that World War I was known to be the most destructive war the world had seen. It ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in June 1918.

Share this image by Facing History and Ourselves with your students. What can you gather from this picture?

Direct students to the resource ‘Treaty of Versailles: The War Guilt Clause’ by Facing History and Ourselves.

Explain to the class that in addition to taking full responsibility for the war, Germany would have to pay heavy reparations, had considerable territory losses, and was required to dramatically reduce their military.

As a class, discuss the following questions:

1. What is the significance of Germany taking the responsibility for starting World War I?
2. How do you think the resentment in signing the War Guilt Clause played into the rise of Nazism?

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?