The lesson focuses on Eugenics in America, since the primary source materials are all in English already. However, it is important to set the stage for a tie back to Germany as well.
Begin the lesson by reading these two quotes and asking your students to summarize their meaning and how they are affected by them. In short, what is being said and how do they feel about the statements?
Note at the end that these are quotes from Adolf Hitler.

Divide the class into four and distribute one image to each group:

Fair Exhibit
Eugenics Tree
Promotion for Native Sterilization
Popular Science

Use the See, Think, Wonder strategy for analyzing these images in each group (see below)

1. Ask the group to elect a recorder who will write notes from the group’s discussion.
2. Then, ask the group to collectively note what they SEE in the image. What details stand out? What are the most predominant features in the image. Have the recorder write down these comments so they can be shared.
3. Next, ask the group to THINK about what the image means. What do they believe the image is about and why do they think that? What is most important about this image that everyone should note? Again, the recorder should be taking notes.
4. Then, ask the group to WONDER about the image. What is left unknown about this image? What kind of ideas are provoked but unaddressed? What broader questions are left unanswered for the group. Once more, the recorder should be sure to take notes.

Bring all the groups together and ask each to present their image to the larger group. As they share what they see, think and wonder, encourage broader discussion from the whole group. Also, fill in context as you feel comfortable so as to keep stretching the conversation toward greater clarification.

Finally, ask the group to Wonder again about what remains unknown about the Eugenics movement in America or the relationship between this and Hitler’s Germany. These could prompt additional opportunities for exploration with some of the resources below or through the video or reading in this topic.

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 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’.

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.