From Prejudice to Oppression
Students will go through resources on antisemitism in the early modern era as well as a resource on the Nazi book burning of 1933.
Wisconsin Academic Standard: PS2.b: Fundamentals of Citizenship
Fundamentals of Citizenship
Lesson Plan
Artistry of the Mentally Ill
Using the art and experience of one individual, Franz Karl Bühlerthis lesson asks students to examine the connections between culture and ideology using the Nazi staged art exhibition, “Degenerate Art” and the Nazi T4 program.
Enduring Understanding
During the 1930s and 1940s, Nazi leaders sought to control Germany not only politically, but also culturally. The regime restricted the type of art that could be produced, displayed, and sold. In 1937, Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels made plans to show the public the forms of art that the regime deemed unacceptable. He organized the confiscation and exhibition of so-called “degenerate” art.
Essential Questions
- 1How did Nazi ideology influence policies and practices around the idea of disability in Germany during the 1930s and 1940s?
- 2How are individuals with disabilities viewed and treated by society?
- 3How does a society’s treatment of people with disabilities reflect the society’s culture, values, and ideology?
Readiness
Using a think-pair-share discussion, students reflect on the following two questions:
- How are individuals with disabilities viewed and treated by society?
- How does a society’s treatment of people with disabilities reflect the society’s culture, values, and ideology?
Input
Share the following information with students:
Franz Karl Bühler, who was a well-known German artist at the turn of the twentieth century was diagnosed with schizophrenia and institutionalized by the 1920s. He continued to produce art, which was criticized by the Nazis and included in the degenerate art exhibition, as the Nazis tried to show supposed links between modern art and mental illness.
The Nazi T4 program was the systematic murder of institutionalized patients with disabilities in Germany. It started in 1939. The program was one of many radical eugenic measures that aimed to restore the racial “integrity” of the German nation. It aimed to eliminate what eugenicists and their supporters considered “life unworthy of life”: those individuals who—they believed—because of severe psychiatric, neurological, or physical disabilities represented both a genetic and a financial burden on German society and the state. Among those murdered under the T4 Program was Franz Karl Bühler.
Display Self-Portrait by Franz Karl Bühler (pronounced Bueller) from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Display the art piece while your students read through the text individually or in small groups. Encourage students to click through the hyperlinked text to learn more about the “Degenerate Art” exhibition and the T4 program.
As students look through the articles, have them respond to the following questions:
- What was the Degenerate Art exhibition? What purpose did it serve?
- What was the T4 Program? How did it feed into Nazi ideology?
- What happened to Franz Karl Bühler? What is the significance of having his self portrait for review?
Output
In a whole class discussion, students discuss the relationship between culture and ideology, returning to the opening questions:
- How did Nazi ideology influence policies and practices around the idea of dis/ability in Germany during the 1930s and 1940s?
- How are individuals with disabilities viewed and treated by society?
- How does a society’s treatment of people with disabilities reflect the society’s culture, values, and ideology?
Wisconsin Academic Standards
This lesson meets the following Academic Standards required by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
Teacher Primer
Know Before You Go
Before you teach, use our teacher primer to freshen up on your content knowledge.
Lesson Plan
Shanghai Ghetto
Walk students through the challenges of obtaining U.S. visas and the horrible conditions many faced in seeking refuge in Shanghai.
Enduring Understanding
Jews fleeing Nazi persecution created a large refugee problem. Challenges in getting visas to the U.S. and other countries left people with very few options.
Essential Questions
- 1What challenges did Jews face when trying to flee persecution?
- 2Were other countries welcoming to the influx of refugees?
Readiness
Explain to students that as persecution for Jewish people in Nazi occupied territories worsened, more and more people were seeking refuge in other countries. Many countries, including the United States, had a long waiting list to obtain visas.
Pull up this checklist from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Americans and the Holocaust virtual exhibition. Examine one or two of the steps in greater detail.
Up until August 1939, no visas were required to enter Shanghai.
Input
Read the following excerpt from a diary entry about entrance to Shanghai:
“We have to go to Shanghai. Terrible letters come from there. One runs again to see if our names are on the list to leave. Before, when one saw his name on the list, one was happy. Today…one cries.”
-Rose Shoshana Kahan diary entry, 1941
Ask students why they think people continued to seek refuge in Shanghai despite hearing such terrible things from there? What does that say about the desperation people had to leave Europe?
Output
Teacher's Note
If students do not know about Pearl Harbor, they can click on it within the article and it will take them to a page telling them more about it.
In partners or individually, have students read through this article by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum about Polish Jewish Refugees in the Shanghai Ghetto and answers the questions below.
- What were conditions like for the refugees that ended up in Shanghai?
- How did things change after the attack on Pearl Harbor?
- How did the Jewish refugees maintain a sense or ordinary life?
Come together as a class to go over their answers.
Wisconsin Academic Standards
This lesson meets the following Academic Standards required by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
Teacher Primer
Know Before You Go
Before you teach, use our teacher primer to freshen up on your content knowledge.
Lesson Plan
Defining Races
Explore the creation of the Nuremberg Race Laws and what the significance of their implementation into society meant for the future of Jews in Germany.
Enduring Understanding
The Nuremberg Race Laws aimed to define race and provide the framework for the systematic persecution of Jews in Germany.
Essential Question
- 1How are cultures defined?
Readiness
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.
Input
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.
Output
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:
- 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.
- Discuss the three critical thinking questions located at the bottom of the resource.
- 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.
Wisconsin Academic Standards
This lesson meets the following Academic Standards required by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
Teacher Primer
Know Before You Go
Before you teach, use our teacher primer to freshen up on your content knowledge.
Lesson Plan
A Solution to Weimar
Learn about the complex and trying time that Germany experienced during the Weimar Republic (1919-1933).
Enduring Understanding
The Weimar Republic was Germany’s first democracy; meaning leaders were tasked with a complete makeover of institutions, political culture, education, and judiciary systems.
Essential Question
- 1How do fragile democracies create fertile ground for extremism?
Readiness
Teacher's Note
Prior to this lesson students should have general knowledge and understanding of the Treaty of Versailles. If necessary, go over a lesson on the Treaty of Versailles before moving on.
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?
Input
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?
Output
Teacher's Note
Often students will wish to pull this conversation into the present day, Be ready to either engage with this carefully or redirect to the topic at hand.
Open up a discussion about how the Nazi party aimed to solve the problems prevalent during the Weimar years.
- What problems were people facing?
- How did the Nazi party benefit from these hard times?
- How were people convinced by their rhetoric?
Wisconsin Academic Standards
This lesson meets the following Academic Standards required by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
Teacher Primer
Know Before You Go
Before you teach, use our teacher primer to freshen up on your content knowledge.