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 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?

Ask the students what they already know about World War I. Try to get students thinking about this: Why is learning about World War I important when introducing the Holocaust?

Walk students through the resource World War I by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. Start off by going over the Key Facts at the top of the page to provide students with a feel for the topic. Read through the resource as a class.

You do not need to watch the video, Path to Nazi Genocide during this lesson as it is featured in the multimedia source for World War I. If time permits, you may choose to include it in this lesson.

Divide the class into groups of three or five to discuss the Critical Thinking Questions found at the bottom of the resource page. Ask groups to designate one person to write down their answers.

Reconvene as a class to go over the student’s answers. Have groups add to their answers with notes from the classroom discussion.

Ask students who the initial aggressor was in WWII?

Given that it was Germany, and given that Germany was not supposed to be capable of war, how did they become the aggressor?

Tell students that they will be reading about the initial actions taken by Hitler that would ultimately drive Germany toward war. Note that they will also be exploring how these illegal actions were perceived by people at the time.

Direct students to the source, Battle for Work, which is an excerpt from Facing History and Ourselves. Have them read through the document individually first, taking note of sections, words or ideas that they didn’t understand clearly. Give students about 10 minutes to read this text.

Then, divide the class into five groups. Start them on the path toward understanding by having them attempt to answer one another’s questions about the text.

Ask the large group whether they think Hitler’s jobs program might have been attractive to Germans, amidst a depression and in the wake of the defeat of WWI. Then, ask each person to read, Rearming Germany by Facing History and Ourselves.

In the same small groups, have students discuss the questions available on the ‘Rearming Germany’ page. For the first fifteen minutes, ask each group to talk through each question and discuss what they think about each. Then, assign one question to each group and ask them to quickly prepare a short response to their question to kick off the broader, full class discussion about that question.

Open up the lesson with this simple activity: Imagine you have to split one pizza among four people. One person is gluten free, one is a vegetarian, one is allergic to olives, and the other LOVES meat. How do you compromise? What kind of pizza can you order that everyone could agree to?

You may want to draw a pizza on the board and have students raise their hands with options for crust and toppings.

Explain to the class that they will be divided into three groups in order to simulate the negotiations for the Paris Peace Conference. This document will provide the three groups with the information they will need in order to speak on behalf of either France, Britain, or the United States.

Divide the class into three groups and assign them to be France, Britain, or the US. Ask the students to read the materials for their country to understand where they stand in the negotiations.

The worksheets that will be used below can be found on the Treaty of Versailles Simulation resource.

Provide students with the Options for Negotiation (page 4) so they are able to see what their options are during the negotiations.

It would be beneficial if you can arrange the classroom in a manner that would allow the three groups to converse openly during the negotiations, such as forming a giant circle with all chairs facing towards the center.

As the teacher you will be the one facilitating the negotiations. Using the Options for Negotiation (page 4), ask the first question to the class as a point for negotiation. You may not have time to go over every question so read them through and pick out which ones you find the most suited for your class. Provide students with the Negotiation Worksheet (page 5) to record the terms of agreement they were able to come up with.

Explain to students that they are going to be watching a video that will help explain the Treaty of Versailles, which brought an end to World War I and set the terms for the interwar period. Since Germany started WWI, do they suppose the Treaty was kind to them or unkind?

Watch YouTube videos, The Treaty of Versailles, What Did the Big Three Want? 1/2 and The Treaty of Versailles, Terms of the Treaty 2/2 from Simple History.

While the students are watching, have them take note of some things that stood out to them. Were they aware that Germany did not have a seat at the negotiation table?

Divide the class into groups of four. Have them discuss their first reactions to the contents of the video amongst themselves. Give 5 minutes for them to address their first impressions and questions that they have about the video. Ask them thereafter to share these thoughts with the large group and ask their questions to make sure everyone is on the same page.
Then review the discussion questions as a class.

1. Did you think the reparations decided in the Treaty of Versailles were fair?
2. What are the consequences of imposing such harsh punishments on Germany?
3. Would it have been more constructive to focus on how to settle international disputes during this conference?
4. What do you think the long-term consequences and challenges ahead for Germany might be?

Ask each group to return to discussion and address these questions. Give 10 minutes for discussion and then ask each group to respond to one question in an effort to kick off broader conversations about each.

Talk with students briefly about the ending of World War I, how it ended soon after the U.S. got involved. Explain how the major powers came together at the Paris Peace Conference in order to negotiate a settlement and reparations. Note that there was no seat at the table for Germany, but for all of the main countries who fought against Germany during WWI. If possible, remind students about what the major players wanted to come out of the treaty–land, money, security.

Ask the students to read the first paragraph on the first page of the US Army resource to get their bearings for the task at hand. Then ask students to examine closely the documents on page 2 and 3.

Prompt students that all the text, captions, and images are of great value to understanding the effect of the treaty on the German state.

Ask students to take notes on the geographic and population losses of both Germany and Austria. What trend do they notice? How might this make the country and its people feel? Give students 15 minutes for this exercise.

Ask students to pair up with one another and share what they discovered through their examination of these documents. What did they find to be the most interesting element? What was the most confusing?

Have small groups share with the class, teasing out their confusion and helping them understand more clearly what the treaty meant. Give 10 minutes for the pairing and sharing.

Then, ask them to examine the document on page 5. Ask in an open discussion, what do they notice here? Is the reaction what they might have expected?

Finally, have the students reflect on one or all of the following questions in writing:

1. What is a fair resolution to war? Is that even possible?
2. Given the terms of the treaty, were the Allies seeking fairness or gain? Do the protesters in Berlin have any legitimacy, in your opinion?
3. Can you imagine a more fair resolution? What would that look like?