Lesson Plan 1
Creating a racial state in Nazi Germany
- Teaching moment:
Obviously the learners need to have a good understanding of the context in which the issues they are exploring are found. Working out effective ways to deliver content in a meaningful way that suits the needs of the learners in your class is an on-going process.
One option could be to show the relevant segment from a video such as The Holocaust – Lessons for Humanity (produced by the Cape Town Holocaust Centre) in order to set the context.
There are a number of other useful documentaries that can be used. Contact us to find out more:
Another option could be to briefly set the context of the history for the learners. Then you could discuss some of the issues that arise from the content with the learners. Finally the content note could be handed out for learners to take home and summarise as a homework exercise.
Remember that the content is important but not the sole focus of the teaching – ie try not to spend the majority of your time on this but you also need to be sure that the learners understand the context.
click here to download Worksheets…
- The worksheet is largely self-explanatory. We would suggest that all the learners work through Source A as it explores the context of the totalitarian state in which Germans were living. It is important that learners do see the degree to which a totalitarian state controls its citizens and begin to think about how people’s ability to make choices become limited.
- To save time groups could be assigned either Source B or Source C to work with. Theses sources are examples of propaganda, which was an essential tool in the totalitarian Nazi state. But they also bring in the concept of race and were used to create the environment in which a racial state could develop.
- Visual literacy is a skill that all learners need to develop. So much of the information that they are faced with in today’s world is visual. Sources B and C begin the process of getting learners to analyse visual images critically.
This focus on Visual Literacy could be taken further by the Arts and Culture (Visual Arts) teachers.
Obviously the Jews were the primary target of Nazi persecution, but a study of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust would be incomplete without some investigation into the persecution of other people whom the Nazis decided were `undesirable’.
This worksheet can be used in class as a cooperative learning exercise that should take no more than one lesson. Cooperative learning can be especially useful when dealing with small bits of information that learners can easily explain to each other.
- Divide the class into groups (ideally four in each group). These will be their home groups.
- Hand out the four sources to each group.
- Each group member will take responsibility for explaining their source to the rest of the group.
- Divide the class into expert groups – everyone who is responsible for the same source need to sit together. In the expert groups, the learners need to read through the source and assist each other with language and other understanding problems. The expert group need to be sure that everyone in the group understands the source. As a group they need to complete the instructions in the box at the top of the source. Each member of the group needs to keep his/her own record as they will use these notes when reporting back in their home groups. The group need to ensure that everyone agrees with the answers.
- Learners return to their home groups where each of the learners need to explain to the other members how there person was treated and how they believe this person felt.
- The home group need to decide on a few points that they have learnt from looking at these people’s experiences. They could be guided with the question:
“What do these experiences tell us about the consequences of the creation of a racial state in Nazi Germany?”
- Each home group reports back briefly to the class.
- This worksheet is largely self-explanatory and deals with the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany.
- The aim is for learners to be given the chance to explore the choices that people in Nazi Germany had and the consequences of their actions. The issue of choice is important for learners to talk about. If possible, allow them time as a class or in groups to discuss this issue as it relate to the sources.
- Sources A and B are examples of choices that Germans were forced to make early on in the creation of the racial state. Source C, however, presents the issue of choice at a very different time – when the persecution has begun to be violent.
- It is also important that through the content note the learners understand that antisemitism did not begin with Hitler. They need to see that Jews faced a history of persecution which Hitler built on when he came to power.
click here to download Worksheets
